CHATTER AWAY: Overnight Open Thread

Variety reports:

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

An investigation by the CBC’s “Fifth Estate” show alleges that Sainte-Marie fabricated her Indigeneity, and presented a birth certificate shown on camera listing Stoneham, Mass. as her place of birth, “color of race” as “white,” and birth name as Beverly Jean Santamaria.

Biographical information supplied 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 authorized biography also states she was likely born Cree and and taken from her biological parents when she was an infant.

Read the full article.

Singer-Activist Buffy Sainte-Marie Stripped of Order of Canada, the Country’s Most Prestigious Civilian Honor https://t.co/1QYYgL0cip

— Variety (@Variety) February 8, 2025