Investigation Raises Questions About Buffy Sainte-Marie’s Indigenous Identity
A detailed investigation by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) has raised questions about the indigenous persona of singer/songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie. Sainte-Marie, who has been celebrated as the first Indigenous person to win an Academy Award for cowriting the song “Up Where We Belong” for the film “An Officer and a Gentleman,” has claimed that she was born on Tribal land and adopted by white parents. However, the CBC has obtained a birth certificate stating that Sainte-Marie was born to parents of European ancestry in Massachusetts.
The CBC’s report reveals that the birth certificate from Stoneham, Mass. lists Sainte-Marie’s name as “Beverly Jean Santamaria” and her parents as white. The document has been authenticated by Stoneham town clerk Maria Sagarino. These findings contradict Sainte-Marie’s claims of Indigenous heritage.
In response to the impending revelations, Sainte-Marie issued a statement on social media, expressing her pride in her Indigenous-American family and the deep ties she has to Canada and her Piapot family, the Cree family that officially adopted her as a young adult in the ’60s. She emphasized that her Indigenous identity is rooted in a profound connection to her community, which has played a significant role in shaping her life and work. Additionally, she mentioned that the CBC allegations forced her to confront and defend her experience as a survivor of sexual abuse, which she endured at the hands of her brother, Alan St. Marie.
The CBC’s report highlights that Sainte-Marie did not make allegations against her brother until he started disputing her claims of Indigenous ancestry in the early ’70s. These claims were included in her 2018 autobiography. The brother in question passed away in 2011.
According to the CBC, newspaper reports from the beginning of Sainte-Marie’s musical career in 1963 described her as Algonquin, full-blooded Algonquin, Mi’kmaq, half-Mi’kmaq, and Cree within a span of 10 months. The CBC consulted Jean Teillet, a lawyer and expert on “Indigenous identity fraud,” who explained that these mix-ups are significant since these nations come from different parts of Canada. The Mi’kmaq reside on the East Coast, Algonquin people are from Ontario and northern Quebec, and Cree people primarily belong to the prairies.
This controversy surrounding Sainte-Marie’s indigenous identity brings to mind the accusations faced by Sacheen Littlefeather, the activist who famously declined Marlon Brando’s Oscar on stage in 1973. The questions raised by the CBC’s investigation serve as a reminder of the complex issue of Indigenous identity and the importance of verifying one’s claims.