Canadian sisters charged with fraud for claiming Inuit status

Two sisters from Kingston and their adoptive mother have been charged by Iqaluit RCMP with two counts each of fraud over $5,000 following an investigation into allegations they falsely claimed to be Inuit in order to receive a benefit as adopted Inuit children through Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporation (NTI).

In April, NTI asked police to investigate the actions of twins Amira and Nadya Gill and their adoptive mother Karima Manji in applying for enrolment under the Nunavut Act.

The Gill sisters have been awarded scholarships and launched a business based on their Inuit status.

Between October 2016 and September 2022, RCMP allege the women "used this Inuit beneficiary status to defraud the Kakivak Association and Qikiqtani Inuit Association of funds that are only available to Inuit beneficiaries by obtaining grants and scholarships."

The allegations have not been tested in court.

The three are scheduled to appear in an Iqaluit court on October 30.

Their adoptive mother, Karima Manji, was charged with fraud in 2015 over $5,000, theft over $5,000, possession of property obtained by a crime over $5,000 and presenting a forged document. She was the executive director of Kingsmere Retirement Living in Alliston and placed on administrative leave after being charged by Toronto Police for allegedly defrauding March of Dimes of $800,000. https://www.toronto.com/news/crime/alliston-retirement-home-director-charged-in-march-of-dimes-fraud/article_72614d3b-ec61-5d61-8901-83b4a51eb76c.html

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April 2023 news: https://www.aptnnews.ca/featured/family-of-kitty-noah-hope-rcmp-investigate-toronto-twins-claims-of-being-inuit/

The family of Kitty Noah, the Inuk woman who Toronto twins Amira and Nadya Gill have allegedly claimed as their mother to gain “Inuit status” and access to thousands of dollars in Indigenous scholarship money, say they’ve never heard of them.

The Gills applied for and received Inuit identity through Nunavut Tunngavik Inc, or NTI. NTI is responsible for ensuring promises made to Inuit under the Nunavut Agreement are carried out, and they enroll Inuit people as beneficiaries of that agreement.

“It has been a complete shock to find out that Amira and Nadya Gill were registered under the Nunavut agreement using the name of my mother,” said Noah Noah, Kitty’s son in a written statement from the family and posted on social media.

The Noah family said while they’ve never heard of the twins but they know of their mother, Karima Manji.

Noah, the eldest of Kitty’s seven children, said he is her legal guardian because his mother has suffered two brain injuries in her lifetime and requires daily assistance.

“We do not know the Gill sisters and had no knowledge that they existed, but Karima Manji their mother is known to our family,” said Noah.

In an email March 29, Amira Gill said their Inuit heritage comes through the Noah and Hughes families from Iqaluit, and that their mother lived with a man named Harry Hughes.

Noah explained to a reporter from the Local Journalism Initiative with Nunatsiaq News, that Hughes is his father, who died in 1997. He added that Hughes and Manji briefly dated before Hughes died.

However, it was his mother, Kitty Noah who was listed as a birth mother on the application, according to Noah.

“My mother is a vulnerable person who may have been exploited. It is our priority at this time to protect her dignity.”

Noah has also said his family did not file the complaint with Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.