Investigation launched into 'potential' Inuit status enrolment fraud of Kingston, Ont. sisters

In a first of its kind announcement, the Inuk status of two sisters is being investigated after claims their Inuit heritage was falsified.

Amira and Nadya Gill are twin sisters who hold status as Inuk. How they got that status is now being investigated for potential fraud by Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. (NTI), the organization that oversees Indigenous status under the Nunavut Agreement.

In a news release, the NTI states a woman named “Karima Manji claimed that twins Amira and Nadya Gill were her adopted children and identified an Inuk woman as their birth mother.”

“NTI has received information from the woman identified as their birth mother that Amira and Nadya Gill are not her children. Today, she initiated the process to have Amira and Nadya removed from the Inuit enrolment list.”

The release says the investigation is a first for the organization.

In interviews with Nunatsiaq News and APTN, family identified the unnamed woman as Kitty Noah.

Her son Noah Noah says his mother is the victim of an alleged enrolment fraud, telling Nunatsiaq News:

“My mother has no knowledge of these people or that her name had been used to grant them Inuit land claims beneficiaries.”

Kitty Noah (left), with her son Noah Noah at their home in Iqaluit. (Photo by David Venn/Nunatsiaq News)

CTV Ottawa’s requests to interview Amira Gill and her sister have gone unanswered. But before the investigation, Amira Gill maintained to CTV News that the sisters do hold status.

In a story published March 30 by the Nunatsiaq News, the sisters stated their “Inuit family ties are through an Iqaluit family that their mother lived with.”

The Gill sisters have been awarded scholarships and launched a business based on their Inuit status. Indspire, an organization that provides scholarships to Indigenous students, gave them bursaries to attend Queen’s University.

In 2021, the sisters created a company called Kanata Trade Co., which sold masks with Indigenous artists' artwork.

CTV News interviewed the sisters at the time about their work. They said that proceeds of the masks would go to Indspire and the artists themselves.

The business had been certified by the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Businesses.

In a statement to CTV News, the council says that all protocols for the company to qualify as a Certified Aboriginal Business were followed; however, in light of the investigation, it stated:

“We have suspended the certification and that we are awaiting the results of NTI’s investigation before making a decision to either reinstate the certification or revoke it.”

The Kanata Trading Co., website and social media sites are no longer active.

As the investigation continues, NTI says it will not be commenting further until a decision is made.