Buffy Sainte-Marie speaks after the unveiling of a Canada Post stamp honouring her legacy as a singer-songwriter, in Ottawa, on Thursday, Nov. 18, 2021. Doubts raised over Sainte-Marie's First Nations bona fides are roiling the community she says she's a part of. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang)

By Jaryn Vecchio

Upset and Frustrated

Should Buffy Sainte-Marie be forgiven for lying about being a Sixties Scoop Survivor?

Nov 2, 2023 | 5:00 PM

-An earlier version stated Krysta Alexson’s dad was a Sixties Scoop survivor. He’s a residential school survivor and not a Sixties Scoop survivor.

Could you forgive someone who claimed they experienced the same trauma as you when, in fact, they never did?

That’s what many Indigenous people across the country are currently struggling with after the CBC claimed that Buffy Sainte-Marie lied about her past which included claiming to be a Sixties Scoop survivor.

In the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, thousands of Indigenous children were taken from their families and adopted into non-Indigenous homes. Many were treated as second-class citizens and experienced atrocities that some would have a hard time comprehending.

One such person was Norine Tourangeau who, along with her siblings, was taken from her parents and put into the foster care system.

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“The racism we faced was unbelievable… it was so negative,” she said.

During her time in foster care, Tourangeau periodically saw her parents and wrote to them. This was rare as many children never saw their parents ever again. In recent years, Tourangeau and her siblings have been trying to reconnect as much as possible.

Reliving the entire situation was tough for Tourangeau, however, she wanted to speak up after hearing the news about Sainte-Marie.

“She definitely profited from the trauma,” she said. “She used it to gain opportunities that other Indigenous people should have had.”

Krysta Alexson, the president of the student association for the First Nations University of Canada’s northern campus in Prince Albert, also shared her frustration with Sainte-Marie. A big reason is that her dad is also a residential school survivor.

“My grandma used to hide my dad in the floor (and) in the walls so he would hopefully not be taken,” Alexson said.

What made it worse was how much her dad loved Sainte-Marie.

When she was brought up during a conversation years earlier, Alexson explained her dad was shocked that she knew very little about her. Fast forward to now and her dad was shocked for an entirely different reason.

“He was like ‘you have to say something, this is totally inappropriate,’” added Alexson who’s been very vocal on social media since finding out.

There’s still a question that needs to be answered. Could you forgive someone who lied about experiencing the same trauma as you?

It may be too soon to answer for some, but not Alexson.

“It was totally inappropriate, there was no need for that.”

Moving forward, Alexson would like to see Sainte-Marie come out and speak the truth.

Just before the CBC shared its piece on Sainte-Marie, the musician issued a statement condemning the story. She hasn’t publicly spoken about the report in the week since.

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Jaryn.Vecchio@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @princealbertnow