When the news broke last week about a CBC investigation into the indigeneity of acclaimed musician, Buffy Sainte-Marie, we both felt dismay. It's not an overstatement to say that St. Marie is an icon in the Indigenous world and her influence and example has extended far beyond her music. We both uttered an "oh no" and initially wondered whether an 82-year-old deserved this after a lifetime of positive influence.
I've since listened to and read a number of Indigneous leaders in various fields who have expressed their shock and dismay, admitting that they too are struggling to process evidence that St. Marie was not an adopted Sixties Scoop Indigenous child but the biological daughter of her American parents. For them so much more is at stake than for those of us who are part of the settler culture, including in Christian denominations which ere complicit in colonizing and subjugating Indigenous persons and cultures.
Over the past few years there have more and more people who have been "outed" for claiming Indigenous background. Some have been investigated by Indigenous communities and individuals who followed up on what seemed to be suspect assertions. Often it has been the families of these "Pretendians" who challenge what they know to be false narratives.
The pattern often includes claims of rising above adversity in disfunctional communities or adoption. Over time the story may take on additional detail and elaboration, even though the person also claims to have little background information which might bring clarity. The Indigenous community may change and even the region.
One of the issues with the Pretendians is that they have often taken away resources for education and advancement from Indigenous people. In Buffy Sainte-Marie's case, she received awards as an Indigenous person, as did novelist Joseph Boyden.
Some people are angry with the CBC, decrying this investigation as another act of colonialism. Yet the appropriation of identity by anyone cannot be dismissed. It's a form of theft. What if the broadcaster had not acted on the information which was provided to them? Would that have been considered a cover-up?
Most of the Indigenous voices I've heard have been measured, expressing grief while recognizing that the truth matters. As author Michelle Good noted, while individuals may be accepted and adopted into Indigenous communities it doesn't mean that they are Indigenous by birth or biological lineage.
It all makes me heavy-hearted, to be honest. I pray healing for all those who have been deeply affected by this news and that truth will be told.
2 comments:
Like you, I have a heavy heart about this.
The documentary "Carry It On" [2022] about Buffy was at our Film Festival's and TIFF and many others across North America last year. We saw a joyful Buffy -- a person who laid the groundwork for other indigenous performers, who educated children via Sesame Street, gently, on what Native Americans were like. She's done so much good........In her heart and spirit, she is Indigenous. But it may be that she is not by birth. -KB
That joyful Buffy is the one who comes to mind for me, Kathy. I continue to see responses from Indigenous persons as they process this revelation, including an opinion piece by Tanya Talaga in the Globe and Mail which I thought was caring and honest. Perhaps we'll come to a place of clarity along the way but there will be grief as part of the process. Thanks.
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