Buffy Sainte-Marie speaks out regarding questions of Cree ancestry, Oct 2023

[Laughing]

You knew that she was a fraud who was lying nonstop about her personal history in order to steal opportunity from the Indigenous People of Canada?

bbm

Link for this portion, please.

Furthering her own career, educating about First Nations/Native culture, yeah.

In order to steal opportunity from the Indigenous People of Canada? Where is that in the press coverage?

And -- the Devil's Advocate Sez -- did she open doors, pave the way, increase opportunity? At least one of the articles states that Kim Tallbear was inspired by BStM.

Representation matters -- did BStM kick-start the more positive portrayal of First Nations/Native culture?

(My family lives in New Mexico, there you're multi-cultural whether you realize it or not. My Dad remembers the first Black student enrolling at Santa Fe High, Yup.)

jmh ymmv lrr

 

[JDG]

You knew that she was a fraud who was lying nonstop about her personal history in order to steal opportunity from the Indigenous People of Canada?

And, Buffy St Marie is on a CANADIAN stamp as well as having the Order of Canada.

 

[otto]

bbm

Link for this portion, please.

Furthering her own career, educating about First Nations/Native culture, yeah.

In order to steal opportunity from the Indigenous People of Canada? Where is that in the press coverage?

And -- the Devil's Advocate Sez -- did she open doors, pave the way, increase opportunity? At least one of the articles states that Kim Tallbear was inspired by BStM.

Representation matters -- did BStM kick-start the more positive portrayal of First Nations/Native culture?

(My family lives in New Mexico, there you're multi-cultural whether you realize it or not. My Dad remembers the first Black student enrolling at Santa Fe High, Yup.)

jmh ymmv lrr

That only requires a natural conclusion. Buffy Sainte Marie accepted many, many awards
(see her website awards page I linked upthread) that were specifically designated for Aboriginal and Indigenous people. If she had been honest, she would not have been nominated for those awards, and they would have been given to deserving Aboriginal and Indigenous people. Those awards and recognitions, if given to Indigensous people, could have changed the lives of numerous Indigenous people. Instead, they were stolen by a woman who perpetrated a fraud on the Indigenous People of Canada.

It wouldn't be the first time that someone was inspired by a musician from the USA. It's important for Indigenous people to know whether they are inspired by someone from their culture, or some English Italian woman from Massachusetts.

 

[otto]

And, Buffy St Marie is on a CANADIAN stamp as well as having the Order of Canada.

Those stamps should be destroyed! She's not Canadian, she's not Indigenous. She's a foreign liar who perpetrated a fraud on the Canadian people.

 

[JDG]

Those stamps should be destroyed! She's not Canadian, she's not Indigenous. She's a foreign liar who perpetrated a fraud on the Canadian people.

I’m afraid they'll now be very collectible.

Might get myself a few to subsidize my lousy pension.

 

[JDG]

Wow! What was her performance like without her being ‘Indigenous’?

Today there are some young performers on Tiktok performing her songs and they’re beautiful.

Lexi, she was a talented folk singer.

Hanging out at the Coffee Houses, I saw most of the singers who went on to have amazing careers.

Must have seen her three or four times, a talented white girl.

Ive known for decades that she is not FN, used to turn off Sesame Street when she appeared. It annoyed me that her grift was still going.

 

[dotr]

By Michaela Zee

Buffy Sainte-Marie’s Indigenous Identity Questioned in New Report; Oscar-Winning Songwriter Calls Allegations ‘Traumatic’ and ‘Deeply Hurtful’

A new Canadian Broadcast Corporation investigation has raised questions about the Indigenous identity of Oscar-winning songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie.

variety.com

rbbm
''On Thursday, ahead of the report and documentary from the CBC, Sainte-Marie issued both a written and video statement on social media.

“I am proud of my Indigenous-American family, and the deep ties I have to Canada and my Piapot family,” Sainte-Marie wrote. As a young adult, Sainte-Marie was adopted by members of the Piapot First Nation in Saskatchewan, in accordance with Cree law and customs.''

''After researching newspaper reports from the beginning of Sainte-Marie’s career in 1963, the CBC learned that “in the space of those 10 months, she was referred to as Algonquin, full-blooded Algonquin, Mi’kmaq, half-Mi’kmaq and Cree.”

Lawyer and “Indigenous identity fraud” expert Jean Teillet said a particular warning sign of those not telling the truth about their ancestry is “shifting Indigenous identities.” According to Teillet, Mi’kmaq live on the East Coast, Algonquin people are from Ontario and northern Quebec and Cree people are primarily from the Prairies, so it’s unlikely to mistake one for the other since they hail from different regions of Canada.''

 

[otto]

By Michaela Zee

Buffy Sainte-Marie’s Indigenous Identity Questioned in New Report; Oscar-Winning Songwriter Calls Allegations ‘Traumatic’ and ‘Deeply Hurtful’

A new Canadian Broadcast Corporation investigation has raised questions about the Indigenous identity of Oscar-winning songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie.

variety.com

rbbm
''On Thursday, ahead of the report and documentary from the CBC, Sainte-Marie issued both a written and video statement on social media.

“I am proud of my Indigenous-American family, and the deep ties I have to Canada and my Piapot family,” Sainte-Marie wrote. As a young adult, Sainte-Marie was adopted by members of the Piapot First Nation in Saskatchewan, in accordance with Cree law and customs.''

''After researching newspaper reports from the beginning of Sainte-Marie’s career in 1963, the CBC learned that “in the space of those 10 months, she was referred to as Algonquin, full-blooded Algonquin, Mi’kmaq, half-Mi’kmaq and Cree.”

Lawyer and “Indigenous identity fraud” expert Jean Teillet said a particular warning sign of those not telling the truth about their ancestry is “shifting Indigenous identities.” According to Teillet, Mi’kmaq live on the East Coast, Algonquin people are from Ontario and northern Quebec and Cree people are primarily from the Prairies, so it’s unlikely to mistake one for the other since they hail from different regions of Canada.''

She is definitely doubling down, but there is absolute proof that she is lying.

 

[JDG]

FYI, for those know zero Native people, they do not wear feathers in their hair as does Buffy. So condescending.

Buffy, you can now take off that awful wig.

 

[MyBelle]

My earlier link didn't work

ETA my CBC links don't seem to work, I'll just link to CBC news, where it's the big news

CBC news

Personally, I smell cancel culture, turned towards an 82 year artist. It just creates hate, not appreciation or compassion.

JMO

BBM. I so agree. It seems incredibly cruel and disrespectful to her adoptive family as well.
JMO
From your link:
The acting chief of Piapot First Nation says his community will not turn its back on Buffy Sainte-Marie after an investigation by CBC's The Fifth Estate revealed information that contradicts the songwriter's claims to Indigenous ancestry.

"I can relate and understand to a lot of our people who feel betrayed and in a sense lied to by her claiming Indigenous ancestry, when in fact she may not be Indigenous," said Ira Lavallee.

"When it comes to Buffy specifically we can't pick and choose which part of our culture we decide to adhere to.… We do have one of our families in our community that did adopt her. Regardless of her ancestry, that adoption in our culture to us is legitimate."

 

[otto]

BBM. I so agree. It seems incredibly cruel and disrespectful to her adoptive family as well.
JMO
From your link:
The acting chief of Piapot First Nation says his community will not turn its back on Buffy Sainte-Marie after an investigation by CBC's The Fifth Estate revealed information that contradicts the songwriter's claims to Indigenous ancestry.

"I can relate and understand to a lot of our people who feel betrayed and in a sense lied to by her claiming Indigenous ancestry, when in fact she may not be Indigenous," said Ira Lavallee.

"When it comes to Buffy specifically we can't pick and choose which part of our culture we decide to adhere to.… We do have one of our families in our community that did adopt her. Regardless of her ancestry, that adoption in our culture to us is legitimate."

I don't see truth as disrespectful towards the Indigenous people of Canada. Buffy Sainte Marie tricked a family in Saskatchewan into adopting her as an adult. She was disrespectful towards them the minute she lied about her native English Italian ancestry and Massachusetts birth.

She is a fraud, and the sooner people see the disrespect that she has shown the Indigenous People of Canada, the better it is for her victims.

 

[JDG]

A quote:

My world has gone sideways.
Up is down and Buffy Saint-Marie is ….WHITE??????

BSM has actually done untold harm to FN people with her decades long charade. IMO. MOO

ETA: as a quotation from a Native young woman, this is painful.

 

[JDG]

IMO

Buffy is the modern day Archie Belaney, Grey Owl.

Personally, I’m glad she is alive to see her house of cards fall.

Not sure what will transpire in the next little while but she will leave this earth as a shamed old Italian/English woman from America who committed a huge crime against people she supposedly cared about.

IMO

 

[otto]

She announced her retirement on August 3, 2023. I suppose she was aware, at that time, of the investigation into the fraud she perpetrated against the Indigenous people of Canada and abroad.

CBC Buffy Sainte Marie Retirement Announcement

 

[TootsieFootsie]

I must be blind because she doesn't look at all white to me.
Rushes to get my old Buffy Sainte Marie scrapbook out. No way she looks white.

 

[otto]

I must be blind because she doesn't look at all white to me.
Rushes to get my old Buffy Sainte Marie scrapbook out. No way she looks white.

She's half Italian.

CTV News

 

[MistyWaters]

I must be blind because she doesn't look at all white to me.
Rushes to get my old Buffy Sainte Marie scrapbook out. No way she looks white.

I do not believe for a moment that she faked Canadian indigenous heritage as an advantage to further her career. In and around the 70s and 80s it would‘ve strongly represented a disadvantage IMO.

I agree her appearance is as close to Cree as any authentic Cree appears. If it’s not her true heritage maybe she became convinced over time that’s the reason why she looked exactly like one?

She‘s done more to further respect and admiration of the indigenous community than anyone I can think of. At 82 years old and retired, she deserves to live out her life in peace and dignity. She shouldn’t have to prove anything to anybody.

JMO

 

[JDG]

I must be blind because she doesn't look at all white to me.
Rushes to get my old Buffy Sainte Marie scrapbook out. No way she looks white.

<modsnip> check her face against the faces of her aging parents in the 5th Estate show. She looks just like those white folk. Has the exact same nose as her late brother too.

*** she is very heavily made up, lots and lots of dark foundation. Not hard to do.

 

[dotr]

The Difficult Question of Why People Pretend to Be Another Race

On Thursday, the parents of NAACP leader Rachel Dolezal said she has manufactured her African-American identity.

time.com

BY CHARLOTTE ALTER JUNE 12, 2015

''Can we decide our racial identity for ourselves? Imitating other cultures is fairly common among white teens, says Anita Thomas, an associate professor of counseling psychology at Loyola University Chicago, “because they feel like white identity is generic or doesn’t have substance to it.” Most people outgrow that feeling once they reach adulthood, Thomas said.


Thomas also says the desire to be part of a different culture could be linked to the way different heritages are presented in school. “Part of it is our attention to diversity, where we’re really focused on the most superficial aspects—diversity days are about things like food, role playing, clothing that’s different from American style,” she says. “Whiteness doesn’t seem as rich or as full, and doesn’t seem to have as much history associated with it.”

 

[otto]

I do not believe for a moment that she faked Canadian indigenous heritage as an advantage to further her career. In and around the 70s and 80s it would‘ve strongly represented a disadvantage IMO.

I agree her appearance is as close to Cree as any authentic Cree appears. If it’s not her true heritage maybe she became convinced over time that’s the reason why she looked exactly like one?

She‘s done more to further respect and admiration of the indigenous community than anyone I can think of. At 82 years old, she deserves to live out her life in peace and dignity.

JMO

Look at the long list of awards and recognitions, many of which are only available to Canadian, and/or Indigenous people. These awards would have been given to authentic Indigenous people of Canada, and authentic Canadians, if Buffy Sainte Marie was an honest woman.

As it is, they were given to a dishonest woman from Massachusetts with British Italian ancestry, thereby depriving well deserving Canadians and Indigenous people of the recognition.

Creative Arts Awards and Honours

2019 – Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame Inductee
2018 – Indigenous Music Award for Best Music Video (“The War Racket”)
2018 – Indigenous Music Award for Best Folk Album (Medicine Songs)
2018 – JUNO Award for Indigenous Music Album of the Year (Medicine Songs)
2016 – JUNO Awards for Aboriginal Album of the Year (Power in the Blood)
2016 – JUNO Awards for Contemporary Roots Album of the Year (Power in the Blood)
2015 – Polaris Music Prize (Power in the Blood)
2015 – Americana Music Association’s Spirit of Americana/Free Speech in Music Award
2010 – The Governor General’s Performing Arts Award
2010 – Aboriginal Peoples’ Choice Music Award for Best Music Video (“No No Keshagesh”)
2009 – JUNO Award for Aboriginal Recording of the Year (Running for the Drum)
2009 – Canadian Aboriginal Music Award for Best Album of the Year (Running for the Drum)
2009 – Canadian Aboriginal Music Award for Best Songwriter
2009 – Canadian Aboriginal Music Award for Best Female Artist
2009 – Canadian Aboriginal Music Award for Best Song Single (“No No Keshagesh”)
2009 – Aboriginal Peoples’ Choice Music Award for Best Folk/Acoustic CD (Running for the Drum)
2009 – Aboriginal Peoples’ Choice Music Award Lifetime Achievement Award
2008 – Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards Lifetime Achievement Award
1999 – Canada’s Walk of Fame Inductee
1997 – JUNO Award for Best Music of Aboriginal Canada Recording (Up Where We Belong)
1995 – JUNO Awards’ Canadian Music Hall of Fame Inductee


Humanitarian Honours

2021 – Canadian Music Week’s Allan Slaight Humanitarian Spirit Award
2019 – Companion of the Order of Canada
2019 – PARO Centre for Women’s Enterprise’s Inaugural Women’s Voice Award
2017 – JUNO Awards’ Allan Waters Humanitarian Award
2012 – Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee Medal
2002 – Queen Elizabeth II’s Golden Jubilee Medal
2000 – Commissioner on (former astronaut) Senator John Glenn’s National Commission on Service-Learning
1998 – American Indian College Fund’s Lifetime Achievement Award
1998 – Native Americans in Philanthropy’s Louis T. Delgado Award for Native American Philanthropist of the Year
1998 – National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation’s (Indspire) Lifetime Achievement Award
1997 – Officer of the Order of Canada
1997 – Member of Hillary Clinton’s Committee to Save America’s Treasures
1994 – YWCA Prince Albert’s Women of Distinction Award

bio awards – Buffy Sainte-Marie

buffysainte-marie.com