Buffy Sainte-Marie performs at the Toronto International Film Festival's kick off event in Toronto on Thursday, Sept. 8, 2022. CBC says legendary musician Buffy Sainte-Marie’s birth certificate, other documents and details from family members contradict the singer's claim that she is Indigenous. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Alex Lupul
CBC says legendary musician Buffy Sainte-Marie’s birth certificate, other documents and details from family members contradict the singer’s claim that she is Indigenous.
Sainte-Marie said Thursday ahead of the report that she doesn’t know who her birth parents are or where she’s from.
She called herself “a proud member of the Native community with deep roots in Canada.”
CBC located her birth certificate, which says Sainte-Marie was born in 1941 in Stoneham, Mass., and the document lists the baby and parents as white.
CBC says Sainte-Marie’s marriage certificate, a life insurance policy and a United States census corroborate the information on the birth certificate.
Family members in the U.S., including Sainte-Marie’s younger sister, told the public broadcaster that Sainte-Marie was not adopted and does not have Indigenous ancestry.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 27, 2023.
