Billboard Canada

A new Canadian Broadcast Corporation investigation calls into question the Indigenous identity of singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie. It’s already opened up a broad conversation about identity and appropriation.
The bombshell investigation aired Friday (Oct. 27) on the YouTube channel of the program The Fifth Estate and will be available to stream on CBC Gem starting at 9 p.m. tonight.

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Sainte-Marie is one of Canada’s most decorated musicians. The artist and activist has won the Polaris Music Prize, multiple Juno Awards, an Academy Award for Best Original Song, and is the recipient of the Order of Canada and the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award.

She was named Billboard’s Best New Artist in 1964. She’s been recognized as a champion of Indigenous rights on an international level, from the stage to Sesame Street, where she educated children about Indigenous culture starting in the mid-1970s.

The documentary, however, says some of Sainte-Marie’s family members believe her claim to Indigenous heritage “is built on an elaborate fabrication.”

Sainte-Marie has previously said that she was adopted by her parents, Italian-Americans Albert and Winnifred Santamaria, and grew up in the predominantly white Christian suburb of Wakefield, Massachusetts. Later, as a young adult, she was adopted by Emile Piapot and Clara Starblanket Piapot of the Piapot First Nation in Saskatchewan in accordance with Cree law and customs.

She has mentioned that her mother, who she has said was part Mi’kmaq herself, told her that she was Indigenous and that there was no documentation of her birth. In a 2018 interview on CBC’s Q, she attributed this to the Sixties Scoop, a time in Canadian history when Indigenous children were removed from their homes and put up for adoption.

The documentary, which was made without participation of Sainte-Marie herself, features an interview with her younger cousin Bruce Santamaria, who disputes her claim of adoption. It also features quotes from other family members, including references to alleged sexual abuse. The investigation hinges on her birth certificate, which CBC obtained, which lists her presumed adopted parents as her birth parents and her race as white.

“I can say absolutely with 100% certainty that this is the original birth certificate. Beverly Jean Santamaria [later nicknamed Buffy] was born in Stoneham, Mass., at New England Sanatorium and Hospital on Feb. 20, 1941,” says Maria Sagarino, the town clerk in Stoneham.

Sainte-Marie’s lawyer contends that children adopted in Massachusetts were commonly issued new birth certificates with their adopted parents’ names (which the clerk denies).

Ahead of the investigation, Sainte-Marie put out a video in which she affirms herself as “a proud member of the Native community with deep roots in Canada.” She also put out a written statement entitled “My Truth As I Know It.”

“It is with great sadness, and a heavy heart, that I am forced to respond to deeply hurtful allegations that I expect will be reported in the media soon,” the statement reads. “Last month, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation contacted me to question my identity and the sexual assault I experienced as a child. To relive those times, and revisit questions I made peace with decades ago, has been beyond traumatic.”

“I am proud of my Indigenous-American identity, and the deep ties I have to Canada and my Piapot family.” In her statement, Sainte-Marie says she was told by her mother while growing up that she was adopted, and that later in life her mother told Sainte-Marie she may have been “born on the wrong side of the blanket,” a phrase typically used to indicate a child born to unmarried parents.

“For a long time, I tried to discover information about my background,” Sainte-Marie says. “Through that research what became clear, and what I’ve always been honest about, is that I don’t know where I’m from or who my birth parents were, and I will never know.”

My Truth As I know it – Buffy pic.twitter.com/CZjBMOcKP9
— Buffy Sainte-Marie (@BuffySteMarie) October 26, 2023

CBC contextualizes the investigation within a recent series of revelations around high-profile figures whose claims of Indigenous identity have been disputed, including filmmaker Michelle Latimer and author Joseph Boyden and a number of academics.

These thorny cases, often called “Pretendians,” have initiated conversations around who gets to claim Indigeneity and for what end – often to claim benefits or opportunities or shield themselves from criticism. Some Indigenous commentators are wondering whether Sainte-Marie meets the criteria to warrant this kind of scrutiny, and who should get to do it.

By contrast here’s the CBC’s test for when to tell a Pretendian story, and it’s on way less solid ground. It basically says if you are any noteworthy Native person, you meet the bar for CBC digging into your genealogy. The ‘benefits’ test in the BSM case seems very subjective. https://t.co/CnPm6Rav8u pic.twitter.com/lsf8rnV2Nx
— Robert Jago (@rjjago) October 27, 2023

Two members of the Piapot family also released a statement, affirming their kinship with Sainte-Marie.

“We grew up knowing that Buffy and our grandparents adopted each other and how deeply committed and loving they were to one another,” the statement from Debra and Ntawnis Piapot says. “Buffy is our family. We chose her and she chose us.”

“No one, including Canada and its governments, the Indian Act, institutions, media or any person anywhere can deny our family’s inherent right to determine who is a member of our family and community,” the family states.

The statement emphasizes the importance of Indigenous sovereignty in determining who can claim Indigenous identity. “Join us in protecting our right to uphold who we claim as family through our traditions and natural laws.”

Responses on X have pointed out that using government records to determine Indigenous identity can be fraught. In Canada, the Indian Act has historically been used to exclude people with clear Indigenous heritage from achieving “Indian Status” under Canadian law.

The one thing I’ll say about the Buffy Sainte-Marie thing is that my grandfather was listed as “white” on my mother’s birth certificate but as “Indian” on his WW2 draft card and he was born on Cattaragus rez and he looked like this, so regardless of anything, records are complex pic.twitter.com/vLM161126C
— Kristin Chirico (@KristinChirico) October 27, 2023

Many commentators have expressed that the investigation is painful for Indigenous communities.

We are now reviewing the material that CBC released on Buffy Sainte-Marie. Like all Indigenous peoples across the country we are slowly processing the information. Our hearts go out to all those who feel pain today. We will release a statement in the coming days.
— Indigenous Women’s Collective (@IndigenousWome4) October 27, 2023

This is all so harmful, hurts our communities, our aunties, our grandmas who adored her music and those who actually lived through the Scoop, foster system and adoption. Everyone will have their own feelings reading this. Please take care while doing so: https://t.co/cgEJXAYbHy
— Tanya Talaga (@TanyaTalaga) October 27, 2023

Others are asking who the investigation serves.

Who is served by this bomb. That’s the only question worth asking. Because it isn’t us. It isn’t any of us. But it’s our communities that are going to suffer and struggle long after this story fades. https://t.co/y5TQAMrxon
— daanis (@gindaanis) October 27, 2023

In the CBC investigation, Native studies professor Kim TallBear says she hopes the investigation will be a turning point when it comes to the phenomenon of white settlers claiming Indigenous heritage.

“This one should make it obvious that we have a real problem we have to address and that organizations and institutions and governments need to get on board and figure out how to stop this problem,” she said.

“And if it doesn’t happen after this case, then I don’t know where we go.”

Buffy Sainte-Marie, who is 82, retired from touring earlier this year for health reasons.

This article was originally published by Billboard Canada.

On this day in 2017, Gord Downie died at the age of 53. The frontman for the iconic Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip left an undeniable mark on the country’s cultural landscape and its charts. In the years since, his legacy has been dissected and cemented, with tributes coming in from Drake to Justin Trudeau. He was a champion of Indigenous reconciliation, a rock and roll poet, one of the continent’s best performers. He was a lot of things at once.
For Gord Downie’s daughter Willo Downie, it’s been difficult to grapple with the public perception of her father — who he was to the country and who he was to her. Six years since we lost him, she feels ready to reflect on the lessons he taught her and how it squares with the man the world knew through his music and writing. Now that she’s establishing her own artistic career as a visual artist, Willo Downie feels grateful for the gift he gave her: a life of art, and of art as a way of life. — Billboard Canada digital editor Richard Trapunski

Here is Willo Downie’s remembrance of Gord Downie for Billboard Canada:

To live is to create, and what a gift that is.

The greatest gift we can give in thanks for our life is creation.

I know and feel this deeply. My dad taught me.

Six years after his death, I still grapple with the public’s perception of who my dad was. It often feels surreal and overwhelming to reconcile. To me, for so long, he was “just” my dad. King of my heart, as a young girl.

But Gord Downie threw himself earnestly into each of the roles he filled — and they were many, beyond that of being a truly amazing father.

I can recognize that more deeply as each year goes by and I grow older myself. My understanding of his legacy is a tapestry that will continue to weave itself into completion, forever.

For as long as I can remember, my dad kept his public life very separate from his private life. His family, of course, fell under the arm of “private.” I will endeavour to respect that boundary even now, while I dive into what I consider to be a celebration of the beautiful life he led, here, in this piece.

Dad had cultivated his creativity within and around him until it had become the very foundation of his being by the time he turned thirty. And then he became a father. It’s one of my greatest points of pride — to have come from and been raised by a man who embodied, fully, what it meant to create one’s own life as though it were a work of art.

Your frame of mind. Your inner world. Your surroundings. Your relationships. Your work. It was all art to him — to be molded and shaped with diligence and intention.

The notion that we, as humans, are inherently creative beings permeated most decisions made and the interests us kids pursued… Music, painting and sculpture, food, dance, sports. Everything had an inherent beauty to it, in our parents’ eyes. Art was a vessel that could hold history, the opportunity for activism, a way to process pain and a way to celebrate joy.

I’ll never forget my school’s grade 9 “Take Your Kid To Work Day.” Dad took me to the Art Gallery of Ontario. We spent the entire day there, absorbing each of the collections and exhibits, together. He taught me a lot about the Group of Seven that day. Emily Carr, too.

I try to retrieve the reasoning behind that choice of his sometimes… of why he’d choose the AGO, of all places. In hindsight, I think he was trying to relay the message that his “career” was so much more to him than just one discipline, one art form. It was a way of life — the choice to move through the world in pursuit of beauty and truth. He was setting that example for me, too.

Fast forward a few years, and I can remember a specific conversation with my dad. I was choosing what to do after high school.

“Willo, what makes you happy?”

“A lot of things, dad…”

“What can’t you live without?”

“I need to paint”

“Then do that”

Then the doubt set in, and he responded, “Willo, choose, and you’ll make a way.”

That last line always stuck with me. This guy never minced his words. His choice to say “you’ll make a way” could very well have been “you’ll find a way” or, “the way will make itself known to you.” But he had chosen to try to empower me instead, to create the life and career I so desperately wanted — needed — in order to feel complete.

He was a man who continually chose to try, try, and try again. His dedication and discipline in his work got him to a place from which he was able to create with such output and raw, undiluted honesty. It was awe-invoking. Truly. The guy didn’t have an “off-switch.” He wouldn’t dare tamp down his life force — his will to create or advocate for others — for anything.

And so, his legacy: He lived to create, and he created, in pursuit of a loving, full life.

What an example to have set.

Here is a painting by Willo Downie with Gord Downie’s handwriting superimposed on top:

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This article was originally published by Billboard Canada.