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Andrew Hall's avatar

Buffy's story changes ove the years. For many years, Buffy claimed she was born in Saskatchewan, which contradicts her current story that she doesn't know where she was born. Buffy claims her mother told her she was adopted, a story that her birth family has no knowledge of. Buffy claims her mother had Micmac blood, another story her birth family has no knowledge of.

Your assertion that Buffy's birth certificate from 1940s Massachusetts could be fabricated is justified by assertions that this happened in some adoptions in Canada in the 1960s (talk about a stretch).

Buffy's assertion that she was indigenous began when she was in her 20s in the Greenwich village folk scene in NYC. I can imagine this began more as a lark than anything else. Lots of young folk coming to the Big City create a new identity. Over the years, this story could have taken on a life of its own and may have opened some doors - how else did she end up being invited to a powwow on Manitoulin Island?

This claim of being indigenous seems to have become foundational with her gig on Sesame Street in the 1970s. This was when she threatened to claim her older brother had sexually abused her if he persisted in claiming he was her brother and that she was not indigenous.

People are complicated and Buffy has definitely had a career that inspired many indigenous people. I'm not sure she really qualifies as a Canadian indigenous artist despite her native adoption. It is possible to be adpted and not be indigenous at the same time.

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