The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) will recognize Buffy Sainte-Marie with the Jeff Skoll Award in Impact Media during this year’s TIFF Tribute Awards.

The Cree Canadian-American singer-songwriter and activist (pictured) will accept the award at the in-person gala fundraiser on Sept. 11 at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel. The Jeff Skoll Award in Impact Media recognizes social innovators who use cinema to create social impact.

Sainte-Marie is the only Indigenous person to win an Oscar, which she received for her song “Up Where We Belong,” co-written with Jack Nitzsche and Will Jennings, for the film An Officer and a Gentleman. She will be in attendance at the festival with Madison Thomas’ Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On, produced by Eagle Vision, White Pine Pictures, and Paquin Entertainment. The documentary about Sainte-Marie’s life and career will world premiere at TIFF on Sept. 8.

The Saskatchewan-born musician has won many Juno Awards; a Golden Globe and BAFTA award for her Academy Award-winning song; and was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1995.

Sainte-Marie has also written children’s books, including Hey Little Rockabye; Still This Love Goes On, and Tâpwê and the Magic Hat. She has also appeared on Sesame Street and The Virginian.

Cameron Bailey, CEO of TIFF, said in a statement that Sainte-Marie has been challenging and changing the world for 60 years, adding that “her groundbreaking music, her lifelong activism on behalf of Indigenous people, and her passion for teaching have transformed countless hearts and minds.”

Photo by Stephen Paniccia and Blair Johannes, courtesy of TIFF