Critical Perspectives and Reflections

The controversy about Buffy Sainte-Marie has, at this date, been going on for a month. Yet discussion and argument continue with little end in sighti. As a white guy with over fifty years of work and friendships with Indigenous people (community organization and teaching) and being the father of an Indigenous son, I tend to generally steer clear of commenting on contentious issues within and among Indigenous people, at least in public. However, the fractious issue concerning whether Buffy Sainte-Marie has any right to call herself “Indigenous” has gone well beyond the boundaries of Indigenous communities. Not only was it the CBC program, 5th Estate, which made it a public topic in Canada, but many Whitestream, European diaspora, colonial beneficiaries, like me, have written articles and opined on social media. I still want to be careful, however, I obviously don’t have the frustrating experience of colonial oppression which every single Indigenous person in this country, since it was f...