Manitoba cabinet minister Kevin Klein is standing by his claims of being Métis but has not provided evidence after a CBC News investigation found no proof to back his ancestry claims.
After months of refusing to answer questions about his heritage, Klein stood his ground and, at one point, fought back tears as he addressed his heritage Monday at an unrelated news conference.
“This is about my life, this is about our family’s history, this is about a personal process that I want to go through and I will go through alone and it will not be public,” Klein said.
He called out his youngest brother Christopher Rout — who says the family is not Métis — as an estranged family member who has failed to explore their family’s past.
He also produced an email from his middle brother, Duane Rout, who said he believes Klein has a Métis status card, but was silent on whether he agrees their late mother is Métis.
WATCH | Kevin Klein defends his claim that he’s Métis:
Manitoba Environment Minister Kevin Klein had posted that he is a proud Métis Canadian on his website and on his Twitter bio. Those references have since been removed. Klein explained why at a press conference Monday.
Klein spoke Monday in a response to a CBC News story that day in which no proof was found to support the environment minister’s claims to Métis ancestry on his mother’s side.
The president of the Manitoba Métis Federation, a prominent Métis lawyer and Klein’s youngest brother all disputed the minister’s claim.
As well, genealogical research by CBC News — some going back five generations — didn’t demonstrate that Klein’s mother has a Métis or other Indigenous ancestor.
Klein has said he claims to be Métis as a connection to his late mother, whom he has publicly identified as Indigenous. His mother, Joanne Winacott, was killed in her Oshawa home by her partner in 1991 when Klein was 26.
Speaking Monday, Klein said learning about his heritage is something he’s doing privately on his own, and he wouldn’t be offering supporting evidence.
“It’s a personal journey for me that ties me to my mother who I lost, and to my family. And I will keep it a personal journey.”
Métis ties learned from uncle: Klein
Klein said he first realized he belonged to the Painted Feather Woodland Métis through his late uncle, who encouraged him to get a status card.
“I was very proud of the moment that my uncle told me. I was very proud of that fact,” Klein said.
“I saw it as an opportunity to really connect with my family that I had lost, and with my mother’s side of the family especially.”
Klein said he hasn’t done much research into what his uncle told him about a decade ago.
“I lost my uncle shortly after that, so it’s really digging into the background because we’ve lost so many people and I haven’t done the work to do that yet,” he said.
He said Painted Feather Woodland Métis claimed they looked into the genealogy “and I had no reason to doubt that.”
Klein has described his family upbringing as dysfunctional and he says he hasn’t spoken to Christopher Rout in 25 years.
Klein officially changed his name from Harold Kevin Rout Jr. to Kevin Elvis Klein sometime before his second marriage in 1994, according to the marriage certificate.
The Painted Feather Woodland Métis is not recognized by the Manitoba Métis Federation or the Métis Nation of Ontario. It’s a for-profit company based out of a single-family residence near Bancroft, Ont., just over 250 kilometres northeast of Toronto.
Klein said he doesn’t agree with Christopher’s opinion on their family heritage, after Christopher said he would have known about a Métis heritage growing up if it was true.
“It’s unfortunate that he feels the way he does and doesn’t want to look at our family’s past or history,” Klein said.
Over the course of the past several months, the word “Métis” has been removed from Klein’s personal accounts — first from his biography on X, formerly known as Twitter, and then from his personal website — but the government record continues to refer to him as a “proud Métis Canadian.”
Klein explained he removed the Métis reference because he didn’t want to offend anybody while he continues to learn about his ancestry.
After a scrum with reporters, Klein returned a few minutes later to read an email he got from his brother Duane, who Klein says supports him.
“Our family was stressed beyond repair following the untimely and unexpected death of our mother. No one knows the full history of my immediate family. I am not going into any detail because I strongly believe family members are just that, between family.”
The letter went on to say that “I can say with certainty that Kevin does have a Métis status card,” as well as an uncle, who has since died, but nothing is said in the letter on whether their late mother is Métis.
Duane commended Klein as someone who puts others first and always listens.
“I’m not sure why the status is the issue it is. All I can think of is that people are just trying to find anything on anyone,” said Klein, who became a tearful as the letter concludes with the allegation the CBC News story caused unrest to the soul of their late mother.
WATCH | Premier Heather Stefanson says she won’t police Klein’s identity:
Premier Heather Stefanson had previously identified Environment Minister Kevin Klein as one of two Indigenous PC Caucus members. She would not answer whether she still considers him to be Indigenous after a CBC News investigation found no evidence that Klein has Métis or Indigenous heritage.
Later in the day, Premier Heather Stefanson said she won’t judge whether the former mayoral candidate and city councillor is Métis.
“Look, in our party we don’t police people’s identity and I think that Minister Klein does an incredible job in his ministerial portfolio. He also does a great job representing his constituents. Those are the things that we care about.”
Stefanson said she speaks with her ministers regularly and Klein’s heritage will come up in a future discussion, “but again we don’t get into policing people’s identity within our party.”
Asked if people who misidentify their background should be allowed to run as candidates with the Progressive Conservative party, Stefanson said reporters should question the NDP for approving candidates with criminal records, a reference to leader Wab Kinew’s convictions and stayed domestic violence charges from about two decades ago.
For his part, Kinew said the premier shouldn’t take a hands-off approach on Klein’s cultural identity.
“I think we need to listen to the Manitoba Métis Federation on this one because they’re the folks that determine citizenship and Métis identity and their words are clear.”
In a new statement to The Canadian Press, MMF president David Chartrand is warning anyone claiming Métis status.
“There are many today — especially in Ontario and further east — who are trying to steal a People, a Nation and an identity. The Painted Feather Woodland group are no different,” David Chartrand, president of the Manitoba Métis Federation, said in a written statement.
“Our message to Kevin Klein is this: Please take your personal journey in private. If not, we will hold you accountable for the theft of our Nation.”
Liberal Leader Dougald Lamont said the new revelations should disqualify Klein from his duties as a politician.
“If the PCs wanted to make a principled decision, Klein would resign or be removed as minister,” he wrote on X.
WATCH | Kevin Klein defends himself after his claim to be Metis questioned:
Environment minister Kevin Klein is standing by his Métis heritage claim after a CBC investigation found no evidence to support his positions.