Federal authorities Saturday would not comment on revocation of the Order of Canada for Buffy Sainte-Marie as a fake Canadian. Full members must be Canadian citizens under a 1967 cabinet order.

“We are aware of the media reports,” said Natalie Babin Dufresne, spokesperson for Rideau Hall. “The Office of the Secretary to the Governor General does not comment on the possibility of honour terminations.”

Sainte-Marie was named an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1997 as a Saskatchewan-born celebrity. “Born of Cree parents on the Piapot Reserve in Saskatchewan, she is a musician of international stature, a Native rights activist,” said the citation. Rideau Hall at the time praised Sainte-Marie for promoting “a sense of identity and self-esteem in schoolchildren through the study of Aboriginal culture.”