A progressive Canadian lawyer who has publicly identified with Indigenous heritage is facing allegations that she misrepresented her background.
Promise Holmes Skinner was challenged by activist Crystal Semaganis, who filed a complaint against her with the Law Society of Ontario last Wednesday.
Holmes Skinner’s public LinkedIn profile describes her as an “Anishinaabe-Scandinavian lawyer” whose work centers on “Indigenous legal traditions.”
Semaganis, who heads the Ghost Warrior Society, a grassroots group focused on exposing people who allegedly make false claims to Indigenous heritage, stated in the complaint that Holmes Skinner had “no First Nations, Inuit, Métis bloodline to speak of.” The Daily Mail reviewed the complaint on Friday.
In comments to Global News, Holmes Skinner acknowledged that she did not possess documentary evidence confirming Indigenous ancestry.
She said, however, that she holds a “cherished understanding” that her grandmother was Anishinaabe and came from Cape Croker First Nation in Ontario.
“However, without documentary evidence to verify that, I have learned culture in other ways,” she told the outlet.
Semaganis’s complaint called for disciplinary action against Holmes Skinner, including action “in which she acknowledges the harm she has inflicted.”
Canadian lawyer Promise Holmes Skinner, who has described herself as Anishinaabe-Scandinavian, has been accused of misrepresenting her Indigenous background
Canadian activist Crystal Semaganis filed a complaint against Holmes Skinner with the Law Society of Ontario last Wednesday, alleging she was not truthful about her background
Semaganis alleged in the complaint that Holmes Skinner had “no First Nations, Inuit, Métis bloodline to speak of.” The Daily Mail viewed the document on Friday
Holmes Skinner said she had been “transparent about not being a rights-bearing individual.”
She also said she had not received benefits or accepted positions reserved for Indigenous people.
“My legal education and practice are about contributing skills, not taking space I am not invited to take,” Holmes Skinner told the outlet.
Her lawyer, Andrea Gonsalves, rejected the suggestion that “Indigenous identity can validly exist only through proven blood connections to a rights-bearing community.”
Gonsalves also said that “anyone can put anything in a complaint,” emphasizing that “the fact of making the complaint doesn’t say anything about its merit.”
Lisa Hall, a spokesperson for the Law Society of Ontario, told the Daily Mail that the organization considers “the potential risk to the public, the public’s confidence in the legal professions and the Law Society, and the administration of justice” whenever it receives a complaint.
Hall said the law society would not comment on individual complaints or investigations “unless or until the matter results in public regulatory action.”
Holmes Skinner said she did not have documentary proof of Indigenous ancestry but maintained that she had “learned culture in other ways”
Holmes Skinner identifies herself as an “Anishinaabe-Scandinavian lawyer” on her public LinkedIn profile (Stock image of Anishinaabe tribe)
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When filing the complaint, Semaganis also requested that the Law Society of Ontario apologize for allegedly allowing a member to take roles intended for First Nations, Inuit and Métis lawyers.
She asked the group to ‘formulate and implement’ a First Nations, Inuit and Métis authentication policy that would ‘go beyond simple declarations of self-identification.’
Holmes Skinner has worked for her eponymous private law practice since 2023, according to her LinkedIn profile.
She focuses on ‘matters where Indigenous legal traditions and cultural principles intersect with Canadian law and policy.’
Holmes Skinner has also been an adjunct law professor at the University of Toronto since 2019, having previously graduated from the school’s Faculty of Law.
The University of Toronto refused to explain how it had verified Holmes Skinner’s indigenous background when asked by Global News last month, citing privacy reasons.
On Tuesday, the University of Toronto launched an ‘indigenous substantiation framework’ with immediate effect.
The framework, guided by the Indigenous community, was announced in December 2025 and was the result of recommendations from an Indigenous Identity Substantiation Committee established in 2023.
Going forward, the university will require formal evidence indigenous membership, citizenship or enrollment. That can include a certificate of Indian status, written confirmation of membership from a Canadian rights-bearing nation or other documentation.
Instead, Holmes Skinner claimed to have a ‘cherished understanding that my grandmother was Anishinaabe’ from Cape Croker First Nation in Ontario
However, the university also said it would support those ‘impacted by colonialism that led to disconnection from their communities’ by giving them the option to substantiate their indigenous membership with a personal declaration.
The declaration must explain their ‘lived experience, kinship, and connection to a rights-bearing Nation that claims them’ and come with family documentation or certified genealogical evidence.
However, this verification will not be applied retroactively in relation to faculty members.
The school said it would be ‘initiated for current faculty members who identify as indigenous when they engage with new opportunities, such as promotions, research funding competitions and awards.’
Semaganis is being sued in the Supreme Court of Yukon by four women that she claimed did not have indigenous backgrounds, according to CBC.
The women alleged that Semaganis’s research was ‘insufficient’ and ‘improper,’ and are seeking public retractions.
Holmes Skinner told the Daily Mail on behalf of Gonsalves that Semaganis’ allegation was ‘categorically false.’
She said she had ‘been raised as Anishinaabe her entire life and continues to actively learn about her family, community and culture.’
Holmes Skinner said she had not received any notification of a complaint from the law society and was not currently subject to any related proceedings.
A spokesperson for the Henry N.R. Jackman Faculty of Law at the University of Toronto told the Daily Mail on Saturday: ‘Promise Holmes Skinner is an adjunct professor. We are aware of reports that a complaint has been received by the Law Society of Ontario.’