Board of regents made announcement Thursday afternoon in MUN’s Gazette

Memorial University of Newfoundland’s governing body has removed president and vice-chancellor Vianne Timmons from her position.

The move comes after Timmons announced on March 13 she was taking a voluntary, six-week paid leave of absence from the president’s office amid public scrutiny following a CBC News investigation into her statements on her Indigenous ancestry and past membership in an unrecognized Mi’kmaw First Nation group.

In a statement to MUN’s Gazette on Thursday afternoon, board of regents chair Glenn Barnes announced Timmons is leaving as of Thursday.

“As per the terms of her contract, Dr. Timmons’ appointment is being ended on a without cause basis.

“The board appreciates Dr. Timmons’ contributions to the university during her time with Memorial, particularly her efforts to advance the university’s strategic priorities. We extend our best wishes in all her future endeavours.”

Neil Bose, former academic vice-president, has been appointed president and vice-chancellor for a two-year term or until a new president is recruited.

Barnes said a presidential search will be undertaken “in due course.”

Timmons did not respond to a request for comment.

In a statement released on March 13, MUN’s board of regents said it would form a roundtable of Indigenous leaders amid growing questions about the president’s actions.

“While our initial understanding was that president Timmons did not claim Indigenous identity, we have received a lot of feedback from the community,” said Barnes in the statement.

“We have received important questions about the president’s actions, and we believe we have a responsibility to Indigenous peoples and a fiduciary duty as a board to explore these questions further.”

Memorial University’s Office of Indigenous Affairs has remained quiet throughout the last several weeks after asking the community for space.

In an email statement to CBC News on Thursday afternoon, Memorial University said it plans to continue with the roundtable.

“This is an opportunity for learning and reflection, and the guidance provided by the Indigenous roundtable regarding Indigenous identity will be critical to the continued process of Indigenization at Memorial,” reads the statement.

The university said any update on the roundtable is “forthcoming.”

Faculty union, students respond

In a press release sent Thursday afternoon, Memorial University’s faculty association (MUNFA) called on the board to hire an expert on Indigenous identity to conduct an independent investigation.

“Memorial cannot investigate itself,” said the release.

“The administration and the Board of Regents have yet to apologize for what has happened here.”

The release said it supports work done by the Office of Indigenous Affairs and the Indigenous Advisory Committee “to address the harms this situation is causing for Indigenous members of the Memorial community and the province more broadly.”

The union also called on the board to make the search for the school’s next president public.

“This is an opportunity to demonstrate a genuine commitment to both the goals of reconciliation and the core mission of the university,” said the release.

MUNFA, which represents more than 800 academic staff members, said Timmons’ removal “in no way relieves the board’s responsibility,” of what happened.

A small group of students who gathered outside MUN’s arts and administration building Thursday afternoon reiterated that same sentiment.

“Now we have absolutely no resolution. She’s stepped down, she’s still getting her severance pay, and there will be no conversation with us,” said student Makaela Blake of Juniper House, MUN’s Indigenous Student Resource Centre.

“So no, we’re not happy. As the Indigenous student body, I don’t think any of us are happy with the decisions that have been made.”

Blake said her and other Indigenous students were not asked to join the roundtable and were not asked for their opinion.

Identity versus ancestry

In response to the move, the Innu Nation issued a press release Thursday afternoon, saying that while Timmons’s removal “closes the door on the issues surrounding Dr. Timmons herself, larger policy issues about research funding, diversity, equity and participation of Indigenous peoples at MUN still need to be addressed.”

“This includes the need for a process to address the growing problem of people and groups who wrongly claim to be Indigenous and how. It is clear that MUN can no longer sit on the sidelines on this issue and must, like other academic institutions in Canada, take proactive steps to address this problem.”

Timmons told CBC News in an interview Feb. 28, and has reiterated in the weeks since, that she believes she has always been clear in specifying that while she has Mi’kmaw ancestry, she does not claim an Indigenous identity. She said she publicly discussed her ancestry to honour her father’s wishes.

But for a period of at least seven years, many of Timmons’s professional biographies noted she was a member of the Bras d’Or Mi’kmaq First Nation in Cape Breton. It was listed on her publicly posted CV for at least five years.

The group is not recognized by the Union of Nova Scotia Mi’kmaq or the federal government, though they say they plan on seeking status.

Timmons told CBC News she held the membership for a year, around 2009.

The membership line appeared in a biography as late as 2018, used for the independent advisory board for Senate appointments in 2018. The line did not reappear when she returned to serve on the board, which reports to the prime minister, in 2021.

It also did not appear on a 2019 copy of her resumé.

A representative of the Bras d’Or group, which calls itself the Bras d’Or First Nation Community, told CBC News that Timmons’s file showed she was a member between 2011 and 2013, and that they do not consider her to be part of their community.

Timmons accepted an Indspire award — the “highest honour the Indigenous community bestows upon its own people,” according to the organization’s website — in 2019.

Timmons said she was honoured with the award for education in part because of her work helping to keep First Nations University open amid funding cuts. She said she accepted the award to acknowledge her ancestors.

In previous interviews and public appearances, Timmons has said her great-great, and sometimes great-great-great grandmother was Mi’kmaw. However, CBC research, which was reviewed by genealogist Stephen White, suggested her Mi’kmaw relative was actually ten generations removed. Timmons did not provide additional information following the interview. She said she was relying on her father’s genealogy work.

In her statement on March 13, Timmons apologized for any confusion about her identity.

“While I have shared that I am not Mi’kmaw and I do not claim an Indigenous identity, questions about my intentions in identifying my Indigenous ancestry and whether I have benefited from sharing my understanding of my family’s history have sparked important conversations on and beyond our campus,” Timmons wrote.

“I have been reflecting on this feedback from the Indigenous community, and I sincerely regret any hurt or confusion sharing my story may have caused. That was never my intention and I deeply apologize to those I have impacted.”

Came to MUN during pandemic

Timmons replaced Gary Kachanoski on March 31, 2020, after spending 11 years at the helm at the University of Regina.

Documents supplied to MUN student Matt Barter showed the university spent nearly $150,000 on the external search for a new president, with most of that spent on “professional services” for a headhunting firm and advertising costs.

Timmons’s five-year contract included a base pay of $450,000, an $18,000 yearly housing allowance, and $1,000 per month for vehicle costs. It stipulated she would also receive a $25,000 yearly research grant, travel perks and much more.

That’s around what Kachanoski earned, but it was a bump up from the $337,000 base salary she earned at the University of Regina.

Barter and MUN are currently in Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court over a protest the undergraduate student held in 2021. Barter held a sign saying “Stop Vianne” to protest her spending. The administration interpreted that protest as bullying, while Barter argued he was exercising his right to a silent protest.

Much of Timmons’s presidency involved navigating the university through the pandemic and a faculty strike.

In 2021, she announced the university would be ending a 22-year tuition freeze due to the provincial government’s slashing of MUN’s operating grant.

Timmons was named an officer of the Order of Canada in 2017 for her contributions to inclusive education, family literacy, Indigenous post-secondary education and women’s leadership.

Under the terms of her contract, Timmons is entitled to a severance payment of at least $675,000, or 18 months of her base salary.

She is also entitled to more than seven months’ pay owed to her for accumulated administrative leave — about $270,000.

Timmons is also entitled to 18 months’ worth of pension accrual benefits and group benefits starting from the date of her termination.