Progressives cancel Buffy Sainte-Marie after indigenous ancestry questioned by CBC documentary

"This deception allowed her to benefit from a very deliberate and false narrative that misled thousands of Indigenous youth, adults and most tragically, Indigenous survivors of colonial harm," reads a meandering statement from the Indigenous Women's Collective.

The leftist advocacy group is also insisting on public disgrace for the entertainer and has demanded that Sainte-Marie’s 2018 Juno award – the Canadian equivalent of a Grammy – be rescinded for the alleged deception.

Sainte-Marie has been a musical icon in Canada and the world for five decades and her debut album in 1964 also won a Juno.

She was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1995, when she declared, "Most especially in the whole wide world, I'd like to acknowledge all the grassroots Indian artists who haven't yet taken home a Juno, but who continue, as they have in the past, to capture our hearts at powwows across Canada, doing that magic which music does so well.”

But despite a wealth of talent and professional longevity, the singer’s reputation appears to rest entirely on the veracity of her race.

According to Saint-Marie, she was born near Regina, Saskatchewan as part of the Piapot First Nation. But that account was denied by the CBC’s The Fifth Estate, after allegedly locating her birth certificate, she was born in 1941 in Stoneham, Mass. The CBC says the document describes her parents as Caucasian while it insists it has found corroborating evidence in a marriage certificate, a life insurance policy and the United States census.

In a statement rejecting the veracity of CBC’s claims, Sainte-Marie said she has never known the identity of her birth parents but remains "a proud member of the Native community with deep roots in Canada."

The Women’s Indigenous Collective, which describes its role as supporting “LGBTQ+, grandmothers, daughters, aunties, artists, academics, lawyers, and activists with one voice to Stop Colonial Violence Against Indigenous Women,” said the accusation against Sainte-Marie will have a profound impact on all natives.

“The recent CBC reports have triggered many who struggle against sexual assault, the 60s Scoop and intergenerational traumas resulting from colonial violence.”