Former U of R president apologizes for claiming Indigenous heritage

Former University of Regina president Vianne Timmons is stepping away from her job as president of Memorial University of Newfoundland for six weeks.

Timmons also has apologized for hurt she may have caused by claiming Indigenous ancestry.

The board of regents of the university in St. John’s, N.L., is discussing its next steps after a media report raised questions about Timmons’ claims that her father’s great-great-grandmother was Mi’kmaw.

Timmons has said she only ever claimed Mi’kmaw heritage, not that she was Mi’kmaw.

But she has listed membership in an unrecognized Mi’kmaq First Nation in Nova Scotia in her professional credentials for years.

Timmons was the president of the U of R from 2008 to 2019.

— With files from The Canadian Press