I’m full blooded Indigenous … I was born into my family, I have a status card, I grew up in my home community and my first language is Ojibway-Cree … I’m a brown skinned darked hair Indian … the first 12 years of my life, all I ever knew was my Indigenous culture, family and language.
The whole Buffy Sainte-Marie fiasco is not so much about who can identify, who should say what or who claim identity and how it should be accepted or rejected by anyone.
The biggest issue I have with this is … she lied and continues to lie. If she were more honest and forthcoming about who she really is and why she did what she did … everything would be more acceptable and we could continue to respect the work that she has created.
The questions surrounding all of this is a lot more difficult to answer when millions of dollars of awards, legal issues, and entertainment income are at stake.
Carrie Bourassa, Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, and Joseph Boyden were also all adopted into indigenous families. In all of those cases the point was made that adoption does not confer indigenous status.
In all these stories and in the story of Buffy … the core of the issue for me is … HONESTY
If any of them had been honest of who they were and what they wanted to do and why … most of these controversies wouldn’t have become as big an issue as they are now.
They all started from a base of dishonesty and continued that way without ever admitting fault. The biggest issue for me is not there identity … it’s the fact that they lied, continue to lie and live off those lies.