Oscar-winning singer Buffy Sainte-Marie accused of faking Indigenous heritage: 5 things to know about the ‘Pretendian’

nypost.com:

disinformation. As a self-proclaimed proud Cree woman, the Oscar-winning singer-songwriter and social activist has spent her entire career fighting for and focused on the issues facing Indigenous peoples in the United States and Canada.But a new blockbuster investigation by the Canadian Broadcast Corporation claims that Sainte-Marie is nothing but a fake.

From the beginning, Sainte-Marie, 82, professed that she was born on a Piapot Cree reservation in Canada and later adopted by Albert and Winifred Santamaria, who raised her near Boston, Massachusetts.“When I go home to the Cree reserve in Canada where I was born, I usually spend a few hours of every day teaching the Cree language,” she wrote in 1971’s “Buffy Sainte-Marie Songbook.” She repeated the claims of her heritage during an interview with the LA Times magazine, saying: “I was born on the Piapot Cree reservation near Craven, Sask.”Yet, several members of Sainte-Marie’s family have stepped forward to challenge these claims. “She wasn’t born in Canada.… She’s clearly born in the United States,” said Heidi St.

Marie, daughter of Sainte-Marie’s older brother, Alan. “She’s clearly not Indigenous or Native American.”Here’s five things you should know about Buffy Sainte-Marie, the singer accused of faking her indigenous roots. Freelance journalist Jacqueline Keeler exposed Sainte-Marie and labeled her a “Pretendian,” or a “pretend Indian,” after watching a PBS documentary on the singer in Fall 2022. “I’m just like: ‘Wait a minute.