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

[TootsieFootsie]

I'm not going to rush to condemn her.

Human beings can be very complex and if it's true there may be some deep seated psychological reason why she felt the need to become another person.

I don't believe it was because of greed.

 

[MistyWaters]

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 agree, in that her adoptive family support her, that should be good enough to let it be. IMO

Six take-aways from the CBC investigation questioning Buffy Sainte-Marie Indigenous heritage

Saint-Marie disputes the allegations and maintains that she is proud of her “Indigenous-American identity.”

www.thestar.com

Sainte-Marie claimed by the Piapot First Nation​

“As detailed in the article, Sainte-Marie was adopted by Emile and Clara Piapot when she connected with what she thought to be her home nation, Piapot First Nation in Saskatchewan during the early 1960s.

A statement from Debra and Ntawnis Piapot, the granddaughters of Emile and Clara, said in a statement released before the CBC article’s release, that the allegations against Sainte-Marie were “harmful, ignorant, colonial — and racist.”

“Buffy is our family. We chose her and she chose us,” the Piapots wrote, adding that Sainte-Marie’s adoption into their family “holds far more weight than any paper documentation or colonial record keeping ever could.”

“We are a sovereign nation, a sovereign people — Canada does not get to determine who we claim as a family and neither does the media.”

 

[MistyWaters]

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

Yes and in accepting each of those awards she represented and promoted Canada’s indigenous people. It’s not as if she was lip-syncing or faking her talent in some way in order to win these awards. Her adoption by the Piapots was well known or she wouldn’t have been eligible to win any Canadian awards at all.

ETA - I see this having the potential to open a huge can of worms. Based on appearance not all First Nations People have the appropriate “look”, indeed some are blue eyed blondes. It raises so many issues, for example consider children of mixed marriages who were raised on a reserve who have no indigenous blood but have grown up in the culture? Is it really worth it just because an 82 year old talented woman chose to assimilate with the Cree?

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/the180/least-important-election-the-case-to-stop-changing-the-clocks-and-the-problem-of-dna-as-proof-of-culture-1.3834912/sorry-that-dna-test-doesn-t-make-you-indigenous-1.3835210

"We construct belonging and citizenship in ways that do not consider these genetic ancestry tests. So it's not just a matter of what you claim, but it's a matter of who claims you."

 

[JDG]

Yes and in accepting each of those awards she represented and promoted Canada’s indigenous people. It’s not as if she was lip-syncing or faking her talent in some way in order to win these awards. Her adoption by the Piapots was well known or she wouldn’t have been eligible to win any Canadian awards at all.

True.

Had she told the Piapots she was an English/Italian girl from Mass. they likely would not have adopted her.

As a stolen baby from the reservation? yes, they took her in, it’s a cultural thing to reclaim a lost child.

So, she scammed them and used them. Wait until it sinks in, see how the FN people react in a week or two.

This is like a death in the family.

 

[HmmMysterious]

Honestly Buffy looks as if she could pass as Indigenous. Maybe she should take a DNA test and settle this. The birth certificate and threats of lawsuits against her own family are troubling.

 

[MistyWaters]

True.

Had she told the Piapots she was an English/Italian girl from Mass. they likely would not have adopted her.

As a stolen baby from the reservation? yes, they took her in, it’s a cultural thing to reclaim a lost child.

So, she scammed them and used them. Wait until it sinks in, see how the FN people react in a week or two.

This is like a death in the family.

That Star article is dated yesterday. I‘d speculate her assimilation, acceptance and promotion of their culture is more important to them than if she came from their reservation but time will tell.

 

[MyBelle]

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

ITA. Buffy launched her musical career in the '60s at a time when lives of young people were filled with sexism, racism, cultural discrimination alongside a horrific war a half-world away and the mandatory draft of our brothers. I sure remember the U.S. draft-dodgers that Canada embraced. Many of them refused to return even after they received a presidential pardon. Buffy is a music icon because she embraced a culture of diversity that many of us continue to embrace.

JMO

 

[JDG]

Honestly Buffy looks as if she could pass as Indigenous. Maybe she should take a DNA test and settle this. The birth certificate and threats of lawsuits against her own family are troubling.

DNA connection has been made.

Buffy’s sister and son share DNA.

 

[MistyWaters]

DNA connection has been made.

Buffy’s sister and son share DNA.

It’s kind of sad to read how her family has publicly turned on her, especially at her age. I must admit my mind fleetingly wondered if they were aware she had no intention of leaving them an inheritance.

 

[JDG]

It’s kind of sad to read how her family has publicly turned on her, especially at her age. I must admit my mind fleetingly wondered if they were aware she had no intention of leaving them an inheritance.

If she is forced to return everything of value, there will be nothing to inherit.

I bet they could guess, given her warm nature.

 

[MistyWaters]

If she is forced to return everything of value, there will be nothing to inherit.

I bet they could guess, given her warm nature.

Ha!

But just to say I don’t think anyone could force her to return everything of value as not all her lifetime accomplishments were associated to FN heritage so a future inheritance may still be up for grabs.

“Record producer, Social activist, Singer-songwriter, Musician, Composer, Visual Artist, Actor, Film Score Composer, Educator, Humanitarian”

Buffy Sainte-Marie Net Worth

What is Buffy Sainte-Marie's net worth?

www.celebritynetworth.com

 

[Lexiintoronto]

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

She claimed she was part of the Sixties Scoop, and suffered in Massachusetts growing up in a very white community. Her calling card was that she and her ‘Indigenous birth family’ were torn away from each other. None of that is remotely true. She’s a white woman who grew up with her biological parents.

Did you watch the Fifth Estate program?

 

[MerlinFalcon]

When I read her statement a couple of days ago, as well as the statement from her adoptive family, I was so angry st the CBC. I watched the show tonight because I read that a lot of Indigenous people are angry at her. Well after watching the show, I think she's a total fraud.

They spoke to a number of people, from Indigenous to her American-Italian family. She changed her story so much over the years.

I also was shocked when I saw her American-Italian parents. She looks SO much like them! The high cheekbones made me stop and look closer.

My apologies to CBC for doubting them. I should have known better. There is mo way they would go after such an icon without proof.

 

[MistyWaters]

She claimed she was part of the Sixties Scoop, and suffered in Massachusetts growing up in a very white community. Her calling card was that she and her ‘Indigenous birth family’ were torn away from each other. None of that is remotely true. She’s a white woman who grew up with her biological parents.

Did you watch the Fifth Estate program?

No I didn’t watch Fifth Estate yet but I have read I think every news article written about it.

 

[JDG]

Honestly Buffy looks as if she could pass as Indigenous. Maybe she should take a DNA test and settle this. The birth certificate and threats of lawsuits against her own family are troubling.

But being indigenous is not always about how you look.

I am a pale, blonde, freckled woman and if I pull into a reservation gas station to fill up, they always ask if I have a Treaty card. (No tax if yes)

Its possible to have a 1/4 genetic match but look like the other 3/4 of the family.

If you watched the 5th Estate show, one of the ladies speaking at the end is Métis but looks (to me) white.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

It’s kind of sad to read how her family has publicly turned on her, especially at her age. I must admit my mind fleetingly wondered if they were aware she had no intention of leaving them an inheritance.

I have watched The Fifth Estate one and to be fair, it seems that some family members have been trying to get the word out for years.
It's not something sudden. They didn't wait til she was an old lady to out her.

 

[Lexiintoronto]

No I didn’t watch Fifth Estate yet but I have read I think every news article written about it.

I read the CBC article and everything I could find on line prior to watching the Fifth Estate program. It completely changed my mind about what the facts are. I went into it angry at the CBC and came out of it stunned by what they uncovered.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

I'm still not going to condemn her, whatever happens.

 

[Lexiintoronto]

When I read her statement a couple of days ago, as well as the statement from her adoptive family, I was so angry st the CBC. I watched the show tonight because I read that a lot of Indigenous people are angry at her. Well after watching the show, I think she's a total fraud.

They spoke to a number of people, from Indigenous to her American-Italian family. She changed her story so much over the years.

I also was shocked when I saw her American-Italian parents. She looks SO much like them! The high cheekbones made me stop and look closer.

My apologies to CBC for doubting them. I should have known better. There is mo way they would go after such an icon without proof.

Same here! I was so angry at the Fifth Estate until I actually watched the program.

The CBC has endlessly celebrated her up until yesterday. And even with the exposé they tried to highlight the good she has done.

Her poor parents, this must have destroyed them.

 

[MistyWaters]

But being indigenous is not always about how you look.

I am a pale, blonde, freckled woman and if I pull into a reservation gas station to fill up, they always ask if I have a Treaty card. (No tax if yes)

Its possible to have a 1/4 genetic match but look like the other 3/4 of the family.

If you watched the 5th Estate show, one of the ladies speaking at the end is Métis but looks (to me) white.

I‘d agree it‘s become very difficult to tell FN status by appearance alone. I gather it’s most important for the FN person to fully embraces the culture and DNA is considered secondly. Generation upon generation in North America, every race including indigenous, purely anything has become a thing of the past.

But I think if FN people want to continue to embrace BSM as one of their own, that doesn’t bother me as it’s a decision that‘s best is left with them.