13 August 2025 - Buffy Sainte-Marie - Up Where We Belong

I need to open this up with a statement.   

I am extraordinarily angry with Buffy Sainte-Marie.

For many years, Sainte-Marie was seen as a pioneering Canadian Indigenous singer-songwriter and an outspoken advocate for Indigenous rights and culture. However, extensive investigative journalism - led notably by CBC’s Fifth Estate - revealed strong evidence that Sainte-Marie was not born into the Cree community, as she long claimed. Instead, her Massachusetts birth certificate reportedly indicates she was born to white parents - Italian, in fact - contradicting decades of her public narrative. 

She was not only not Indigenous - at all - she was also not Canadian - at all.  Sainte-Marie, in fact, was a Francophone-sounding version of her birth last name - Santamaria - that her parents changed to due to anti-Italian sentiments after the Second World War. 

That, in itself, is pretty bad.   But it gets worse. 

She spent years claiming an Indigenous identity and then leveraging it - for awards, visibility, resources, and representation, which was meant for other people. By her actions, she told the access of others, and their real First Nations stories. This isn’t just a personal failing but an act that perpetuates erasure, appropriation, and betrayal, especially given how fiercely Sainte-Marie was defended and celebrated for her supposed identity - with statements and threatened lawsuits. 

And she claimed she didn't mislead anyone, but this clip from Sesame Street says otherwise.

She may be "real", but her story about her heritage certainly was NOT.

I’m angry because Buffy Sainte-Marie made a career and earned accolades by claiming an identity and heritage that evidence now shows she didn’t have. This isn’t just a personal lie; it’s a harmful act that took away opportunities and space from genuine Indigenous people, betrayed the trust of fans and communities, and undermined the ongoing fight for First Nations voices to be heard and honored.

However, the one thing I cannot take away from her is that she is a songwriter with a rich and long resume.  She has won many awards for her songwriting and performing - many of which have rightly been stripped because she earned them at the expense of actual Indigenous voices.   However, her Academy Award for Best Original Song - that, I can't take away from her. 

She doesn't deserve her Juno Awards, but I can't say she doesn't deserve the Oscar. 

This song was featured in the movie An Officer and A Gentleman, and was a huge hit for Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes. It was a huge hit, and it was co-written by Buffy Sainte-Marie, in perhaps the most honest moment of her entire career. 

It's a real shame, because she made a lot of great music.  She's genuinely a gifted musician, and some of her albums are must-listens, even after all this.  But she tarnished her own legacy.

Here she is performing the most honest song she ever wrote.