Sandy Powlik AKA Lola Parks

[educatedindian]

Folk musician, award winner in Canada.

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https://www.facebook.com/story.php/?story_fbid=10170411854300438&id=854020437&_rdr
Sandy Powlik (stage name LOLA PARKS) has claimed a Montagnais (Innu) Identity in order to take advantage of FNMI Music Industry resources (to the tune of $33K in grants meant for FNMI Artists).
Sandy/Lola works in the FNMI Music Industry out of Langley BC, and in 2021 she was awarded a $10K grant from the First Peoples' Cultural Council Aboriginal Artist Fund (among many other funds).  She's featured on the First Peoples' Map of BC, and has been getting FNMI grants for at least the last ten years, so the grift has a purpose and that's to fuel her career.
Now.  How many authentic FNMI Music artists could've used the $33K she stole by her fraudulent claim?   LOTS!
When questioned, she got very defensive, insulted and rude, really.  But, it motivated her to change her Bio and scrub all of her social media of all references to "Indigenous" and she even tried to claim a nation in BC at one point, but now she claims as the Settler she is.  But, let it be known that she got to where she is by exploiting First Nations, Métis, Inuit.
She could've relied on her talent instead of exploiting a marginalized population with limited resources.  So Sandy Powlik, AKA "Lola Parks", is our Pretendian for today.
Crystal Semaganis 
Ghost Warrior Society

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Her Linkedin has no mention of being NDN.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandypowlikakalolaparks/?originalSubdomain=ca

One conference does mention her getting grants claiming to be. Haven't found a link about it yet.
https://indigenousmusicsummit.com/iims-2024/2024-speakers/
Sandy Powlik
Creative BC
Wed June 12th
Stand Up and Stand Out: Building Successful Grant Applications
3:30pm-4:30pm
Roy Thomson Hall, North Lobby
Sandy Powlik is a Music Funding Program Coordinator at Creative BC and part of the CIMA Membership Committee. She is also a singer-songwriter, artist-entrepreneur (Lola Parks), music industry consultant and music teacher (piano, guitar, voice) with over 25 years of professional musical and music industry experience. Sandy has been a grant and awards juror and panelist for Creative BC, Music BC, the First Peoples’ Cultural Council, the BC Touring Council, Full Circle, FACTOR, West Coast Music Awards and JUNOs. She has also worked in finance, publishing, service, government and as Indigenous Outreach for the BC Touring Council.

[Sandy S]

mixed heritage

http://syncsummit.com/sandy-powlik/ 2023

influenced by her Montagnais-Innu and European heritage

https://livevictoria.com/show/560813/view 2022

LOLA PARKS is a female Indigenous Canadian musical artist of Montagnais (Innu), Ukrainian, French and British ancestry

https://creativebc.com/2021/11/lola-parks/ 2021

Indigenous Canadian

12th generation Canadian of Montagnais, Ukrainian, French and British ancestry

https://musicbc.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/AGM-2020-BOD-Election-All-Candidates.pdf 2020

My First Nations heritage is Montagnais from Québec. My grandfather’s grandmother was full-blood indian, so my mother used to say. “Snowshoe people from north of the St. Lawrence,” she would add.

https://sandypowlik.wordpress.com/2015/05/14/orca-chief-comes-to-vancouver-my-personal-connections-and-heritage/ 2015

archived http://web.archive.org/web/20160703144944/https://sandypowlik.wordpress.com/2015/05/14/orca-chief-comes-to-vancouver-my-personal-connections-and-heritage/

In that 2015 blog post she says she's into "soul retrieval" and "animal medicine".

[Sandy S]

Her mother's obituary https://www.wiebeandjeskefh.com/obituary/lynne-powlik/
archive http://web.archive.org/web/20220119132058/https://www.wiebeandjeskefh.com/obituary/lynne-powlik/

Avid golfer https://britishcolumbiagolf.org/uncategorized/4991-british-columbia-golf-saddened-by-passing-of-longtime-volunteer-lynne-powlik

Someone has a public family tree up for these families on Ancestry.

Sandy Powlick claims "Montagnais (Innu), Ukrainian, French and British ancestry". I only see British and Quebec Canada. I assume French Canadian based on surnames and Catholic faith.

[Sandy S]

Excerpts from the obituary for Sandy Powlick's maternal grandmother:

Obituary of Irene Florence Bernier
It is with sad hearts that we announce the sudden passing of our loving, caring, kindhearted and generous mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, Irene Florence (Renee) Bernier on Monday, December 27, 2004.

Renee was born in Surrey, England and as a War Bride, came to Canada with husband Marc and daughter Lynne in 1945. Marc’s career in the Canadian Army brought them first to QuebÚc City, then to British Columbia, back to QuebÚc and finally to Alberta in 1960 settling in Calgary in 1964. Throughout her extremely busy and fulfilled life, Renee enjoyed playing sports, playing the accordion, singing, dancing, travelling, and having lots of happy and interesting times with her many friends. Not content to sit back and watch, Renee demonstrated how life could be lived by participating fully in every endeavour she undertook. She spent over forty years dedicating herself unselfishly to Girl Guides, Education, Lions’ Clubs, the Calgary Elks’ Club, the Alberta Retired Teachers’ Association, the Canadian Association of Business Education Teachers, the Retired Secretaries Association and to both the Alberta and the Canadian Breast Cancer Society. Her courage, strength of will, sense of humour, and love of life were an inspiration to all her family and all those whose lives she touched.

Left to cherish her memory are her two daughters, Lynne Powlik and Raye “Poune” Lynch; two sons-in-law, Gerald Powlik and Bill Lynch; six grandchildren, Kim, Laura, Karen, Sandy, Aaron, and Benjamin; four great-grandchildren, RenÚe, Dylan, Monique, and Kaleb. Renee will be joining her late husband Marc and two sons, Daniel and Gilles.

A Memorial Mass will be celebrated at Canadian Martyrs Catholic Church

http://web.archive.org/web/20241226195139/https://mhfh.com/tribute/details/22115/Irene-Bernier/obituary.html

Sandy Powlick maybe was told a vague heritage story by her mother. Sandy is an adult, she can easily learn the facts. She can pay for professional genealogy services. She can learn that even if she has distant heritage that does not give her the right to make her recent claims.

She can learn that being told that some of her ancestors used snowshoes doesn't mean much other than that they used snowshoes.

She can learn that feeling an affintity towards certain "spirit animals" doesn't make her Indigenous. Ideally she would also learn how much damage that pretendian fraud does.

She's claimed Ukranian. My guess is that she has added this due to current events.

"12th generation Canadian" - this may or may not be true, this work would need to be done by a professional genealogist. Some say this Bernier line came from Paris to Quebec in the 1600s. But even if true that does not make her special.

[Sandy S]

On her Lola Parks Facebook page she names her mother (full name including birth name) in posts, along with when she died. There are also photos of her mother. The photos, name, and dates match the obit listed above.

This public info is also on Instagram, Threads, and her own website https://lolaparks.com/album/430/view

Her heritage claim appears to be maternal. I used Ancestry/Family Search/ google search to work back a few generations and get a better view.

[Sandy S]

For the 2024 International Indigenous Music Summit she is listed as having done "Indigenous Outreach for the BC Touring Council"

https://indigenousmusicsummit.com/iims-2024/2024-speakers/

Lola Parks is a “boho chic” female Indigenous Canadian artist

https://sidedooraccess.com/artists/LolaParks

My name is Sandy. I am a BC born & raised, female Indigenous musical artist-entrepreneur

https://musicbc.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/AGM-2020-BOD-Election-All-Candidates.pdf

2019 performing at Indigifest "family-friendly event that will feature Indigenous musicians".

https://fpcc.ca/stories/fpcc-announces-indigifest/

2020

An Indigenous Canadian musical artist, Lola Parks is compelled to create, cultivate and share her art. Her mission is to give and be a voice: cultural and social brokerage through music and words. A 12th generation Canadian of Montagnais, Ukrainian, French and British ancestry, her heritage deeply influences her songwriting and music.

https://outloudculture.com/2020/09/06/insiders-guide-olivia-lunny-mimi-webb-billy-hammer-alexis-lynn-niiva-may-have-moontower-kaylee-federmann-dawson-gamble-agent-bla-sam-louis-josie-proto-cloe-wilder-peter-katz-sofia-valde/

Lola Parks
(aka singer-songwriter Sandy Powlik) has a mission to achieve cultural brokerage

https://lolaparks.com/index.php?ll_news=7

She is positioning herself as a "culture broker".

[Sparks]

There are traces of her indigenous claims several places:

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=703514474523645
[Tunes From Turtle Island] December 19, 2022

Wishing everybody out there a safe and happy holiday time. This weeks show has these fantastic indigenous artists. Rhonda Head, Backwater Township, Richie Ledreagle, Savelle Tha Native, Lola Parks, DJ Javier Estrada, Uauitetau & Pascal Ottawa & Scott-Pien Picard, & Freddy Cluney & Florent Vollant, & Beatrice Deer Band, William Prince & Serena Ryder, The GroovaLottos, Gyasi Ross, Mike Bern, Tchutchu, Teagan Lchief, Celeigh Cardinal, Shibastik, Tall Paul, The City Lines, and P I Q S I Q.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/33827478720/posts/10159493535383721/
[Native Waves Radio] — Link to: Tunes From Turtle Island, December 19, 2022 (same as quote above.)

https://www.facebook.com/groups/609502399254422/posts/2086489998222314/
[Native Sounds Native Voices]  — Link to: Tunes From Turtle Island - December 28, 2022

Last weeks show with Rhonda Head, Backwater Township , Richie Ledreagle, Savelle Tha Native, Lola Parks , DJ Javier Estrada, Uauitetau & Pascal Ottawa & Scott-Pien Picard  & Freddy Cluney & Florent Vollant  & Beatrice Deer Band, William Prince & Serena Ryder, The GroovaLottos , Gyasi Ross, Mike Bern, Tchutchu, Teagan Lchief, Celeigh Cardinal, Shibastik, Tall Paul, The City Lines, and P I Q S I Q.

Searching her Facebook profile https://www.facebook.com/profile/100057756685593/ for 'native' I found at least seven links similar to my quotes above. Searching for 'indigenous' yielded even more. A few quotes from contents there:

CultureBrew.Art - December 31. 2022
Spotlight on Writers:
LOLA PARKS
Vocalist, Songwriter, Musician
Langley, BC
Lola Parks (Sandy Powlik) is an Indigenous singer-songwriter from Vancouver. Intelligent, intimate, evocative, boho chic – the music is deeply influenced by her Innu and European heritage while staying true to jazz roots ALA Sara Bareilles, Brandi Carlile, Bonnie Raitt, Norah Jones.

Mike Anderson - March 16, 2021
Looking forward to working again with amazing indigenous artists Taryn Laronge and Lola Parks!

Tunes From Turtle Island - June 7, 2022
A quick glimpse of the amazing Indigenous artists on this week's upcoming show – Lola Parks …

https://www.lolaparks.com/

June 10-14 - attended the International Indigenous Music Summit in Toronto. First conference that I didn't attend as an artist! Amazingly, I went representing Creative BC. So cool. Amazing folks, great & diverse music, solid & relevant dialogue / discussions.

I preserved screen shots in case anything gets removed.

[educatedindian]

The grants were definitely obtained fraudulently. Given her success now, she should be easily able to make amends and pay them back. And at least part of her audience came from her claims of who she is. Moved to Frauds.

[Diana]

Marie Jeannette Lynne Powlik Bernier
in the Oregon, U.S., County Court Naturalization Records, 1840-1982

Name   Marie Jeannette Lynne Powlik Bernier
Record Type   Naturalization
Birth Date   23 Oct 1943
Birth Place   Mitcham Surrey England
Arrival Date   21 Aug 1967
Naturalization Date   17 Oct 1967
Naturalization Place   Lane, Oregon, USA
Spouse   
Gerald Dan Powlik
Description   Naturalization Records, Box 1, 1941-1970
Box Number   Box 1

Her mother's obituary https://www.wiebeandjeskefh.com/obituary/lynne-powlik/
archive http://web.archive.org/web/20220119132058/https://www.wiebeandjeskefh.com/obituary/lynne-powlik/

Avid golfer https://britishcolumbiagolf.org/uncategorized/4991-british-columbia-golf-saddened-by-passing-of-longtime-volunteer-lynne-powlik

Someone has a public family tree up for these families on Ancestry.

Sandy Powlick claims "Montagnais (Innu), Ukrainian, French and British ancestry". I only see British and Quebec Canada. I assume French Canadian based on surnames and Catholic faith.