Anishinaabe singer says contested ancestry of Buffy Sainte-Marie 'doesn't take away the inspiration'

Juno Award-winning blues singer Crystal Shawanda is among people still processing the news that singer and activist Buffy Sainte-Marie's claims to Indigenous ancestry are being contradicted by family members and an investigation by CBC's The Fifth Estate.

"This is a traumatic thing — everybody is going through different stages of grief at different times. Some people are in denial, some are angry, some are sad," said Shawanda. "Some are stuck in one of those stages of grief, and I suppose I'm right there with everybody."

Shawanda is Anishinaabe and was born in Wiikwemkoong First Nation on Manitoulin Island in northern Ontario. She was 11 when she first met Sainte-Marie at a concert in Wikwemikong. 

When she read that The Fifth Estate investigation would be broadcast on the weekend, she first thought about how the 82-year-old singer must be feeling. 

"I can't imagine how it feels to have the whole world completely turn on you," she said. 

For now, Shawanda said, she needs to hear more from Sainte-Marie herself before forming an opinion on questions over her Indigenous identity. 

Sainte-Marie said in a statement released before The Fifth Estate was broadcast that she has always been honest about not knowing where she is from or who her birth parents are, and called allegations about her identity "deeply hurtful."

'If she could do it, then I could'

Shawanda said the challenged ancestry of Sainte-Marie doesn't change the influence the Academy Award winner has had on her own music career.

"It doesn't take away the inspiration she gave me to get through some really difficult points in my life as an Indigenous woman in the music business. 

"I've been faced again and again with racism, discrimination and missed opportunities because of the colour of my skin. Through it all, I always reminded myself that if she could do it, then I could make it through this too."

Shawanda said she has drawn a lot of strength from Sainte-Marie's memoir throughout the years.

According to Shawanda's official website, her eighth studio album, Midnight Blues, was released in 2022. Produced and engineered in Nashville by her husband and longtime collaborator Dwayne Strobel, it's her fifth album since switching from being a country artist. Among her many awards, she won the 2021 Juno for best blues album for Church House Blues.

Worries over implications for Indigenous artists

Shawanda said that, if true, the revelations about Sainte-Marie ancestry would be heartbreaking. 

"But that little 11-year-old kid inside me will always love her. I don't have the kind of heart that could just turn off love for someone." 

She also worries about the impact this story may have on up-and-coming indigenous musicians. 

She said she has noticed in recent years that some awards organizations now request proof of Indigeneity to candidates submitting work in Indigenous award categories. In some cases, this involves providing a status card and letters of support from the home community. 

Shawanda is concerned not all Indigenous artists might have access to that kind of documentation, especially those who grew up outside of the community they have ties to, and some may lose access to opportunities because of it.