Dalhousie University strips Buffy Sainte-Marie of honorary degree
CBC
Dalhousie University in Halifax has revoked the honorary degree it awarded to Buffy Sainte-Marie in 2018 after a Mi’kmaw student raised concerns about the harms of maintaining the honour.
The decision comes more than two years after a CBC News investigation into Sainte-Marie’s claims to Indigenous identity.
The report uncovered a birth certificate indicating she was born in Massachusetts to Italian-American parents, contradicting earlier press that identified her as Algonquin, Mi’kmaw and later Cree.
Sainte-Marie told The Canadian Press last year she is an American citizen who holds a U.S. passport and was adopted as a young adult by a Cree family in Saskatchewan.
Sainte-Marie's management did not respond to a request for comment by time of publishing.
Mi’kmaw medical student Aaron Prosper from Eskasoni First Nation in Nova Scotia asked the university's senate committee last February to revoke the honorary degree. Sainte-Marie’s appointment to the Order of Canada was terminated around the same time.
In his request, he cited CBC’s investigation, past instances of revoked honorary degrees at other institutions and the termination of Sainte-Marie’s Order of Canada appointment.
In an email to the senate committee, Prosper wrote the revelations about Sainte-Marie’s identity claims "have brought many mixed emotions.”
“These include sadness, betrayal, and honestly regret for not doing more to advocate for there to be a more local Indigenous person to be honoured.”
Prosper was on Dalhousie’s honorary degrees committee when he was student union president from 2018-2019, although he wasn't involved in the decision to give a degree to Sainte-Marie.
Sainte-Marie received the degree in 2018 and delivered a lecture on diversity and inclusion. Prosper was part of the ceremony and made closing remarks as student union president.
He said in his university years he kept only two framed photos: one of him and his sister, and one of him giving a gift to Sainte-Marie.
Prosper said he questions the broader impacts of the recognitions Sainte-Marie received.
“When it came to [awards] like the Junos and Polaris Prize, who got passed up for recognition?” he said.
NASA’s Crew-11 landed back on Earth on Thursday from the International Space Station (ISS), cutting short their six-month stint in space after an unknown crew member suffered an undisclosed medical condition.
To give Canadians a boost in vitamin D, Health Canada is now requiring milk and margarine producers to more than double the amount in their products.
People in New Brunswick will soon be able to swear oaths using eagle feathers in courtrooms across the province.
Many people are starting 2026 off by marking Dry January and swearing off alcohol for the first month of the year. But new research is raising concerns about how much Canadians are drinking.
A black bear cub rescued after it was burnt severely this past December will eventually be introduced to other bears at the sanctuary where it's recovering in Smithers, B.C.
The federal government has drastically cut funding for First Nations kids in Ontario seeking educational support under Jordan’s Principle — from $122.1 million to just $1.2 million over the same time periods in 2024 versus 2025 — a tribunal hearing revealed this week.
Some emergency departments across Canada report that the rapid spread of influenza has contributed to overcrowding, as some children and adults face long-lasting fevers, with the latest federal report showing a slight declining picture of flu activity across the country.
In the age of the internet and cellphones, Michael Hood, a Nuxalk grandfather in Bella Coola, B.C., says it’s important to teach his 10-year-old grandson to get outside and give back to his community.
NASA is cutting short a mission aboard the International Space Station after an astronaut had a medical issue.
U.S. health officials are backing a more accessible means of cervical cancer prevention — one that has limited availability in Canada.
Why did the lynx cross the road?
When people who are overweight and obese stopped taking their weight-loss medications they regained weight faster than those who stopped a diet or exercise program, a new review has found.
Amid concerns that businesses are profiting from Indigenous culture without always gaining the consent of the nation from which it originated, it raises the question of how to protect Indigenous intellectual property.