Dressed in a glittering dress and long necklace, singer Buffy Sainte-Marie was led onto the stage by a group of Indigenous people in traditional clothing following her induction into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1995.
With her signature dark hair and bangs, she spoke to the crowd about the importance of artists from remote communities.
Particularly around the world, I would like to thank all the local Indigenous artists who have yet to win a Juno Award but, as in the past, continue to win our hearts at powwows across Canada by creating this magic that music creates “Well “said Buffy Sainte-Marie to applause.
Those words now ring hollow to some Indigenous musicians after a recent CBC News report cast doubt on the singer’s ancestry.
Some musicians say they are disappointed to learn they may have lost awards that would have defined their careers to someone who may not be Indigenous or Canadian. They argue that this amounts to missed opportunities at critical stages of their careers.
“The Juno winners have toured across the country and the world, while the finalists have played neighborhood bars and occasional summer festivals,” said Billy Joe Green, an Anishinabe rock-and-roll blues musician who starred in 2009 as Buffy Nominated for Indigenous Music Album of the Year, Sainte-Marie won the honor.
Irritated? “I can’t afford that luxury,” he said.
Buffy Sainte-Marie has received numerous Juno Awards, the $50,000 2015 Polaris Music Prize and a Polaris Heritage Prize for her debut album It’s My Way! from 1964.
The story of her birth, childhood and identity has changed over the course of her six-decade career. Ms. Sainte-Marie identified herself as Algonquin and Mi’kmaq before saying she was Cree, adopted by a mother from Saskatchewan.
However, CBC has found her birth certificate, which shows that Buffy Sainte-Marie was born in Stoneham, Massachusetts in 1941.
This document identifies the baby and its parents as white and contains the signature of a treating physician. According to CBC, Buffy Sainte-Marie’s marriage certificate, life insurance, the U.S. Census and interviews with family members confirm the birth certificate information.
Buffy Sainte-Marie, 82, said in a statement released the day before the CBC article aired that she did not know who her birth parents were or where she was from, but said she was a proud member of the Indigenous community with deep roots in Canada.
As Buffy Sainte-Marie’s career began in the 1960s, Billy Joe Green also tried to achieve musical success without ever giving in to the daily rejection, racism and many obstacles that stood in his way.
Her life’s work culminated in a Juno nomination for her album “First Law of the Land” in 2009. However, when Ms. Sainte-Marie returned home with honors, Billy told Joe Green that his career opportunities had evaporated and he was struggling to find one to make a decent living alive, even though he was playing better than ever.
In an online message to The Canadian Press, Mr. Green said he had largely accepted life under these conditions. However, I still think about these very unpleasant circumstances that everyone who has missed opportunities faces.
Defeat in the face of an icon
Black Bear, a drum group from the Manawan First Nation in Quebec, was selected in the same category as Buffy Sainte-Marie for Come and Get Your Love: The Tribe Session in 2016. The group said in a message to La Presse Canadian that he works and walks in truth and that includes being true to himself, his family and his friends.
We certainly don’t know where things are being given to us [Buffy Sainte-Marie] has done to Indigenous artists by denying them career opportunities like the Juno Awards.
Karmen Omeasoo, who performs under the name HellnbacK, was selected by the hip-hop group Team Rezofficial the same year as Buffy Sainte-Marie.
He first met Ms. Sainte-Marie as a child when his mother explained to him that she was an icon, so he understood that it didn’t matter if he lost to someone of that stature.
If we get beaten by it, who cares? said Karmen Omeasoo in an interview. If one of us wins, we all win. I felt that […]. I stuck to that.
Today that feeling has disappeared. He thinks of all the indigenous musicians who could have won and what that would have meant for their careers: recognition, radio appearances, tours, record sales, he listed.
I really feel betrayed, like something has been taken from me. Something has been adopted from all these other artists, he said.
Karmen Omeasoo emphasized that he could only speak for himself and not for all indigenous musicians. But he said these revelations shocked him deeply. He imagines how meaningful it would have been to give a Juno Award back to his Maskwacis First Nation, Alberta.
I could have given this prize back to my mother, my father, my grandmother and my children.
He continues to make music with his wife Lisa Muswagon under the name The Resilience, but he says it’s a constant struggle to make music and provide for his children.
Calls to Junos
Chester Knight, who was selected alongside Buffy Sainte-Marie in 1997, believes his album Freedom should have won the Juno because it was actually an album for indigenous peoples. The song “Love Me Strong” was popular back then and has become even more popular today, he said.
There have been calls for the Junos to revoke Ms. Sainte-Marie’s awards. An emailed statement said the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, which oversees the Juno Awards, is aware of doubts about Buffy Sainte-Marie’s parentage.
We are processing the information presented and consulting with our Indigenous Music Advisory Committee, other community members and key stakeholders, the release said.
Chester Knight, who is originally from the Muskoday First Nation in Saskatchewan, said the Juno Awards mean a lot to the artists who apply for the honor.
“It is unfair to my artistic brothers and sisters who grew up in poverty and racism and are somehow able to create something of great emotional value like I did,” he said in an email.
Artists must raise a family and balance their music career with their professional career in order to pursue the production of an album.