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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 award is the country’s highest honor presented to a civilian.

“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 [Mary Simon] on January 3, 2025.” The notice was given by Ken MacKillop, Secretary General of the Order of Canada.

The news was first reported in the Toronto Star late Friday and was
included in Saturday’s edition of Canada Gazette, the Canadian
government’s official publication.

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 listing Stoneham, Mass. as her place of birth, “color of
race” as “white,” and birth name as Beverly Jean Santamaria.

A representative of the Office of the Secretary to the Governor General
told Variety via email, “The Office of the Secretary to the Governor
General does not comment on the specifics of termination cases,” but
pointed to the organization’s web site, which reads in part: “The recommendation of the Advisory Council shall be based on evidence and
guided by the principle of fairness and shall only be made after the
Council has ascertained the facts it considers relevant.” The rep noted
that since its creation in 1967, more than 7,600 people from all sectors
have been invested into the Order. Terminations are rare; just nine people
to date.

Saint-Marie, who turns 84 on Feb. 20, has spent six decades as a musician
and activist, releasing 16 studio albums whose songs often address war and Indigenous rights. Her latest was 2017’s “Medicine Songs,” containing new
and re-recordings of older material.

Biographical information supplied by her team over the years states that
she was born on the Piapot Cree First Nations Reserve in Qu’Appelle
Valley, Saskatchewan. Her 2018 authorized biography also states she was
likely born Cree, while her website once said that she is “believed to
have been born in 1941 on the Piapot First Nation reserve in Saskatchewan
and taken from her biological parents when she was an infant.”

Piapot First Nation acting Chief Ira Lavallee asked her to take a DNA test
in 2023. “I do believe that we deserve a definitive answer from her,” he
told the Canadian Press, although no results have been publicized.

The “Sixties Scoop” is a dark period in Canadian history in which policies allowed for Indigenous children to be taken without consent from their
birth families and adopted by white families. Sainte-Marie has frequently
said she does not know where she was born and does not have her birth certificate, but was adopted by the Santamaria’s in America. In her early
20s, she was formally adopted into the Piapot family of the Piapot First Nation.

However, the investigation by Fifth Estate (a “60 Minutes”-style news
program) unearthed information that alleges Sainte-Marie is Italian-
American and that she threatened family members to hide that information
when she launched her music career in the 1960s. Family members were interviewed as part of the CBC investigation.

A much-beloved figure in Canada, the report caused a split in support,
some dismissing the information, others pointing to the good Sainte-Marie
has done over her lifetime, while others condemned her for being a “pretendian,” the name given to a person claiming to be Indigenous or have Indigenous heritage.

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.”

Major music bodies in Canada which have honored Sainte-Marie throughout
her career have not revoked her awards.

She has won seven Juno Awards, the country’s equivalent of a Grammy,
including 1997’s Best Music of Aboriginal Canada Recording, as it was
called then, 2009’s Aboriginal Recording of the Year, 2016’s Aboriginal
Album of the Year and 2018’s Indigenous Music Album of the Year.

In 1995, the Juno Awards inducted her into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame
and in 2017 gave her the Humanitarian Award. The Canadian Academy of
Recording Arts & Sciences (CARAS) did not respond to Variety’s request for comment about these recent developments and if her awards still stand.

The Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame also inducted Sainte-Marie in 2019.
Her song “Universal Soldier” was inducted in 2005. Her official bio at
that time, still on the CSHF web site, reads, “Born into a Cree family on
the Piapot First Nation in Saskatchewan in 1941, Beverly Sainte-Marie was raised by relatives in the Eastern USA.”

In 2015, she won Canada’s prestigious Polaris Music Prize for her album,
“Power in the Blood,” voted on by members of the music media.

In 2021, Canada Post issued a commemorative stamp of Sainte-Marie and the following year the Toronto International Film Festival premiered the documentary “Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It,” directed by Madison Thomas,
which won a 2023 International Emmy Award, and two Canadian Screen Awards.

On Nov. 3, 2023, after its own examination of the Fifth Estate’s findings, Sixties Scoop Healing Foundation, stood by Sainte-Marie, outlining its
decision in a statement. “The SSHF Board of Directors, Chief Executive
Officer and Staff unanimously stand by Buffy Sainte-Marie as an ally and advocate for the Sixties Scoop Survivor constituents of the Foundation,
whether or not she is herself an actual Sixties Scoop Survivor,” it
concludes, signed by the Board of Directors and CEO.

https://variety.com/2025/music/news/buffy-sainte-marie-stripped-order-of- canada-1236301460/

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