Posted on 05/15/2026 3:02:41 AM PDT by dennisw
An Oscar-winning musician has lost her honorary degree amid fallout after an investigation found she allegedly faked her Indigenous ancestry.
Buffy Sainte-Marie, 85, was awarded an honorary Doctors of Law degree from the University of Toronto in 2019.
At the time, university officials said she was being recognized for her work in music and the arts, as well as for her advocacy for 'the rights and dignity of all people.'
But on Wednesday, a governing council at the university voted to rescind Sainte-Marie's honorary degree following a petition, CBC reports.
The decision marks just the latest honor the singer, who won an Academy Award for co-writing 'Up Where We Belong,' has lost since a 2023 investigation revealed she may have built her entire career on deception.
As Sainte-Marie rose to fame with her anti-war anthem 'Universal Soldier' and 'Now That the Buffalo's Gone' in the 1970s, she told heartfelt stories about having Mi'kmaq heritage through her adoptive mother.
Yet the CBC revealed that the singer's birth certificate showed she was actually born Beverly Jean Santamaria to white parents in Massachusetts - not the Cree woman from Saskatchewan's Piapot First Nation she has claimed to be since the 1960s.
Sainte-Marie has since denied those allegations, as she insisted the investigation into her ancestry included 'fabricated' evidence.
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“Buffy Sainte-Marie, 85, was awarded an honorary Doctors of Law degree from the University of Toronto in 2019.”
lols Doctor of Laws .... why this? Why not honorary Doctor of singing or basket weaving or honorary Doctor of Scamming?
AI
Beverly Jean Santamaria (born February 20, 1941) — better known as singer Buffy Sainte-Marie — is of Italian and English descent
Elizabeth Warren is unavailable for comment.
She’s Elizabeth Warren’s sister..... 🤣
Maybe we should have less interest in Group Identity. You aren’t special just because of your ancestry. Just be yourself. Treat others as individuals.
Hyphenated last name....
“HIGH CHEEKBONES…”
“…MEEMAW SEZ I CAN HAS THEM.”
So, in other words, she got an honorary degree in the first place for her genes?
> an honorary Doctors of Law degree <
Fake Indian.
Fake degree.
So what’s the problem here?
Did she call the officials from the university “indian givers”?
A lifetime of people thinking she was wise and deep and it helped her make millions and to be taken seriously throughout her moneyed celebrity adulthood, and it turns out she was just one of those white people who could pass.
The larger issue is the fact that an honorary degree was conferred upon her simply due to her alleged “indigenous” ancestry. Why does simple ancestry qualify someone to receive an academic degree?
“Fake Indian.
Fake degree.
So what’s the problem here?”
The up side is that she’s qualified to run for Congress. It’s been done.
FR WIN OF THE DAY
At least she wasn’t Shanghai-ed into becoming a McGraw squaw.
This good woman should not be trashed. She grew up believing in her Indian ancestry and, in fact, contributed more to raise awareness of Indian’s plight than anyone I can think of. She is a truly creative and talented artistic voice and it seems shameful to demean her now.
Has Nolan cast her in The Odyssey yet?
“Yet the CBC revealed that the singer’s birth certificate showed she was actually born Beverly Jean Santamaria to white parents in Massachusetts - not the Cree woman from Saskatchewan’s Piapot First Nation she has claimed to be since the 1960s.”
So, for 85 years, she believed her birth certificate, and name were a lie? I’m going with for 85 years she found a way to cash in on the lie, and ran with it.
I was told I was a B-52 bomber by my brother. I didn’t buy it.
Some years ago I had one of those DNA tests done, and I am only about 5% actual Italian. I am Greek, Sardinian, and Jewish, in that order. Sicilian, maybe, because Sicily was a melting pot of the Mediterranean.
I’ll cut the lady some slack. She only knew what she was told.
Now if she had had her DNA tested and found out that she isn’t what she said she was and continued to say she was, then that’s another thing altogether.
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