About Buffy Sainte-Marie

On October 27, 2023 CBC News published Who is the real Buffy Sainte-Marie? and The Fifth Estate did a segment, Investigating Buffy Sainte-Marie's claims to Indigenous ancestry. In Native networks, people were asking questions in the days leading to the broadcast. 

Since then, many Native people have written about her and the investigation. Below is a set of links to the items I read. It is a curated list. I do not include articles that repeat the information shared in the CBC and Fifth Estate broadcast. I selected articles primarily by Native people, or that include interviews with Native people. These are being shared in Native circles. Based on all I've read, I've decided to withdraw my recommendation of her picture book, Still This Love Goes On, published by Greystone Books in 2022. I will insert a note to the page where I recommended that book. The articles are arranged chronologically. The date on which I added an item is provided in brackets. The list is a work-in-progress. 

October 25, 2023

Canadian documentary focuses on 'icon' who based career on Native identity by Acee Agoyo at Indianz.com. [Date added: November 11, 2023]

October 27, 2023

Who is the real Buffy Sainte-Marie? by Geoff Leo, Roxanna Woloshyn and Linda Guerriero at CBC News. [Date added: November 11, 2023]

Investigating Buffy Sainte Marie's claims to Indigenous ancestry at The Fifth Estate. [Date added: November 11, 2023]

Buffy Sainte Marie is an icon of mythic proportions. There's nothing simple about questioning her origins by Drew Hayden Taylor at The Globe and Mail. [Date added: November 11, 2023]

Acting Piapot chief, other Sask. Indigenous people react to CBC investigation into Buffy Sainte-Marie by Alexander Quon at CBC News. [Date added: November 11, 2023]

October 29, 2023

I loved Buffy Sainte-Marie. Now, like many Indigenous people, I feel betrayed by Darrel Mcleod at Toronto Star. [Date added: November 11, 2023]

October 30, 2023

Indigenous Women's Collective calls for Buffy Sainte-Marie's 2018 Juno to be rescinded after CBC News investigation at CBC News. [Date added: November 11, 2023]

An advocacy group devoted to amplifying the voices of Indigenous women says Buffy Sainte-Marie, a musician known for decades of Indigenous activism, appears to have engaged in a great deception regarding her origins as an Indigenous Sixties Scoop Survivor.

Two Indigenous artists react to questions raised about Buffy Sainte-Marie's ancestry at CBC Arts. The artists are ShoShona Kish and Michelle Good. [Date added: November 11, 2023]

Those who pretend to be Indigenous distract from the things that really matter by Tanya Talaga at The Globe and Mail. [Date added: November 12, 2023]

October 31, 2023

Unmaking an Icon Named Buffy Sainte Marie.  by Kevin Ward at The Tyee. [Date added: November 11, 2023]

As much as anyone, I want the allegations of her deception and dishonourable conduct to be untrue. I want her to stay firmly on the pedestal I and many others have put her on. But the evidence against her, as hard as it is to say, does not look good. And now I'm reeling, as are all Buffy fans, especially Indigenous ones like me. 

November 2, 2023

The supposed unmasking of Buffy Sainte-Marie doesn't bring vindication--only more hurt by Eden Fineday at IndigiNews. [Date added: November 11, 2023]

November 5, 2023

January Rogers laments Buffy Sainte-Marie ahead of new play debut about Indigenous identity theft at CBC News. [Date added: November 11, 2023]

Unraveling the Buffy Sainte-Marie controversy with journalist Tanya Talaga at Global News. [Date added: November 11, 2023]

November 7, 2023

'Duped': Indigenous musicians upset over Buffy Sainte-Marie ancestry story, at North Delta Reporter. [Date added: November 11, 2023]

November 8, 2023

What's the Point of "Pretendian" Investigations? by Michelle Cyca at The Walrus. [Date added: November 11, 2023]

Whether we like it or not, at least part of the truth has been revealed. It is up to Indigenous people to make sense of it, to reconcile our pain and disbelief, and to figure out how to move forward with care and respect for one another's responses to these revelations. That's our burden, one that the CBC, or any major news outlet, does not have to carry. They can move on to the next story.

November 9, 2023

Artistic producer for Niagara's Celebration of Nations calls on Junos to rescind Buffy Sainte-Marie's awards by Bill Sawchuk at The Standard. [Date added: November 11, 2023]

Tim Johnson, an Ohsweken resident and the artistic producer for Celebration of Nations held annually at the Performing Arts Centre in St. Catharines, said Sainte-Marie's deception about her Indigenous identity has caused incalculable reputational and financial damage to authentic Indigenous musicians. 

"When you are a Juno Award-winning artist, opportunities open for you both in terms of notoriety, income and prestige," said Johnson, a Mohawk, Wolf Clan, from Six Nations of the Grand River. 

Update on STILL THIS LOVE GOES ON by Buffy Sainte-Marie, illustrated by Julie Flett

Note from Debbie on November 12, 2023: I am withdrawing my recommendation of Still This Love Goes On due to an October investigation into Sainte-Marie's identity. I have compiled a list of articles, primarily from Native people, and hope you will read them. There's a lot to go through, and a lot to unlearn and learn. 

Still This Love Goes On

Written by Buffy Sainte-Marie (Cree)

Illustrated by Julie Flett (Cree-Metis)

Published by Greystone Kids

Published in 2022

Reviewed by Debbie Reese

Review Status: Highly Recommended

If Still This Love Goes On is not on your must-buy list yet, put it there right now. Better yet, order it, right now! 

You can read it as a book about seasons. You'll see people and animals on wide landscapes of snow, or fields of grass and flowers... Or, with the references to sweetgrass and drums and jingle dancers, you can read it as a book about Native people. Or, you can sing along with Sainte-Marie! You'll find her singing it on her album, Running For the Drum. If you read music and play an instrument, you can turn to the sheet music at the end of the book.  

Anyone who listens to Native musicians will recognize the name, Buffy Sainte-Marie. Anyone who reads and shares picture books by Native writers will recognize the name, Julie Flett. In other words, Still This Love Goes On is a magnificent gift to us all. 

"Debbie, Can you recommend any Native American folk songs?"

This post is long overdue. A few times since launching AICL, I've received a question similar to:

"Debbie, can you recommend any Native American folk songs" (or music or finger plays) "that I can use with young children?"

Each time, I write back to the person but each time, I've failed to fashion the reply into a blog post that I can point the next questioner to, so, today I'm trying to do that.

First thing to say is not a surprise: most of what is out there is stereotypical. I searched the Internet and found so very much---so very much---and it is so very, very bad. I found Hollywood's version of Native music (think about the music you hear in Westerns). I found songs about specific Native people---all of them with lyrics that slot Native people into the mythical story about the founding and history of the U.S.  And of course, I found the "Indian" counting song.

Given that many children walk into the school holding stereotypical ideas of Native peoples, chances are high that they'd be able to hear the Hollywood Indian music theme and say "that's Indian music" (or Native American, or American Indian).

The task, then, is to help them unlearn what they think they know about Native music by pointing out that the Hollywood Indian music was made up by someone who wasn't Native and that what they see in those Westerns is not accurate.

Move, then, to some music appreciation activities where kids listen to Native musicians. You could start with the familiar nursery rhymes---sung by Native singers.

Start by having your students sing Old McDonald Had a Farm. Then, show them this photograph of the Black Lodge Singers. Point out that they dress much like your students do, and that there are times when they wear traditional clothing, but that most of the time, they're dressed pretty much like everyone else.

On the right side of the drum are Kenny Scabby Robe, who is Blackfeet, and his wife, Louise, who is Yakima. The other people in the photograph are their children. They live on the Yakima Reservation in Washington. Pull out a map and show them where the Yakima Reservation is:

Tell students that the Black Lodge Singers are a well known drum group in the pow wow circuit. Read them Marcie Rendon's Powwow Summer so they learn what powwows are about:

And then, watch some of the videos of the Black Lodge Singers in action. Here they are singing Old McDonald Had a Farm:

And here they are singing "Kuna Matata." The footage includes Native children getting ready to enter a pow wow arena, and inside the arena, too.

There are other videos, too, but do make sure to buy their CDs. You can also talk with students about the Grammy Awards, and tell them that the Black Lodge Singers won a Grammy for their music.

From there, you can introduce them to Native musicians like Sharon Burch. She is Navajo, plays guitar, and her songs are a mix of Navajo and English. Though it isn't marketed for children, her CD, "Colors of My Heart," has many songs children can listen to, and can learn the lyrics, too.

At the Canyon Records site--an excellent resource, by the way--you can listen to portions of the songs on Colors of my Heart. 

Talk to them, too, about Robbie Robertson, by reading Rock & Roll Highway to them:

In a post I did last year, I pointed to work that Robertson did with The Band, and with Ulali, an acapella group. Check out this video:

Now--I realize that my suggestions don't fit within what you usually do in a music lesson or activity, but that's ok. You're a teacher, expanding what kids know. Give them something like I've suggested. Help them unlearn those dreadful stereotypes. And--for yourself and older children--spend time at the Canyon Records site. Get to know Native musicians.

I'll close this post with Buffy Sainte-Marie, singing Up Where We Belong. You may associate that song with Joe Cocker, but it is written by her, and performed by her here: I no longer recommend Buffy Sainte Marie's work. Details here: About Buffy Sainte Marie. 

Note: If you have something you want me to consider adding to this post, do let me know! Especially if you use something developed by Native people in your area.

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Update: 11:42 AM, Oct 30, 2015

In comments, Art Coulson, author of The Creator's Game: A Story of Baaga'adowe/Lacrosse, suggested Joanne Shenandoah's "All Spirits Sing" for children. She is Oneida. I don't see that CD at Canyon Records, but they do sell three of her CDs and you can hear segments of her songs at their site. Reading the material on the page, I had one of those "Doh!" moments. I failed to point to Floyd Crow Westerman earlier! His songs aren't for young children, but they're definitely among my favorites.

Art also recommended songs by the Mamas and the Papas, because Papa John Phillips was an enrolled Cherokee. I didn't know that! Thanks, Art!