Oscar-winning folk singer Buffy Sainte-Marie’s Indigenous roots questioned, dubbed ‘pretendian’ in bombshell report
nypost.comCanadian Broadcast Corporation feature on the singer-songwriter has led to accusations that Sainte-Marie is a “pretendian” — the term coined for people who fake having Indigenous ancestry.
Sainte-Marie, 82, claimed that she was born on a Piapot Cree reservation in Canada and was adopted by white parents as part of the country’s infamous Sixties Scoop in which Indigenous children were removed from their families and adopted by white families in a government policy of forced assimilation.But the recent CBC report cites a birth certificate that states the singer was born “Beverly Jean Santamaria” in Stoneham, Massachusetts to parents of European lineage.
It also quotes several family members who claim “her story is an elaborate fabrication.”Sainte-Marie shared her Cree culture with youths across the nation when she appeared on Sesame Street in the 1970s and she has won numerous awards including an Oscar in 1983 for co-writing the song “Up Where We Belong” — for which she became considered the first Indigenous person to win the prestigious award.
She rose to success among other folk singers in the early 1960s and has reappeared in pop culture in recent years thanks to exhibits, podcasts and documentaries on her life legacy and work fighting for Indigenous people.
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