Canada Indigenous groups call for national probe into 'Sixties Scoop' children

TRENTON, Canada

Indigenous organizations Monday called for a national probe into the "Sixties Scoop" where an estimated 20,000 Indigenous children were taken from their families and adopted into white homes in Canada and the US.

The program began in the 1950s, then accelerated in the 1960s and so is called the Sixties Scoop (60s Scoop). As with Indian residential schools, the idea was to stamp out Indigenous culture and also as the schools, there are a lot of unknowns about the children.

“We still don’t really know how many children were taken, where they were taken to, how many died while in adoptive or foster homes, and to what extent Indigenous children and families have been affected,” said Katherine Legrange, director at the 60s Scoop Legacy of Canada. Legrange and other Indigenous leaders spoke at a press conference Monday at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

The organizations want a national inquiry into the 60s Scoop where white welfare workers took children from Indigenous families, sometimes with little justification, and placed for adoption or in foster homes. As with the residential schools, some were abused and brothers and sisters in some cases were separated.

The program was discontinued in the late 1980s.

“The ’60s Scoop legacy was just a continuation of violent and ignorant policies that were designed by Canada to disrupt and destroy First Nations families and communities,” said Grand Chief Jerry Daniels of the Southern Chiefs' Organization.

The government settled a class action suit for CAN$875 million for those affected by the 60s Scoop, but much of the money has not been paid out.

The call for a national inquiry is more than about money, and it is to give a voice to those taken from their Indigenous families, said Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak Grand Chief Garrison Settee.

“It is crucial we examine and document the truths of survivors and families of the ’60s Scoop/First Nations child removal, provide tangible and necessary support for adoptees and former Crown wards and their families, and bring healing to our people and communities,” Settee said.