In Distorted Descent: White Claims of Indigenous Identity, Darryl Leroux explores the specifics of a social phenomena - a shifting of identity - where otherwise white, French descendants in Canada identity as Indigenous based on their Indigenous ancestors born between 300 and 375 years ago and representing about 200 000 people. This book is therefore not about multi-generational efforts of reconnecting with Indigenous kin and/or reclaiming an Indigenous identity dispossessed by colonial policies through the Indian Act, residential schools, the Sixties Scoop and other attempts by settler governments to destroy Indigenous political capacity. Instead Distorted Descent, through genealogical studies, discusses contemporary Indigenous identity formation genealogical practices and two self-identified metis organizations operating in Quebec. Both organizations oppose Indigenous land and territorial negotiations and encourage the use of genealogical practices. In Distorted Descent Indigenous identity is formed from French descendants; claimed and then used to politically oppose actual, living Indigenous peoples. Studying Identity, ancestry, family, kinship, and belonging in this context is contentious yet topical as the numbers of claims of Indigenous ancestry – as métis - in Quebec, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick has increased over the past 10-15 years in contrast to those identifying as Métis nationally with relationships to their territorial lands.
