indiginous people, anti-war (particularly Vietnam), decent, and more.

The real question is how this egregious fraud lasted 60 years. It is nothing less than a disgrace. All the people who spoke in the program acknowledge her talent and good work. However, she took what did not belong to her, awards and honors meant for indigenous people. And that is a betrayal that must cut very deep.

Read that in a couple of places - can't remember where.

Very convoluted and unfortunate story
If true..

Did she do First Americans any good with her activism? If she did, and if it was enough, perhaps some. First Nation could consider adopting her?

As for me, I don’t qualify for First Nation status. My ancestors crossed the Atlantic after 1620.

I am curious if Buffy's background is anything like that? Twain is considered Temagami by the Temagami.

"Twain was born Eilleen Regina Edwards in Windsor, Ontario, on August 28, 1965,[24] to Sharon (née Morrison) and Clarence Edwards. She has two sisters, Jill and Carrie Ann. Her parents divorced when she was two and her mother moved to Timmins, Ontario, with her daughters. Sharon married Jerry Twain, an Ojibwa from the nearby Mattagami First Nation, and they had a son, Mark, together. Jerry adopted the girls and legally changed their surname to Twain. When Mark was a toddler, Jerry and Sharon adopted Jerry's baby nephew Darryl when his mother died. Because of Twain's connection to Jerry, the media have incorrectly reported that she is of Ojibwe descent. When questioned as to why she chose not to publicly acknowledge Edwards as her father for years she stated:

My father [Jerry Twain] went out of his way to raise three daughters that weren't even his. For me to acknowledge another man as my father, a man who was never there for me as a father, who wasn't the one who struggled every day to put food on our table, would have hurt him terribly. We were a family. Step-father, step-brothers, we never used that vocabulary in our home. To have referred to him as my step-father would have been the worst slap across the face to him.[26]

She currently holds a status card and is on the official band membership list of the Temagami First Nation."

Her own family says that they have no indigenous ancestry and that she completely fabricated her origin story. Her birth certificate says she was born in Stoneham, Massachusetts and her parents were white. There is no Canadian First Nation family that she is related to by birth, a claim she started making in 1960.

I just find the whole thing very sad.

It is, because she has been a good activist for a long time.

In Sioux Falls SD. They started in SD right?

They still play shows at casinos and small venues.

https://indigenousrocks.com/

Yikes. Her family told media outlets back in the '70s she had no indigenous ancestry. Her brother met a Sesame Street producer who remarked that he looked white. He responded that, in effect, Buffy was white, too. Her lawyers sent him a threatening letter and she eventually accused him of sexual abuse. (Which may well be true. I don't know.)

Buffy's done a lot of good in her life. I've always liked her. But -- wow.

My Truth as I Know It

It is with great sadness, and a heavy heart, that I am forced to respond to deeply hurtful allegations that I expect will be reported in the media soon. Last month, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, contacted me to question my identity and the sexual assault I experienced as a child.

To relive those truths, and revisit questions I made peace with decades ago, has been beyond traumatic. But I know I owe it to those I love, and those who support me, to respond.

I am proud of my Indigenous-American identity, and the deep ties I have to Canada and my Piapot family.

More from this article: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/buffy-sainte-marie-releases-statement-about-indigenous-heritage-ahead-of-investigative-report/ar-AA1iUoVR

Is that she threatened people who were in a position to expose her fraud.

Sounds like someone else we all know.

These dna testing sites have really bursted some people’s bubble.

DNA showed 0%.

DH said, "My dad would rather climb a tree and tell a lie than stay on the ground and tell the truth."

But stories get told in a family. Maybe he was always told he was part Cherokee. There are a lot of people out there who think they've got Native American in them.

She isn't....

when they told the truth about her ancestry.

who was adopted by a Native family and then took on their cultural identity.

Then she reversed the adoption story to claim that she was born Native and adopted by a Caucasian family.

Why she rejected her biological family and their culture is unknown. She claimed to have been sexually molested. Was that made up in order to protect her career and prevent exposure of her origins? Or is there any truth to the molestation claim?Possibly molested by someone besides her brother but he was targeted because he was a threat to her career?

Her claim to be culturally Native is legitimate since she was adopted into a Native family and accepted their culture as her own. For example, if someone comes to the US from another country and becomes a naturalized citizen, it is legitimate for then to call themselves an American.

The lie is in her claim to be Native by birth. Only she knows why it is important to her to perpetuate that lie.

Her dad's Italian with a changed name from Santamaria to Sainte-Marie. Both parents are listed as white. However, her mother could still be native-american. Who knows? It was the 60's and it was in vogue to be Native American. Look at Cher. She really did a job on the Armenians by claiming she was Native American. She did until very recently. That's entertainment. Certainly more entertaining then being Armenian.

Thank goodness my kids don't have to lie about being Native-American! They are 1/4. But it's south of the border Native-American, so I don't know if it counts. Hubby's DNA is 50% NA. "I'm not a member of a tribe, OK"
But they are also 1/4 Armenian.

that they adopted her into their family when she was in her 20s. The head of the tribal nation said the same thing. Adoption of non Native people into a tribe is a thing that happens in Native cultures. It does not necessarily mean adoption of a child to raise.

Tribal nations have their own rules about adopting non Natives. Among the Seneca, for example, you would have to be adopted into a clan in order to be accepted as Seneca. That is usually reserved for someone who, although not Seneca by birth, has contributed to the Seneca nation's well being. It is not hereditary. The adopted person's membership does not pass on to his or her descendants.

That dude legit made a career "acting" as if he were indigenous. When I was in Boy Scouts in the 80's/early90's, the Boy Scout Reservation where we held summer camp brought Iron Eyes out in full "regalia" for an event and pictures with the scouts.

It's fine the Piapot First Nation will not turn its back on her - and they have every right to do what they feel is right for their community. But the entire story is rotten. She lied about being adopted. She lied about her background. She made claims she was sexually molested as a child by her brother and now you gotta wonder if those were lies too.

She completely fabricated her story.

It doesn't take away the good she's done but it's absolutely an awful look for her and should raise questions about her sincerity and decency.

This is shocking, indeed. You mean, she's been Dolezalling all this time????!!!!

EDIT: Watching the program now... this is insane!

It is pretty insane.

Insane for sure.

60 years of folk music to endear herself first. But, it's weird AF. This lady's a total fraud. A person of Italian/English descent passing herself off as Native American her entire life---and she knew what she was doing too...

what is next? a 23 and me test before you can buy green beer on st pats day?

Maybe if she was trying to wrangle a share of casino proceeds that go to tribal members...but she does not appear to be going after monetary gain.....

Maybe she believed family stories.....
seem i might be a distant relative to an SS general executed during ww2
Family never talked about him

She did take what was not hers. She spent six decades accepting awards and honors that were meant for indigenous artists. She accepted being presented as a representative of Canada's First Nations peoples. She presented her music as being inspired by her experience as an indigenous person.
There were no family stories. It is all a lie.

it was common in those days for an adopted child in most states to be given a completely new birth certificate with the adoptive parents' names on it, wiping out their birth parents' names. This happened to a friend of mine, born more recently than Buffy. Secondly, this whole thing was brought up by her brother, who I believe may be retaliating for her accusing him of sexually abusing her as a child. So there are those two things to consider before you buy this story.

that there was no new certificate issued--she wasn't adopted, she wasn't born in Canada. There is only one birth record. There is no question about that, according to Massachusetts and Canadian officials who control the records.

Both parents are listed as "White" on her birth certificate. She was raised by her birth parents.

Many relatives have come forward to say she fabricated her ancestry. Further, officials at city hall in Stoneham, Massachusetts unequivocally verified that the birth certificate is the original birth certificate issued at her birth to her two white parents and is NOT a new certificate issued after an adoption.

CBC travelled to Stoneham, Mass., three kilometres from Sainte-Marie’s childhood home, to see the birth certificate she has claimed for years doesn’t exist.

Town clerk Maria Sagarino showed CBC the secure vault that contains all Stoneham birth certificates.

She flipped through a 1941 binder until she reached Feb. 20 — certificate No. 49.

She pulled Sainte-Marie’s original, handwritten birth certificate from its clear plastic sleeve. It was signed by Dr. Herbert Land — the same doctor who delivered Sainte-Marie’s sister, Lainey, in 1948. He certified that Sainte-Marie was born at 3:15 a.m. to Albert and Winifred Santamaria.

“This is the original that came from the hospital,” said Sagarino, who has worked at the Stoneham town hall for more than 20 years. “There’s no refuting this because it’s in my custody from my files in my vault.”

In her email to CBC, Sainte-Marie’s lawyer said: “Research has also revealed that children adopted by parents in Massachusetts were commonly issued new Massachusetts birth certificates with the name of their adoptive parents.”

CBC asked Sagarino if that happened in this case.

She said no.

“It doesn’t appear that she was adopted in any way, shape or form,” Sagarino said.

She said if Sainte-Marie had truly been adopted from Saskatchewan, the file would contain her legal adoption records and proof she entered the United States.

Instead, her file only contains an original Stoneham birth certificate.

“If you were to look at all the other ones in the book you would see the same thing,” she said. “They’re all set up the same way with the same information because it is a template.”

Furthermore, she said, as each certificate is registered, it is given a number and filed in chronological order.

So if Sainte-Marie was truly born in Saskatchewan on Feb. 20 as her 2018 biography indicates, and weeks or months later adopted into Massachusetts, it would be difficult to explain how birth certificate No. 49 sits neatly between baby 48 born on Feb. 18 and baby 50, born Feb. 24.

“I can say absolutely with 100 per cent certainty that this is the original birth certificate. Beverly Jean Santamaria was born in Stoneham, Mass., at New England Sanatorium and Hospital on Feb. 20, 1941,” said Sagarino.

https://www.cbc.ca/newsinteractives/features/buffy-sainte-marie

FWIW, I would love for this story to turn out not to be true, but so far the evidence says otherwise.

Look, I get you may love her music, but she's a fraud. She knowingly misrepresented herself for DECADES! This is not OK, no matter how much you may love an artist's work.