For the past year and a half, the indigenous Canadian identity of the veteran folksinger Buffy Sainte-Marie has been under serious question. Sainte-Marie claimed Native heritage and took activist stances for her entire career, but a 2023 CBC documentary exposé looked at accusations that she’s really white and American and that she invented her identity. At the time, Sainte-Marie responded that she was “proud of my Indigenous-American identity, and the deep ties I have to Canada and my Piapot family,” and that the accusations were “beyond traumatic.” Last month, Sainte-Marie was stripped of the Order Of Canada, which she was awarded in 1997. Now, more of Sainte-Marie’s awards have been rescinded.
