Buffy Sainte-Marie, a Canadian music legend, has been stripped of her Order of Canada honor after being accused of falsely claiming Indigenous heritage.
The Canadian government made the announcement on February 8, 2025, in the Canada Gazette. The statement read: “Notice is hereby given that the appointment of Buffy Sainte-Marie to the Order of Canada was terminated by Ordinance signed by the Governor General on January 3, 2025.”
This decision comes more than a year after a scandal surfaced, revealing that Sainte-Marie, 83, may have lied about her Indigenous background. The Toronto Star was the first to report the news.
Sainte-Marie is widely known for her activism through music, including iconic songs like “Universal Soldier” and “Now That the Buffalo’s Gone.” She was also the first Indigenous person to win an Oscar for co-writing the song “Up Where We Belong” in the 1982 film An Officer and a Gentleman. Sainte-Marie has earned numerous music awards, including four Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards and four Juno Awards for Indigenous artists, as well as several lifetime achievement awards.
In October 2023, CBC’s Fifth Estate aired a report that accused Sainte-Marie of fabricating her heritage. The show revealed a birth certificate listing her as “white” and showing her birth name as Beverly Jean Santamaria, from Stoneham, Massachusetts. The investigation also claimed that Sainte-Marie had previously said she was “Cree Indian” and had been born on the Piapot Cree reservation in Saskatchewan. She also claimed that she had been adopted by a couple in Massachusetts, later meeting her biological relatives.
Sainte-Marie denied these allegations, calling them “deeply hurtful.” In a statement shared on social media, she wrote, “I have always struggled to answer questions about who I am.” She continued, saying that she is “proud of my Indigenous-American identity” and the connections she has to Canada and her Piapot family.
In response to the controversy, Piapot First Nation acting Chief Ira Lavallee called for Sainte-Marie to take a DNA test, stating, “I do believe that we deserve a definitive answer from her.”
The Office of the Secretary to the Governor General, which handles the Order of Canada, declined to comment on the specifics of the termination. However, a spokesperson mentioned that Sainte-Marie is one of only nine people, out of more than 7,600, to have had their Order of Canada status revoked since its inception in 1967.
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