Buffy Sainte-Marie responds to a report that questions her Indigenous heritage, saying she has never lied about her origins.

The singer-songwriter and activist says the recent CBC report was full of errors and omissions. In her first public statement since its publication, Sainte-Marie calls the story an attack on her character, her life and her legacy.

“Being an “Indian” has little to do with sperm tracking and colonial record keeping: it has to do with community, culture, knowledge, teachings, who claims you, who love, who loves you and who is your family,” Sainte-Marie, 82, said in a written statement provided to The Canadian Press.

CBC’s Chuck Thompson said in an email Wednesday that the broadcaster stands by the story and that the evidence was presented fairly.

CBC reported in October that it had found Sainte-Marie’s birth certificate, which indicates she was born in 1941 in Massachusetts. The document states that the baby and parents are white and includes the signature of an attending physician – information that CBC says is corroborated by Ms. Sainte-Marie’s marriage certificate, a life insurance policy and the US census.

Family members in the United States, including Buffy Sainte-Marie’s younger sister, also told CBC that she was not adopted and did not have Indigenous ancestry.

Ms. Sainte-Marie said she “will not stoop to responding to all the false allegations.”

However, she said it was common for birth certificates to be “created” after Indigenous children were adopted or removed from their families. She said she used a birth certificate throughout her life which was the only document she had.

She never knew if it was real, she said.

“I’ve heard countless people tell similar stories, who don’t know where they’re coming from and feel victimized by these allegations,” she said.

“The most important thing is my life – I’m not a piece of paper. »

Mr. Thompson said CBC was assured by a town clerk in Stoneham, Mass., that the document on file was an original living birth certificate and that it was not possible that another could have was inserted afterwards.

Ms. Sainte-Marie also indicated that CBC had interviewed two former members of the family whom she does not know. She accused them of perpetuating a story fabricated by her alleged childhood abuser.

CBC obtained a 1975 letter that Sainte-Marie and her lawyers sent to her brother, who has since died. The CBC report says family recollections and other written correspondence show the brother received the letter after informing someone at PBS that Ms. Sainte-Marie was not Indigenous.

Ms. Sainte-Marie wrote that if the brother tried to harm her, she would inform his family, his employer and the police of the alleged abuse.

“It hurts me deeply to find out that my ex-family grew up afraid of me and thinking these lies because of a letter I sent in an attempt to protect me from further abuse,” declared Buffy Sainte-Marie in the press release.

She added that she had evidence, including childhood diaries, proving the abuse. “This has been incredibly traumatic for me and unfair to everyone involved,” she said.

Thompson said CBC contacted Sainte-Marie, her lawyer and her publicist multiple times before releasing its report. He argued that Ms. Sainte-Marie had received a copy of the letter addressed to her brother, but had refused to comment.

Thompson also said the CBC cited Sainte-Marie’s public comments and biographies extensively in its report.

“We represented her voice to the best of our ability, despite the fact that she refused to speak to us,” he said.

Sainte-Marie’s indigenous culture was a central part of her identity as her fame began to grow in the 1960s. Her debut album, It’s My Way!, featured Now That the Buffalo’s Gone, a protest song about the loss of indigenous lands.

She brought First Nations culture to Sesame Street and is considered the first Indigenous person to win the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1982 for co-writing Up Where We Belong from the film An Officer and a Gentleman.

She has received several Junos and, in 2015, the $50,000 Polaris Music Prize. There have been calls for the accolades she has reaped over her six-decade career to be rescinded.

Earlier this week, a documentary about Ms. Sainte-Marie’s life and career won an International Emmy Award. Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On won in the artistic programming category.

The Indigenous Women’s Collective, which describes itself as mothers, grandmothers, academics and activists fighting to end colonial violence against Indigenous women, said the victory was like a “slap in the face”.

In her statement, Sainte-Marie thanked the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, saying the Emmy is recognition of the team who worked on her life story.

“I always thought it took rain and sunshine to create a rainbow. This great honor indeed comes after the rain – as I continue to absorb and process the recent attack on my character, my life and my legacy,” said Sainte-Marie.

The CBC report said the story of Sainte-Marie’s birth, childhood and identity changed throughout her career. She indicates that she identified herself as Algonquin and Mi’kmaq before saying that she was Cree, adopted by a mother from Saskatchewan.

Conflicting stories about her adoption have also been published, with some saying she was a baby and others saying she was a little girl when she was taken by an American family. Some say his biological parents died or his mother was killed in a car accident.

The documentary Carry it On discusses her childhood, calling her an “adopted child” born in Canada who grew up in Massachusetts and Maine. Buffy Sainte-Marie says that her mother told her that when she grew up, she could discover her ancestors herself.

Information provided by the singer’s publicist indicates that Ms. Sainte-Marie’s story matches what she knew. Growing up, her mother spoke of being a descendant of the Mi’kmaq people, whose language belongs to the Algonquian group. As an adult, she was adopted by a Cree family after oral history connected her to the Piapot First Nation.

Ms Sainte-Marie said she always struggled to answer questions about who she was. She tried to find information for decades, but ultimately realized she would never know.