Buffy Sainte-Marie's Order Of Canada Terminated By Governor General

The Governor General’s office has terminated singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie’s Order of Canada.

The move comes after a report in 2023 questioned Sainte-Marie’s Indigenous heritage, saying it found a birth certificate that indicated she was born in 1941 in Massachusetts and listed that both her and her parents as white.

Sainte-Marie’s Indigenous culture was a central part of her identity as she rose to fame in the 1960s and has won awards including multiple Junos and the Polaris Music Prize in 2015.

Among her many accolades, Sainte-Marie won an Oscar in 1983 for best original song, starred on six seasons of Sesame Street, influencing the show’s storylines, and founded the Nihewan Foundation — an organization dedicated to improving education of and about Indigenous people and cultures.

Sainte-Marie retired from performing in 2023, citing health reasons.