(Bold mine)
dominant culture
In such a situation of diversity, a dominant culture is one whose values, language, and ways of behaving are imposed on a subordinate culture or cultures through economic or political power. This may be achieved through legal or political suppression of other sets of values and patterns of behaviour, or by monopolizing the media of communication.
The dominant culture wants to decide who is and isn’t Indian. Currently, there is an issue involving First Nation identity, in which the general public may not be respecting the sovereignty of the Piapot Cree.
A new Canadian Broadcast Corporation investigation has raised questions about the Indigenous identity of Buffy Sainte-Marie.
The singer-songwriter, considered to be the first Indigenous Oscar winner for co-writing the song “Up Where We Belong” from 1982’s “An Officer and a Gentleman,” has long claimed she was born on a Piapot Cree reservation in 1941 in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. Sainte-Marie was then adopted by white parents as part of a Canadian government policy known as the Sixties Scoop.
Three main points contribute to Indigenous identity, according to Hilary N. Weaver. Those are self-identification, community identification, and external identification. Referring to Weaver, Sainte-Marie self-identifies, has community identification, yet her external identification — according to a new Canadian Broadcast Corporation and her white sisters — is “questionable”. If the CBC and Saint-Marie’s white sisters respected the sovereignty of the Piapot Cree, they would let it go.
The acting chief of Piapot First Nation says his community will not turn its back on Buffy Sainte-Marie after an investigation by CBC's The Fifth Estate revealed information that contradicts the songwriter's claims to Indigenous ancestry.
"I can relate and understand to a lot of our people who feel betrayed and in a sense lied to by her claiming Indigenous ancestry, when in fact she may not be Indigenous," said Ira Lavallee.
"When it comes to Buffy specifically we can't pick and choose which part of our culture we decide to adhere to.… We do have one of our families in our community that did adopt her. Regardless of her ancestry, that adoption in our culture to us is legitimate."
Yet, Saint-Marie’s family members “believe her story is an elaborate fabrication,” which is supported by documents obtained by the CBC . I will share some of my story of being adopted and searching for my roots.
My biological father said he had no Native heritage, my biological mother said there were stories about Native origins in Oklahoma. I was always honest about being adopted, never said I was Cherokee like the family story was. I said “I don't know” after two DNA tests. I got the word of a biologist on the phone that my grandparents would've been 2/3 Native American on my mother's side. My indigenous heritage comes primarily from the Amazon and Brazil, there were some traces of DNA here that would've correlated the family story, but not enough to put that in what the biologist classified as Cherokee AD Mix. I sent lots of documentation, including my extremely difficult to acquire original adoption papers to the Metis Nation of the US, which is connected to the Metis in Canada. My biological mother forbids my sisters to talk to me.
I never tried to be something I wasn't, the Native Americans in my community here with which I am a part of accept me as I am, as being Native American and Metis. Point is, that my first birth certificate was wrong. My second birth certificate was wrong, and that one was supposed to be right, because it was from when my biological mother had me with a man, who was not my biological father. The only thing right about it, was it had her maiden name and birthday, along with the man she was married to temporarily. Families are notorious for keeping skeletons in the closet, and I was the skeleton. That’s my story in brief. To use a birth certificate solely as external identification is an appeal to ignorance. Hence, why I had to have my original adoption records; yet, that is still circular reasoning. For instance, Descartes cannot know that this proof does not contain an error unless he assumes that his clear and distinct perception of the steps of his reasoning guarantees that the proof is correct.
The Cherokee Nation uses the Dawes Rolls out of necessity, not because they don’t know the agents changed names and so on.
In breaking the reservations up into individually owned allotments, the first step was to put together a tribal roll. Regarding Indian names on these tribal rolls, Sioux physician Charles Eastman wrote:
“Originally, the Indians had no family names, and confusion has been worse confounded by the admission to the official rolls of vulgar nicknames, incorrect translations, and English cognomens injudiciously bestowed upon children in the various schools.”
Government concern for Indian names, particularly surnames, was directly connected with allotments. The allotments came under territory and state inheritance laws. All of these laws were based on Euro-American family relationships and therefore the result was confusion if an allottee died intestate and local officials had to determine the heirs.
In 1890, the Commissioner of Indian Affairs ordered Indian names on the reservations to be changed so that each Indian would be given an English Christian name and retain the surname. Surnames were to be translated to English and shortened if they were too long. Care was to be taken to avoid translations of Indian names that might be offensive to non-Indians. The new names were to be explained to the Indians.
Birth certificates for First Nation identity are not completely accurate. Furthermore, the context is denial after genocide has been committed.
Birth Registration and the Administration of White Supremacy Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 August 2022
Birth registration formed a key part of the administration of white supremacy between Reconstruction and World War II. In the allotment of Indigenous lands and the enforcement of de jure segregation by states, birth registration served an important ideological and administrative function. Because allotment policy combined property transmission with family reorganization, it made documentation of identity more important to the federal Indian Office.
The general public may not be respecting the sovereignty of the Piapot Cree, because When it comes to Buffy specifically we can't pick and choose which part of our culture we decide to adhere to.… We do have one of our families in our community that did adopt her. Regardless of her ancestry, that adoption in our culture to us is legitimate. The historical white man wants to decide who is and isn’t Indian. If you’re not brown enough, you’re white. If you’re Black and Indian, you’re Black. If you’re Hispanic, you’re not Indigenous, you’re Spanish. If you’re Indian, you’re in the past.
Buffy Sainte-Marie Accepts Emmy and Responds to Her Critics Who Question Her Indigenous Roots
First, the central proof used to question my identity is a story fabricated by my abuser and repeated by two members of my estranged family I don’t even know. This has been incredibly re-traumatizing for me and unfair to all involved. It hurts me deeply to discover that my estranged family grew up scared of me and thinking these lies because of a letter I sent intended to protect me from further abuse from my brother. I want to be clear, I do not blame them. They, of course, want to believe their father. I have evidence I was sexually abused by my brother, but I can’t tolerate discomforting his children even more. I wish them only the best and hope they move forward from this and find peace, as I am trying to do.
The second is my “birth certificate”. As many Indigenous people know, and the National Sixties Scoop Healing Foundation of Canada has stated, it was common for birth certificates of Indian children to be “created” by western governments after they were adopted or taken away from their families. So it was quite shocking to me to hear a city clerk say she had 100% confidence in its authenticity. I have never known if my birth certificate was real. I have used it because it was
the only document I’ve had my whole life. I’ve heard from countless people with similar stories – who do not know where they are from and feel victimized by these allegations and one-sided reporting as I do.
Most importantly, this is my life – I am not a piece of paper. I am a product of both my families and all my experiences in this world.
If you are a pure-blood documented something, I’m glad for you. It’s awesome and beautiful to hear you speak your lineage, history and genealogy. But even if your documentation says you’re racially pure, you might miss the point. Being an “Indian” has little to do with sperm tracking and colonial record keeping: It has to do with community, culture, knowledge, teachings, who claims you, who you love, who loves you, and who’s your family.
With respect and love.
Buffy Sainte-Marie
She should not have had to say that. The historical white man might want to decide, but he doesn’t get to.
Author is a member of the Metis Nation of the United States