Buffy Sainte-Marie, a musician known for her decades of Indigenous activism, says she has always been honest about not knowing the identity of her biological parents, as an upcoming CBC report is expected to call into question his First Nations ancestry.
“I don’t know where I come from or who my biological parents were, and I never will. This is why being questioned in this way today is painful,” said Ms.me Sainte-Marie Thursday in a press release.
“To those who question my truth, I say this with love, I know who I am. »
Mme Sainte-Marie, 82, said she was contacted last month by CBC and called their allegations about her identity “deeply hurtful.”
The CBC investigative show, The Fifth Estatemust broadcast an episode on Friday entitled Making an Icon. The episode description does not mention Mme Sainte-Marie, but says members of the icon’s family “question his claims to indigenous ancestry” and that the investigation includes genealogical documentation and historical research.
In an email, Chuck Thompson, director of public affairs at the CBC, said Thursday: “Beyond what is in the program description, we have nothing further to add. »
Mme Sainte-Marie also posted a video on social media about the upcoming episode, saying she has been sharing her story for 60 years. She called herself “a proud member of the deeply rooted indigenous community in Canada. »
“But there are also a lot of things I don’t know and about which I have always been honest. I don’t know where I come from, who my biological parents are, or how I ended up as a misfit in a typical white Christian New England home,” she pleaded in the video.
“I realized decades ago that I would never have the answers. »
Canadian Cree origin
Buffy Sainte-Marie became popular in the 1960s thanks to her singing and songwriting.
She used her fame to raise indigenous issues at a time when they did not receive much attention. His first album, It’s My Way!contained several notable songs, including Universal Soldierwritten on individual responsibility in war.
The musician also appeared in Sesame Street and is considered the first indigenous person to win an Oscar. She won the award for Best Original Song in 1982 for co-writing Up Where We Belongthe song from the American film Officer and gentleman.
His other honors include a Gemini, a Golden Globe and the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award. She was also named to the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1995.
Mme Sainte-Marie has spoken many times about her adoption, saying she was from Canada’s First Nations, but was raised by Albert and Winifred Sainte-Marie, the latter identifying as Mi’kmaq, in Massachusetts.
His 2018 authorized biography states that there is no official record of his birth. It says she was probably born Cree in the Piapot First Nation, in the Qu’Appelle Valley, Saskatchewan, in the early 1940s. Named Beverly, she was nicknamed Buffy in high school.
“To be born Cree in the 1940s in Canada was to be a person who did not always count, at least not in a formal and legal way,” the biography says. Birth records at the time, particularly on reservations, were irregular, with countless reports of records being lost or destroyed. »
The biography maintains that Mme Sainte-Marie was adopted for reasons that remain unclear.
The musician’s former lawyer, Delia Opekokew, was tasked with delving deeper into M’s Indigenous identityme Sainte Marie.
Mme Opekokew said in an affidavit that she conducted interviews with First Nations people in the area at the time, including Noel Starblanket, former leader of the Canadian Indian Brotherhood, which is today’s Assembly of First Nations (AFN).
Mr Starblanket shared an oral history saying the family explained that Mme Sainte-Marie had been born north of Piapot to a single woman “who could not care for herself” and then gave the baby to an American family who was in the area, according to the affidavit.
Search for answers
Mme Sainte-Marie said Thursday that the mother she grew up with, Winifred Sainte-Marie, told her she was adopted and may have been born “on the wrong side of the blanket,” that is. i.e. born out of wedlock.
His life stories show that Mme Sainte-Marie searched for answers about her biological family early in her career, which led her to a Saskatchewan couple — Emile Piapot, grandson of the then chief of the Piapot reserve, and Clara Starblanket , daughter of the chief of the File Hills reserve.
The biography mentions that the couple “would have had a daughter removed from the reserve at the time of M’s birthme Sainte Marie “. Other passages maintain that the couple had other children who died. Mme Sainte-Marie was adopted as an adult around 1964 according to Cree traditions into the Piapot family.
“But we never knew if I was a relative [biologique] or not,” underlines Mme Sainte-Marie in the book.
The musician, who announced her retirement from performing earlier this year, opened up about her relationship with Piapot in a podcast earlier this month, calling parts of the story an urban legend.
Throughout his career, conflicting stories about his adoption have been published. Some say she was a baby, others say she was two or three years old when she was taken by the American family. Some say his biological parents died and his mother was killed in a car accident.
“I was adopted by the Piapot family, and not by the Piapot reserve. That makes a big difference. »
The Piapot family said in a statement that the allegations against Mme Sainte-Marie are “hurtful, ignorant, colonial – and racist”. She argues that the singer was adopted into the tradition.
“We claim her as a member of our family and all members of our family are from the Piapot First Nation. For us, this carries far more weight than any paper document or colonial record,” the family said.
CBC has reported on numerous figures who have claimed to be Indigenous, including famed director Michelle Latimer, former judge Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond and former University of Saskatchewan professor Carrie Bourassa.
— With information from David Friend.