Michelle Latimer apologized following the claims of ties with the Quebec Algonquin community. The Canadian actress and director had come under fire after she prematurely claimed without verifying her connection with the community.

However, after being questioned over the validation of her identity, the Trickster director expressed regret. The incident took place when she promoted her upcoming Inconvenient Indian documentary based on Thomas King's book, The Inconvenient Indian.

In the documentary, Latimer reflected on being an Indian in North America, and it is premiered at the Toronto Film Festival. The controversy took place after she addressed herself as Algonquin, Métis, and French heritage filmmaker from Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg (Maniwaki).

She also referred to herself as an artist with settler ancestry and mixed Indigenous while describing her ties and ancestral history. However, she soon realized her mistake following the investigative story.

"I now realize that I made a mistake in naming Kitigan Zibi as my family’s community before doing the work to formally verify this linkage. I do realize that I made a mistake in naming the community before doing the necessary work to reach out to community members to verify these connections," Latimer explained.

While the statement was emailed to CBC News, another statement was issued on social media publicly by Latimer. Elder Claudette Commanda from Kitigan Zibi, who often performs the opening prayers during the federal government announcements in Ottawa, considered Latimer's claim as an insult to the entire community.

The prominent elder asked the filmmaker the intent and purpose of her claims and what she is going to benefit out of this. Moreover, Commanda revealed that recently there had been many unfounded claims towards the ancestry of the community, which seems to be threatening to the people of the community.

 The people in the community has faced a lot of hardship and survived the difficult phase of their life. Commanda further asked why everyone wants to be a part of glory and fame, but no one wanted to be struggling with the community.

On the other hand, Latimer has been playing an important part as a director and actor in Indigenous theatre and movies. Initially, she used to identify herself as Métis but later, in 2004, she started to add Algonquin in her profile.

It was the first time in 2020 when she added Maniwaki during the screening at the Toronto International Film Festival. Since then, the star has been exchanging emails but denying to give an interview.