Overview
- U of T’s governing council revoked Sainte‑Marie’s 2019 honorary Doctor of Laws after a confidential review that the school said concluded Wednesday.
- The 2023 CBC Fifth Estate investigation cited a birth certificate showing she was born Beverly Jean Santamaria in Massachusetts to Italian‑American parents, contradicting decades of public claims of Cree, Mi’kmaw, or Algonquin ancestry.
- Sainte‑Marie has denied fabricating her identity, saying some evidence was fabricated, stating she is an American citizen who was told by her mother that she was adopted and Native, and noting she was adopted as a young adult by a Cree family in Saskatchewan.
- Other distinctions have already been withdrawn, including an honorary degree rescinded by Dalhousie University in January and the removal of her Order of Canada last year.
- The university says this is only the second honorary degree it has withdrawn since creating a recognition review committee in 2023, the first being the reversal of Duncan Campbell Scott’s 1921 honor.