The Sixties Scoop refers to a practice that took place in Canada by withdrawal or redemption of indigenous children from their families and communities for placement in foster homes or adoption. It is about mass adoption of indigenous children into foster families, in most cases without the consent of their families. 20,000 Aboriginal children were taken from their families and adopted or adopted into predominantly white middle-class families as part of the “Scoop of the Sixties” program (Stevenson, 2020).
Several lawsuits have been filed in Canada by former Sixties Scoop wards, including one in Ontario in 2010 and one in British Columbia in 2011 (Stevenson, 2020). An Ontario Supreme Court judge ruled in the case that the government was responsible for the damage caused by the Scoop of the sixties. It was one of a series of class-action lawsuits filed in five provinces. On October 6, 2017, a settlement payment of 800 million Canadian dollars was announced (Stevenson, 2020). The National Network for the Protection of Indigenous Children, a group, led by survivors of the Sixties from Ottawa, advocates rejecting the agreement if it does not include all indigenous people who were taken from their homes and forcibly adopted.
In my opinion, the settlement is not not so unambiguously. At the first sight, not all indigenous people who are victims in this story receive compensation payment. Moreover, for me, such decisions are always a moral dilemma. It is hard to understand how adequately to assess the lives and sufferings of survivors in one amount or another by money. The events that took place created a lifelong trauma that frightened many victims.
Some of the indigenous victims never returned to their culture, and much of the indigenous culture is now forgotten due to the sensation of the sixties. Indigenous people deserve respect and apologies to help them continue their long journey of healing. On the other hand, the Government recognized children’s right to cultural identity. The responsibility of the Government is to do everything in its power to protect the cultural identity of the children in its care. Furthermore, most of the victims have already been paid their compensation.
Reference
Stevenson, A. (2020). Intimate integration: A history of the sixties scoop and the colonization of Indigenous kinship (Vol. 51). University of Toronto Press.