A Radio-Canada investigation that included looking into a civil lawsuit indicates members of Norval Morrisseau’s family and the man representing the late Indigenous artist’s estate — who for years have presented themselves as the main victims of forgers and art dealers — might have played a role in this system that continues to undermine his legacy.
Ritchie Sinclair, Morrisseau’s former apprentice, said he can’t help but feel relief after learning about a $1.45-million lawsuit filed by a Calgary art gallery against Norval Morrisseau Estate Ltd.
EA Studios (Jasper) Ltd.’s claim takes aim at Morrisseau’s children — Victoria, Peter, Eugene and Lisa, and their three siblings who are now deceased, Christian, David and Michael.
“From at least the early 2000s on, for financial gain, the adult children supported and promoted the authenticity of many of the fraudulent works and assisted, by spreading false information, in undermining efforts to expose and stop the fraud,” alleges the claim.
“This is huge,” Sinclair told CBC. “This is the first time [the Morrisseau children] have been named in a lawsuit. The truth must get out.”
Norval Morrisseau Estate Ltd. firmly denies all allegations, which have not been proven in court.
James White and the Morrisseau Family Foundation
Morrisseau was from Ojibway Bingwi Neyaashi Anishinaabek First Nation in northwestern Ontario and died in 2007 at age 75. As a prolific artist who did not keep records of his works, Morrisseau’s catalogue has become a popular target for forgeries.
Morrisseau witnessed the proliferation of forgeries, fighting against it until his death. His efforts included sending cease and desist letters to galleries that sold fake paintings
When they pleaded guilty, some of the main actors of the fraud collectively identified more than 2,000 forgeries that they either created, sold or acquired over the years. Various experts say there could be as many as 10,000 forgeries in circulation, making Morrisseau one of the most counterfeited artists in the world.
Radio-Canada reached out to academics and museum curators who specialize in Indigenous art and/or Morrisseau’s work but they refused to be interviewed, citing fear of reprisal.
Sinclair said he’s not afraid to speak out. For the past 20 years, he has been sorting, archiving and publishing online lists of alleged fakes and various court documents pertaining to the forgery rings.
He’s faced multiple lawsuits, mostly for defamation, from those who dealt in the market of forgeries. In one of these cases, the court ordered him to pay $25,000 to a plaintiff, art dealer James White.
White recently pleaded guilty to counts of uttering forged documents and possessing property obtained or derived by crime for the purpose of trafficking. The 84-year-old Ontario man has always staunchly denied the existence of forgeries. The agreed statement of facts said White bought over 500 fake Morrisseaus between 2016 and 2021, for a combined sum of over $450,000, and would then sell or consign the paintings to third parties across the country.
Painter Norval Morrisseau designates a Toronto gallery as the only legitimate source of his work. Aired April 16, 2005 on CBC’s The National.
White also admitted to having sold prints of some of the forgeries he acquired. Police seized 114 prints of 15 counterfeit paintings at White’s residence, each accompanied by a certificate of authenticity made by his company, White Distribution Ltd.
These certificates bore the seal of the Morrisseau Family Foundation, an organization created by Morrisseau’s children shortly after his death, with the mission of protecting his legacy. Authorities also recovered, from White’s home, a device used to put the foundation’s seal on the certificates.
White, through his lawyer, has declined to comment.
Police approach was Morrisseau’s kids ‘taken advantage of’
White is one of eight individuals arrested and charged in March 2023 in the wake of Project Totton, a widescale police investigation to take down the Morrisseau forgery networks.
Thunder Bay, Ont., police Insp. Jason Rybak and his team interviewed nearly 300 people, and seized hundreds of alleged and confirmed forgeries from private collections and public institutions.
They dismantled two forgery rings in the Thunder Bay area and one in southern Ontario.
Many of the people charged following Project Totton have pleaded guilty and others are awaiting trial. The Morrisseau children were never charged during the investigation.
“They were taken advantage of, and that was really the approach that we took. They weren’t culpable for this,” said Rybak, adding that investigators questioned the Morrisseau children.
“They’re from northern communities and it’s just not something that was ever in our interest […] What would be the purpose of trying to defame them or go after them?”
Rybak said it was more practical to focus on prosecuting the subjects with the strongest evidence against them.
“Otherwise, like lots of massive fraud investigations, they’ll never see the inside of a courtroom because [the cases] are so big.”
Lawyer alleges ‘proximity’ between children, forgers
While Rybak presents the role of the children as being secondary, a lawyer who specializes in art fraud disagrees.
Jonathan Sommer co-founded Art Experts Canada Inc., which specializes in authenticating Morrisseau paintings. He has also represented clients who claim they were sold fake paintings. Sommer said he believes there was “a surprising proximity between [the Morrisseau children] and people who have been charged with fraud.”
In a 2017 affidavit filed in another civil court case, White indicated that he has “since in or about 2006 developed a relationship with the Morrisseau family.” The relationship began before the fraud cases started receiving widespread attention.
“I have held several Norval shows across Canada and I often incorporated the paintings of his son, Christian, into those shows, and Christian himself would often appear at those shows to promote his and his father’s art,” wrote White in his statement.
On July 15, 2010, the Morrisseau Family Foundation signed a contract with White. The art dealer would get the exclusive right to produce and sell prints of 14 artworks attributed to Morrisseau and deliver certificates of authenticity for them. In exchange, the foundation would receive $3,500 and 10 per cent of the proceeds.
Sommer pointed out that around that same time, the Morrisseau Family Foundation’s website prominently displayed White’s email address.
David Voss, a prominent forger who pleaded guilty to producing counterfeit paintings in June 2024, identified White as a “major distributor” of fake Morrisseaus.
The agreed statement of facts in his case details how White operated and listed over 1,600 fake artworks produced between 1996 and 2019.
However, “no criminal responsibility is attributed to, or admitted by, Mr. White in relation to his dealings in that artwork,” said White’s agreed statement of facts.
Research on various online classified ad sites indicates that prints of these forgeries still circulate abundantly on the second-hand market. They are often accompanied by certificates of authenticity featuring the name of White’s company and the Morrisseau Family Foundation’s seal.
“As a tribute to his father and the teachings bestowed upon him, Christian [Morrisseau] has personally authorized the fine art reproduction,” state the certificates.
Christian died in 2022.
“Some of [Norval’s] kids were paid $50 just to sign the back of paintings, saying their dad did it,” said Rybak. “David Morrisseau is one example. You find lots where he’s written on the back. Well, we interviewed David — he never saw his dad painting any of those.”
In Voss’s agreed statement of facts, the list of forgeries he identified contains 15 paintings that either bear David’s signature on the back or have certificates of authenticity signed by David.
David died in July 2024.
The Morrisseau children went as far as using the image of a forgery “authenticated” by David Morrisseau, titled Great Thunderbird, for their logo and seal of authenticity. That same seal is featured on the certificates produced by White.
“I’ve been following the traces of these paintings and stamps for decades, and the children for sure contributed to promoting them,” said John Zamanovich, who specializes in the authentication of Morrisseau paintings and co-directs Art Experts Canada Inc. with Sommer.
In 2015, a Chinese buyer acquired around 300 fake paintings and paid Eugene Morrisseau to travel to Asia in order to promote them, according to Rybak, the detective. Eugene posted about the experience on social media two years later, sharing a picture of himself in front of a painting that bears numerous similarities with Voss ring forgeries.
The murky origins of Morrisseau Family Foundation
In January 2007, less than a year before Norval’s death, his children were seeking to establish the Morrisseau Family Foundation. They said they wanted to defend their father’s artistic legacy, but also to “establish the rights of the blood children of Norval Morrisseau, his art and artistic legacy,” states a sworn declaration signed by Christian.
Neither Christian nor any of his siblings owned any copyright over their father’s work. Norval excluded them from his will as early as 1999. Instead, he bestowed everything unto Gabor Vadas, his adopted son.
We do not believe there is a fraud ring…– Morrisseau’s children in an open letter published in 2014
Norval publicly and firmly disavowed his biological children’s initiative two months before his death when he was made aware of their intentions.
“This foundation does not have my authority or consent to authenticate my art or to otherwise hold itself out as representing me or my interests in any manner whatsoever,” Morrisseau said in a news release dated October 2007.
His biological children had enlisted the help of Joseph McLeod to register their foundation. McLeod, who died in 2017, was a well-known Toronto art dealer who was denounced by Norval for selling forgeries. The artist sent him cease and desist letters on a number of occasions for using his art, without permission, in promotional material and for selling counterfeit paintings.
McLeod helped create and register the foundation.
He also supported the children in 2009 to register the copyright to “The Artistic Legacy of Norval Morrisseau.” They made McLeod an agent on the copyright registration, giving him the authority to act on their behalf.
“Nearly two years after Norval Morrisseau’s death, his children registered a copyright on the entirety of his work, despite the fact that they knew their father’s will gave the copyright to Gabe Vadas,” said Sommer. He said he believes the children’s copyright registration and any subsequent deals made thanks to this copyright are invalid.
“We do not believe there is a fraud ring […] Throughout the decades Mr. McLeod has been a friend to the family of Norval Morrisseau,” Morrisseau’s children said in an open letter published in 2014.
From the foundation to the estate
In 2010, the Morrisseau children contested the validity of their father’s will in court. After two years, they came to an agreement with Vadas, the original sole heir. All of Norval’s artworks, the marketing rights to these pieces and the copyright to his work would be split into two shares: one for Vadas and another one to be divided equally between his seven biological children.
Since then, the estate of Norval, led by Cory Dingle, has perpetuated the same ambiguity surrounding the management of Norval’s works as the Morrisseau Family Foundation, according to Sommer.
The EA Studios lawsuit alleges Dingle called into question the authenticity of its Morrisseau collection with potential buyers in order to sell them works from his own collection.
Officially registered in 2022, the Norval Morrisseau Estate Ltd. is comprised of Norval’s four living biological children, Vadas and a CEO, Dingle.
Sinclair and some other people who knew the artist told Radio-Canada they found it hard to understand why Dingle became head of Morrisseau’s estate.
Contacted by Radio-Canada, Dingle recounted that he met Norval in British Columbia around 1988. The exact nature of Dingle’s role in Norval’s entourage is not well documented.
Some people exaggerate the extent or nature of their past relationships with Norval for a variety of reasons, said Morrisseau expert John Zemanovich.
“In talking to Mr. Dingle, I believe he was around Norval, but I haven’t seen any historic evidence that explains the nature of their relationship.”
Dingle “was an assistant caretaker of Norval for a couple of years. He cleaned up, did dishes, took care of Norval,” said Sinclair. “He was a friend of Gabe Vadas.”
Dingle was ultimately appointed by both Vadas and the Morrisseau children to “represent the estate with respect to various matters,” according to the estate’s statement of defence in the EA Studios lawsuit.
Contacted by text message, Vadas declined to comment.
“How was the fraud allowed to prosper for over two decades without any real opposition?” Sommer asked. He said the estate has failed to make any meaningful effort to fight the fraud.
“Not only did the estate not act with due diligence, but for years it has been under the influence of people who worked closely with those who have admitted to, or were found liable for, participating in the fraud.”
Radio-Canada was unable to reach any of Norval’s children, except for Victoria, who declined to comment after a brief telephone conversation.
Since Dingle was made aware of the nature of this investigation, he has ceased all communications with Radio-Canada.
