Singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie has been stripped of her appointment to the Order of Canada, the nation’s second-highest award for merit.

The action comes more than one year after an investigation that found the 83-year-old singer allegedly lied about her Indigenous heritage, People reported.

Governor General Mary Simon ended the appointment for the Academy Award-winner on Jan. 3. The order was signed by Ken MacKillop, the secretary general of the Order of Canada. The notice was posted in the government’s official publication on Feb. 7.

A reason for the termination was not given. Sainte-Marie received the appointment in 1997.

“The Office of the Secretary to the Governor General does not comment on the specifics of termination cases,” the Governor’s General told the Toronto Star in an emailed statement.

The newspaper attempted to contact Sainte-Marie through her management office, which has not responded.

However, the termination follows a CBC investigation that raised doubts about Sainte-Marie’s Indigenous heritage.

Sainte-Marie’s Indigenous culture was a central part of her identity as she rose to fame during the 1960s, the news agency reported.

She won an Oscar in 1982 for Best Original Song for co-writing “Up Where We Belong” for the film “An Officer and a Gentleman.” She was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1995.

Sainte-Marie’s biography in the Hall of Fame states that she was born on a Plains Cree First Nation reserve in Saskatchewan on Feb. 20, 1941, and was adopted as an infant and raised in Maine and Massachusetts.

According to the CBC investigation, a birth certificate states that she was born in Massachusetts and that her birth name as Beverly Jean Santamaria.

The document lists the baby and parents as white and includes a signature of an attending physician — information CBC said is corroborated by Sainte-Marie’s marriage certificate, a life insurance policy and the United States census.

In November 2023, Sainte-Marie responded, the Star reported. He said she had never lied about her identity, and that the investigation report was full of mistakes and omissions. She said the story was an attack on her character, life and 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 you love, who loves you and who’s your family,” Sainte-Marie said in a written statement to The Canadian Press.

Sainte-Marie said she “will not stoop to respond to every false allegation.”

Sainte-Marie has received numerous Indigenous music awards over her career, including four Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards, two Indigenous Music Awards, four Junos designated for Indigenous people and four Indigenous lifetime achievement awards, People reported.

©2024 Cox Media Group