27 Facts About Joseph Boyden

Joseph Boyden was born on October 31,1966 and is a Canadian novelist and short story writer.

Joseph Boyden is best known for writing about First Nations culture.

Joseph Boyden grew up in Willowdale, North York, Ontario, and attended the Jesuit-run Brebeuf College School.

Joseph Boyden studied humanities at York University and received an MFA in Fiction from the University of New Orleans in 1995.

In 2014 Joseph Boyden accepted a commission from the Royal Winnipeg Ballet to write a ballet about residential schools in Canada.

In 2015 Joseph Boyden condemned Stephen Harper during the 2015 Canadian federal election, calling his politics "race-baiting" and "fear-mongering".

Joseph Boyden was married to author Amanda Joseph Boyden from 1995 to 2018.

In 2020, Amanda Joseph Boyden published a memoir, I Got the Dog, in which she wrote about the circumstances that brought on the end of their marriage.

In 2019, Joseph Boyden wrote about coming home and finding new life in Georgian Bay Today magazine.

Joseph Boyden is primarily of Irish and Scottish ancestry, but has said he has First Nations heritage.

Joseph Boyden's self-identified Indigenous heritage became the subject of public dispute when Jorge Barrera published an investigation into Joseph Boyden's statements for APTN National News on 23 December 2016.

Joseph Boyden had previously said he had Mi'kmaq and Metis ancestry, and later said he had Nipmuc and Ojibway heritage.

Joseph Boyden had previously registered with the Ontario Metis Aboriginal Association, known as the Woodland Metis Tribe.

However, Joseph Boyden's mother said that her son was researching her family's history, not her husband's.

Rebeka Tabobondung, editor of Muskrat Magazine, said that Joseph Boyden had previously told her he was from the Wasauksing First Nation, like her, but she had been unable to confirm this.

Joseph Boyden's family did own a private island near the community, however.

Indigenous writers, activists and politicians who have responded to Joseph Boyden's claims include Wab Kinew, Drew Hayden Taylor Hayden King, and Ryan McMahon.

David Newhouse, chairman of Indigenous studies at Trent University, said that he thought Joseph Boyden's self-identification was genuine but that his claims were vague and therefore couldn't be proven.

In January 2017, Joseph Boyden said he had erroneously identified himself as Mi'kmaq in the past and that he was a "white kid with native roots".

Joseph Boyden said he had not relied on his identity as an Indigenous person to popularize his books, and had only won one literary prize based on heritage which awarded only a small amount of money.

Joseph Boyden apologized for taking up too much of the "air space" and stated he would do less public speaking, thus allowing Indigenous voices to be heard in the media.

Later that year, Joseph Boyden said he had taken a DNA test which listed "Native American DNA"; critics said a DNA test was not proof of Native American identity.

Months of research, travel spanning Ontario, and dozens of interviews with scholars, colleagues, friends and extended family members have not yielded a definitive answer about whether Joseph Boyden is "really" Indigenous, and probably never could.

Joseph Boyden has taken care to maintain control of his story.

Joseph Boyden was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2013.

Joseph Boyden was on the board of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association.

On December 30,2015, Joseph Boyden was appointed as a Member of the Order of Canada "for his contributions as an author, who tells stories of our common heritage, and for his social engagement, notably in support of First Nations".