Identity, Scholarships, and the Particular Sting of the Gill Manji Family Fraud
Former Queen’s university students Nadya and Amira Gill were forever marked by the sins of their mother, Karima Manji, when she pled guilty to fraud over $5000 in an Iqaluit courtroom last February. The same charges against then 25-year-old twins Nadya and Amira were withdrawn.
Karima had enrolled her two non-Inuit daughters with Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., falsely asserting them as beneficiaries of the Nunavut Tunngavik land claim. To do this, Karima claimed that her daughters were born to the late Kitty Noah, the former spouse of a man who Karima had worked with in the 1990s after moving to Iqaluit from Tanzania.
Karima also tried to enroll herself as a beneficiary in 2018, but her application was rejected.
As a result of their falsified status, Nadya and Amira received approximately $158,254 in funding intended for qualifying Inuit students between September, 2020 and March, 2023. They used this money to pursue a master’s degree in engineering and a law degree, respectively.
In addition to funds from Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., Qikiqtani Inuit Association, and Kakivak Association, Nadya and Amira benefitted from a variety of bursaries, awards, and opportunities intended for Indigenous recipients. They reaped practically every benefit that was made available to them as a result of their false identities.
The painful consequences of the Gill Manji family’s actions, both practical and symbolic, cannot be understated. Accepting support that is not intended for you, particularly at the direct expense of Indigenous people, proves at best ignorance, and at worst, total disregard for the intended demographic.
First, there is the matter of their actions directly denying Indigenous students with opportunities earmarked for them. Academic support for Indigenous students are not created for the purpose of creating advantage. Rather, programs, scholarships, and bursaries aimed at Indigenous people are intended to help rectify disparities in the opportunity gap which persists despite reconciliation efforts.
To give the other side the benefit of the doubt, the opportunity gap is not always readily apparent on an individual level. Certainly not all Indigenous Canadians are unable to fund their own post-secondary education – although, that is becoming an increasing prevalent concern for many students across the country – and there are undoubtedly significant numbers of Canadians who would benefit from supports targeted at other populations. Regardless, these examples are anecdotal and not proof of a lack of need on the larger scale. The fact remains that, on the whole, there is significant ground to be made up when it comes to making good on the Crown’s promises of education.
There is also the matter of the Gill Manji family being relative newcomers to Canada. At a time when the social appetite for immigration is waning, additional friction between Indigenous and newcomer groups is particularly concerning.
While Karima, Nadya, and Amira should not be expected to adhere to higher moral or ethical standard than less recent immigrants, their chosen actions call into question the lessons that are taught to newcomers about Canada’s history with Indigenous people. Whatever Karima learned in her years working in Nunavut, it was clearly not enough to prevent her from choosing the path she did.
Ultimately, it is important that fraud of this nature is called out for what it is – falsely perceived advantage in a population which is still seeking equity on many fronts. Understanding how that perception operates is fundamental to this responsibility, and the work associated with it should not be the sole responsibility of those who suffer the negative impacts.
Written by Anais M. Giasson