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The Sixties Scoop, also known as The Scoop,[1] was a period in which a series of policies were enacted in Canada that enabled child welfare authorities to take, or "scoop up," Indigenous children from their families and communities for placement in foster homes, from which they would be adopted by white families.[2] Despite its name referencing the 1960s, the Sixties Scoop began in the mid-to-late 1950s and persisted into the 1980s.[2][3]
It is estimated that a total of 20,000 Indigenous children were taken from their families and fostered or adopted out primarily to white middle-class families as part of the Sixties Scoop.[4][5]
Each province had different foster programs and adoption policies; Saskatchewan had the only targeted Indigenous transracial adoption program, the Adopt Indian Métis (AIM) Program.[6][7][3] The term "Sixties Scoop" itself was coined in the early 1980s by social workers in the British Columbia Department of Social Welfare to describe their own department's practice of child apprehension. The phrase first appears in print in a 1983 report commissioned by the Canadian Council on Social Development, titled "Native Children and the Child Welfare System",[8] in which researcher Patrick Johnston noted the source for the term and adopted its usage.[2][9] It is similar to the term "Baby Scoop Era," which refers to the period from the late 1950s to the 1980s in which large numbers of children were taken from unmarried mothers for adoption.
The government policies that led to the Sixties Scoop were discontinued in the mid-1980s, after Ontario chiefs had passed resolutions against them, and a Manitoba judicial inquiry had harshly condemned them.[10] Associate Chief Judge Edwin C. Kimelman headed the Manitoba inquiry, which resulted in the publication of "No quiet place / Review Committee on Indian and Metis Adoptions and Placements", better known as the "Kimelman Report".[11]
Multiple lawsuits have since been filed in Canada by former wards of the Sixties Scoop, including a series of class-action lawsuits launched in five provinces, such as the one filed in British Columbia in 2011.[12][13] Beaverhouse First Nation Chief Marcia Brown Martel was the lead plaintiff in the class-action lawsuit filed in Ontario in 2009.[14][15][16] On 14 February 2017, Ontario Superior Court Justice Edward Belobaba ruled that the government was liable for the harm caused by the Sixties Scoop;[17] and on 6 October 2017, an $800-million settlement was announced for the Martel case.[14] As Métis and non-status First Nations people are currently excluded from the agreement, National Indigenous Survivors of Child Welfare Network—a group led by Sixties Scoop survivors based in Ottawa—has advocated for the settlement to be rejected unless it includes all Indigenous people who were taken from their homes and forcibly adopted.[18]
- ^ Ashkewe, Mike (O'dah ziibing/Heart of the river) (January 3, 2023). "What is the Sixties Scoop? The story of Indigenous children taken from their families across Canada". Toronto.com. Retrieved July 28, 2023.
- ^ a b c Dart, Christopher. "The Sixties Scoop Explained". CBC Docs POV. CBC. Archived from the original on May 11, 2021. Retrieved May 4, 2021.
- ^ a b Walker, Connie. 2018 March 20. "Saskatchewan's Adopt Indian Métis program Archived 2021-02-28 at the Wayback Machine." Finding Cleo. CBC Radio.
- ^ Philp, Margaret (December 21, 2002). "The Land of Lost Children". The Globe and Mail. Archived from the original on May 13, 2018. Retrieved June 1, 2011.
- ^ Crey, Ernie; Fournier, Suzanne (1998). Stolen From Our Embrace: The Abduction of First Nations Children and the Restoration of Aboriginal Communities. D&M Publishers Inc. ISBN 978-1-55054-661-3.
- ^ Maurice, Jacqueline Marie (2015). The Lost Children: A Nation's Shame. Linda's Printing Place. ISBN 978-0-9906109-0-8.
- ^ October 19, Ian Henderson; Pm, 2017 at 1:38 (October 19, 2017). "Selling the Sixties Scoop: Saskatchewan's Adopt Indian and Métis Project". Active History. Archived from the original on April 15, 2021. Retrieved May 4, 2021.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Johnston, Patrick (1983). Native Children and the Child Welfare System. Ottawa, ON: Canadian Council on Social Development. ISBN 978-0-8886264-0-0.
- ^ "Stolen generations". CBC Radio. Our Native Land. March 12, 1983. Archived from the original on January 15, 2018. Retrieved April 4, 2018.
- ^ Gregory, J.S.; Farley, Susan; Auger, Darlene (January 13, 2000). "Stolen Nation". Eye Weekly. Archived from the original on March 12, 2016. Retrieved June 1, 2011.
- ^ "No Quiet Place". Winnipeg, MB: Manitoba Community Services. 1985. Archived from the original on August 14, 2020. Retrieved January 22, 2020.
- ^ Fournier, Suzanne (May 31, 2011). "B.C. natives sue federal government for millions over 'Sixties' Scoop'". Vancouver Sun. Archived from the original on October 23, 2017. Retrieved October 22, 2017.
- ^ "Aboriginal Sixties Scoop Class Action". Klein Lyons. Archived from the original on July 24, 2012. Retrieved June 8, 2011.
- ^ a b Cite error: The named reference
:7was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "UPDATE - Preparation for Special Chiefs Assembly: 60s Scoop Litigation" (PDF). Chiefs of Ontario. October 19, 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 24, 2012.
- ^ Mishibinijima, Debbie (July 22, 2010). "Former CAS wards seek billions in lawsuit". Wawatay News. Archived from the original on March 24, 2012.
- ^ Thanh Ha, Tu; Galloway, Gloria (February 14, 2018). "Ontario judge sides with Sixties Scoop survivors". The Globe and Mail. Archived from the original on May 1, 2017. Retrieved March 26, 2018.
- ^ Oman, Geordon (March 16, 2018). "Survivors, supporters rally across Canada against proposed 60s Scoop settlement". CTV News. Archived from the original on April 10, 2018. Retrieved April 9, 2018.