A Toronto woman has been sentenced to three years in prison after she falsely claimed her two daughters were Inuit in order to obtain thousands of dollars in benefits. “This is an egregious example of the exploitation of Indigenous Peoples,” Nunavut Justice Mia Manocchio said Thursday at the sentencing hearing for Karima Manji. “Ms. Manji’s case must serve as a signal to any future Indigenous pretender that the false appropriation of Indigenous identity in a criminal context will draw a significant penalty.” Manocchio issued a sentence more severe than the Crown prosecutor’s recommendation of 18 months to two years in custody. Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., the organization that oversees enrolment under the territory’s land claim agreement, said it’s believed to be the first such fraud case in the territory and the…
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