Singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie stripped of Order of Canada

By Canadian Press on February 7, 2025.

OTTAWA — The appointment of singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie to the Order of Canada has been terminated by the Governor General.

The move was announced in the Canada Gazette, the federal government newspaper.

It says the appointment was terminated by an ordinance signed by Gov. Gen. Mary Simon on Jan. 3.

The move comes after a CBC report in 2023 questioned Sainte-Marie’s Indigenous heritage, saying it found a birth certificate that indicated she was born in 1941 in Massachusetts.

Family members in the U.S. told CBC that Sainte-Marie was not adopted and doesn’t have Indigenous ancestry.

Sainte-Marie’s Indigenous culture was a central part of her identity as she rose to fame in the 1960s, and she was won awards including multiple Junos and the Polaris Music Prize in 2015.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 7, 2025.

The Canadian Press