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The University of Toronto has rescinded Buffy Sainte-Marie’s honorary degree, following a petition to revoke the honour.
The musician was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree by the university in 2019. At the time, a U of T publication said Sainte-Marie was being recognized for her work in music and the arts and for her advocacy work for “the rights and dignity of all people.”
A spokesperson for the university said in a statement the rescindment came into effect Wednesday following a confidential process that ended with the governing council’s decision.
Sainte-Marie came under fire after an investigation into her claims of Indigenous identity by the CBC’s The Fifth Estate in 2023.
The report uncovered a birth certificate indicating she was born in Massachusetts to Italian-American parents, contradicting earlier press that identified her as Algonquin, Mi’kmaw and later Cree.
Sainte-Marie told The Canadian Press last year she is an American citizen who holds a U.S. passport and was adopted as a young adult by a Cree family in Saskatchewan.
Sainte-Marie’s management and media team did not respond to requests for comment before time of publishing.
‘A just consequence’
Last year, the university announced it had rescinded an honorary degree given to Duncan Campbell Scott in 1921.
Scott’s degree had been in recognition of contributions to Canadian literature as a poet, but he also worked in the Department of Indian Affairs from 1879 to 1932, the last 19 years serving as deputy superintendent. He pursued assimilation policies like the expansion of Indian Residential Schools, and was quoted as wanting to “get rid of the Indian problem.”
They are the only two honorary degrees that have been de-recognized by the university since a Standing Committee on Recognition was created in 2023, said a spokesperson in an email.
Audra Simpson, a professor of political anthropology at Columbia University in New York, who is Kanien’kehá:ka from Kahnawà:ke, said the decision is long overdue.
“A just consequence for both him and for her, who have both acted on the imperatives of settler colonialism in different ways and in different time periods,” said Simpson.
“I hope it sends a message.”
Sainte-Marie was stripped of an honorary degree from Dalhousie University in Halifax in January, after a Mi’kmaw student raised questions about the ethics of maintaining the honour.