"I have always struggled to answer questions about who I am," Sainte-Marie, 82, said in a statement released Thursday. "Through that research what became clear, and what I’ve always been honest about, is that I don’t know where I’m from or who my birth parents were, and I will never know."
Chuck Thompson with the CBC said in an email sent to The Canadian Press on Thursday, "Beyond what's in the program description, we have nothing more to add.""I am proud of my Indigenous-American identity, and the deep ties I have to Canada and my Piapot family," Sainte-Marie said. "My Indigenous identity is rooted in a deep connection to a community which has had a profound role in shaping my life and my work.
In her statement Thursday, Sainte-Marie said she learned about her Indigenous ancestry from her mother and via her own research. Sainte-Marie's powerful 1964 debut album "It's My Way" cemented her status in the burgeoning folk music scene of the 1960s. Her last studio album "Medicine Songs" was released in 2017.