Buffy Saint -Marie, stripped of prestigious Canadian honor – public radio Boise State

The Canadian government undressed Buffy Saint-Marie from one of the highest honors in the country after a news report in 2023 found that she had made claims for root origin.

The Oscar singer’s termination was publicly shared on Saturday at the Canadian Government’s official online publication, Canada newspaperS Canada Governor Mary Simon signed the action on January 3, according to the notice.

In an email to the NPR representative from Simon’s cabinet, he said the general governor “did not comment on the specifics of the termination cases”.

But the government’s termination policy states that its decisions are “on the basis of evidence and guided by the principle of justice and are taken only after the Council has established the facts it considers to be appropriate.”

The most famous for its anti-war anthem from 1964, “Universal Soldier” and co-authored the Oscar-winning song “Up Where Whee We Fancle”, St. Marie received the Order of Canada in 1997 for its services as local Canadians. According to the record in the Canadian Encylopedia, Saint-Marie has identified himself as Kri from the first nation of Piapot in Saskatchevan since the early 1960s and has long been recognized as a major radical artist.

The singer told NPR in 1988 that she did not see other folk musicians who turn to root problems when she first joined the music business. “Not only my contribution to the ignorant world of people may have wanted to know, but also a real attempt to change things, to overcome the gap between the Indian people and the rest of the world,” said Saint-Marie.

But an investigation into a Canadian radiation corporation in 2023 casts doubt on the singer’s allegations of root origin. The team said it was tracking the American birth certificate of the contractor, who said she was born Beverly Jean Santamaria in Massachusetts, to white parents.

Saint-Marie defended herself in a video statement that he posted on social media at the time.

“My grown-up mom, who was proud to be part of a mock, told me many things, including that I was adopted and that I was born,” said Sente-Marie. “And later in life, as an adult, she also told me some things that I never shared with respect for her. I hate to share now, including that I may have been born on the wrong side of the blanket.”

The singer also said she was always honest, that she did not know some details about her roots. “I don’t know where I am, who my parents are at birth, or how I found myself in a typical white, Christian, new England city,” she said.

According to the website of the Order of Canada, since its establishment in 1967, the honor has been provided to more than 7,600 people. “The Order of Canada is how our country distinguishes people who make an exceptional contribution to the nation,” the website said.

Sainte-Marie representatives did not immediately respond to NPR’s requests for comment.

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