Buffy Sainte-Marie, a musician known for decades of Indigenous activism, says sheB次元官网网址檚 always been honest that she doesnB次元官网网址檛 know the identity of her birth parents, as a CBC report was expected to question her First Nations ancestry.
B次元官网网址淚 donB次元官网网址檛 know where IB次元官网网址檓 from or who my birth parents were, and I will never know. Which is why to be questioned in this way today is painful,B次元官网网址� Sainte-Marie said Thursday in a statement.
B次元官网网址淭o those who question my truth, I say with love, I know who I am.B次元官网网址�
Sainte-Marie, whoB次元官网网址檚 in her early B次元官网网址�80s, said she was contacted last month by CBC and called allegations about her identity B次元官网网址渄eeply hurtful.B次元官网网址�
CBCB次元官网网址檚 investigative show B次元官网网址淭he Fifth EstateB次元官网网址� is scheduled to air an episode titled B次元官网网址淢aking an IconB次元官网网址� on Friday. A description of the episode does not name Sainte-Marie but says an iconB次元官网网址檚 B次元官网网址渃laims to Indigenous ancestry are being called into question by family membersB次元官网网址� and its investigation includes genealogical documentation and historical research.
Chuck Thompson with CBC said in an email Thursday, B次元官网网址淏eyond whatB次元官网网址檚 in the program description, we have nothing more to add.B次元官网网址�
Sainte-Marie also posted a video on social media addressing the upcoming episode, saying she has shared her story for 60 years. She called herself B次元官网网址渁 proud member of the Native community with deep roots in Canada.B次元官网网址�
B次元官网网址淏ut there are also many things I donB次元官网网址檛 know, which IB次元官网网址檝e always been honest about. I donB次元官网网址檛 know where IB次元官网网址檓 from, who my birth parents are or how I ended up a misfit in a typical white Christian New England home,B次元官网网址� she said in the video.
B次元官网网址淚 realized decades ago that I would never have the answers.B次元官网网址�
Sainte-Marie Sainte-Marie became popular in the 1960s for her singing and songwriting, and used her fame to elevate Indigenous issues at a time when they werenB次元官网网址檛 receiving much attention. Her debut record, B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 My Way!,B次元官网网址� featured several notable songs, including B次元官网网址淯niversal Soldier,B次元官网网址� written about the individual responsibility for war.
The musician also appeared on B次元官网网址淪esame StreetB次元官网网址� and is credited with being the first Indigenous person to win an Oscar. She won for best original song in 1982 for co-writing B次元官网网址淯p Where We Belong,B次元官网网址� the ballad from the movie B次元官网网址淎n Officer and a Gentleman.B次元官网网址�
Other accolades include a Gemini, a Golden Globe and the Governor GeneralB次元官网网址檚 Performing Arts Award. She was also named to the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1995.
Sainte-Marie has repeatedly spoken about her adoption, saying she is First Nations from Canada but was raised by Albert and Winifred Sainte-Marie, the latter who identified as part MiB次元官网网址檏maq, in Massachusetts.
Her 2018 authorized biography says thereB次元官网网址檚 no official record of her birth. It says she was probably born Cree on Piapot First Nation in the QuB次元官网网址橝ppelle Valley in Saskatchewan in the early 1940s. Named Beverly, she was nicknamed Buffy in high school.
B次元官网网址淭o be born Cree in the 1940s in Canada was to be a person who was not always counted, at least not in a formal and legal fashion,B次元官网网址� the biography says. B次元官网网址淏irth records from the time, particularly on reserves, were spotty, and there are countless reports of records being lost or destroyed.B次元官网网址�
The biography says Sainte-Marie was adopted for reasons that are unclear.
Delia Opekokew, the musicianB次元官网网址檚 former lawyer, was tasked with delving into Sainte-MarieB次元官网网址檚 Indigenous identity.
Opekokew said in an affidavit that she conducted interviews with First Nations people of the area at that time, including Noel Starblanket, a former national chief of the National Indian Brotherhood, which is now the Assembly of First Nations.
Starblanket shared oral history saying family had explained that Sainte-Marie was born north of Piapot to a single womanB次元官网网址渨ho could not care for her,B次元官网网址� and then gave the baby to an American family who happened to be in the area, the affidavit said.
Sainte-Marie said Thursday that her B次元官网网址済rowing-up mom,B次元官网网址� Winifred Sainte-Marie, told her she was adopted and may have been born B次元官网网址渙n the wrong side of the blanket,B次元官网网址� meaning born out of wedlock.
Accounts of her life say Sainte-Marie searched for answers about her birth family early in her career, which led her to a Saskatchewan couple B次元官网网址� Emile Piapot, grandson of then-chief of the Piapot reserve, and Clara Starblanket, daughter of the chief of the File Hills reserve.
The biography says the couple B次元官网网址渞eportedly had a daughter taken from the reserve around the time Sainte-Marie was born.B次元官网网址� Other accounts say the couple had other children who died. About 1964, Sainte-Marie was adopted as an adult through Cree traditions into the Piapot family.
B次元官网网址淏ut we never have known whether IB次元官网网址檓 a (biological) relative or not,B次元官网网址� Sainte-Marie says in the book.
Sainte-Marie, who announced she was retiring from live performances earlier this year, referred to her relationship with Piapot in a podcast earlier this month, calling parts of the story an urban legend.
Throughout her career, conflicting stories about her adoption have been published. Some say she was an infant, others that she was two to three years old when she was taken by the American family. Some say her birth parents died, and her mother was killed in a car crash.
B次元官网网址淚 was adopted into the Piapot family, not I was adopted out of Piapot reserve. That makes a big difference.B次元官网网址�
The Piapot family said in a statement that allegations against Sainte-Marie are B次元官网网址渉urtful, ignorant, colonial B次元官网网址� and racist.B次元官网网址� They said the singer was adopted in the traditional way.
B次元官网网址淲e claim her as a member of our family and all of our family members are from the Piapot First Nation. To us, that holds far more weight than any paper documentation or colonial record keeping ever could,B次元官网网址� the family said.
CBC has reported on numerous notable people who have claimed to be Indigenous, including acclaimed film director Michelle Latimer, former judge Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond and former University of Saskatchewan professor Carrie Bourassa.
READ ALSO:
