The Order of Canada appointment of Canadian singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie has been formally revoked due to allegations that she falsified her Indigenous ancestry. Her appointment was terminated on January 3, 2025, as confirmed by a recent notice published in the Canada Gazette.
The 83-year-old Sainte-Marie has long been praised for her music with an activist bent, such as "Universal Soldier" and "Now That the Buffalo's Gone." Because she co-wrote the 1982 hit song "Up Where We Belong," she was once regarded as the first Indigenous person to win an Oscar. But in 2023, a story by CBC's Fifth Estate offered proof that refuted Sainte-Marie's claims of Cree ancestry, including a birth certificate that listed her name as Beverly Jean Santamaria and her race as "white." Even while she still maintains close ties to the Piapot Cree First Nation and denies any wrongdoing, the Canadian government's move has reignited discussion about her legacy.
Sainte-Marie is now one of just nine people to have had their Order of Canada revoked since it was created in 1967, according to a statement from the Office of the Secretary to the Governor General. The statement did not go into detail. Ira Lavallee, the acting chief of Piapot First Nation, has requested that Sainte-Marie take a DNA test because she needs to know more about her past.