Singer-Activist Buffy Sainte-Marie Stripped Of Canada’s Top Civilian Honor

Oscar-winning songwriter and Canadian Music Hall of Fame inductee Buffy Sainte-Marie, known for the anti-war song “Universal Soldier” and the stolen-land lament “Now That the Buffalo’s Gone,” has had her prestigious Order of Canada appointment terminated.

Sainte-Marie, who turns 84 on Feb. 20, has spent six decades as a musician and activist, releasing 16 studio albums with songs often addressing war and Indigenous rights. I Photo: Buffy Sainte-Marie Facebook

The award is the country’s highest honor presented to a civilian, Karen Bliss reported for Variety.

“Notice is hereby given that the appointment of Buffy Sainte-Marie to the Order of Canada was terminated by Ordinance signed by the Governor General [Mary Simon] on January 3, 2025.”

The notice was given by Ken MacKillop, Secretary General of the Order of Canada. Sainte-Marie, who turns 84 on Feb. 20, has spent six decades as a musician and activist, releasing 16 studio albums with songs often addressing war and Indigenous rights.

Her latest, 2017’s “Medicine Songs,” contains both new songs and re-recordings of older material. Biographical information provided by her team over the years states that she was born on the Piapot Cree First Nations Reserve in Qu’Appelle Valley, Saskatchewan.

Her 2018 biography also states that she was likely born Cree, while her website said that she is “believed to have been born in 1941 on the Piapot First Nation reserve in Saskatchewan and taken from her biological parents when she was an infant.”

On Oct. 26, 2023, Sainte-Marie issued a lengthy statement titled “My Truth as I Know It,” calling the allegations against her “deeply hurtful” and stating, “I have always struggled to answer questions about who I am.”

She maintains, “I am proud of my Indigenous-American identity and the deep ties I have to Canada and my Piapot family.” 

She explains, “What I know about my Indigenous ancestry, I learned from my mother,” and concludes, “I may not know where I was born, but I know who I am.”

On Nov. 3, 2023, the Sixties Scoop Healing Foundation (SSHF) stood by Sainte-Marie, outlining its decision in a statement: “The SSHF Board of Directors, Chief Executive Officer, and staff unanimously stand by Buffy Sainte-Marie as an ally and advocate for the Sixties Scoop Survivor constituents of the Foundation, whether or not she is herself an actual Sixties Scoop Survivor.”