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Singer-Activist Buffy Sainte-Marie Stripped of Order of Canada, the Country’s Most Prestigious Civilian Honor
Buffy Sainte-Marie was stripped of the Order of Canada following reports that the 83-year-old singer-activist fabricated her Indigenous background.
Oscar-winning songwriter and Canadian Music Hall of Fame inductee Buffy Sainte-Marie, known for the anti-war song “Universal Soldier” and stolen-land lament “Now That the Buffalo’s Gone,” has had her prestigious Order of Canada appointment terminated, the Toronto Star reported late Friday. No specific reason for the termination was stated, but an investigation by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s “Fifth Estate ” show, published on Oct. 27, 2023 and now viewed on YouTube 1.5 million times, alleges that Sainte-Marie fabricated her Indigeneity, and presented a birth certificate shown on camera l isting Boston, Mass. On Oct. 26, 2023, Sainte-Marie issued a lengthy statement following the Fifth Estate report, with the headline “My Truth as I Know It,” calling them “deeply hurtful allegations” and stating “I have always struggled to answer questions who I am.” She maintains she is “proud of my Indigneous-American identity, and the deep ties I have to Canada and my Piapot family.” She explains “what I know about my Indigneous ancestry I learned from my mother” and concludes with “I may not known where I was born, but I know who I am.”
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