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While her birth date is not up for contention, should we still be using as our citation for it the Encyclopedia of the Great Plains link that still credits her as Cree and born on a reservation in Canada? Perhaps something that has been updated to reflect her actual background and birth location would be better? That the link still has the old discredited info puts it all into question. Maybe the page should be looked at more closely to make sure we're only using reliable sources that reflect Sainte-Marie's actual background? Beggarsbanquet (talk) 03:56, 10 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]
As per the MOS, a person's nationality or citizenship is referred to in the opening sentence. "Canadian-American" or "American-Canadian" are *not* nationalities. She should be referred to either as "American" or "Canadian", or, if she has dual nationality, as "American and Canadian" (or vice-versa) if she is closely associated with both countries (which she is). Afterwriting (talk) 01:20, 13 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]
I suggest that she is referred to as "American and Canadian". It seems logical to me to have her birth nationality first and an acquired nationality or citizenship following. I'm assuming that she is a legal citizen of both countries. What do others think? Afterwriting (talk) 02:06, 13 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Now that many of the prestigious awards she won while falsely claiming an Indigenous identity have been rescinded, shouldn't that go higher into the lead? Perhaps adding a second sentence after the opening sentence about her career? oncamera (talk page)19:03, 7 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]
That was long before the awards were rescinded and around the time of the documentary was just released, so a lot of changes were happening to her article. oncamera (talk page)05:00, 8 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]
I getcha. I guess my advice is be bold and go for it, discuss if reverted as usual, and if discussion doesn't show a clear favorite, to then do a new RfC to try to see if the circumstances are different enough to change things. --Super Goku V (talk) 05:28, 8 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]
The lead reads pretty well to me in it's current state. She is most notable for her music career. So focusing on that first is fine and the last paragraph of the lead covers the controversy. Only change I'd make is remove "social activist" from the first sentence. Per MOS:FIRSTBIO, the lead sentence should focus on one, or possibly more, noteworthy positions, activities, or roles that the person is mainly known for, avoiding subjective or contentious terms. Social activist is receiving undue weight in the lead. Nemov (talk) 15:41, 8 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Marriage and offspring info has been removed. That's common bio info. It would be good to get it sourced and back in. Sincerely, North8000 (talk) 02:24, 3 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Looks like we're doing this at the same time. I've found some other references (some contemporary) about her marriages and put back in some details with references. Seaweed (talk) 19:31, 3 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]
On the day before the broadcast of The Fifth Estate, the Descendants of Piapot and Starblanket issued a statement defending Sainte-Marie's ties to the Piapot First Nation, saying: "We claim her as a member of our family and all of our family members are from the Piapot First Nation. To us, that holds far more weight than any paper documentation or colonial record keeping ever could." They also criticized the allegations against Sainte-Marie as being "hurtful, ignorant, colonial — and racist"
These statements may or may not be true, and these people may or may not have made them, but neither quote appears in the citation given. A new citation sourcing the actual quotes, is needed.