The Sixties Scoop: The Real Deal

          It is no question that Aboriginal people have gone through great turmoil ever since European contact. However, during a time in the 1960's, countless Native parents went through the ultimate suffering of losing their children, who were forcefully taken from them and adopted into more “suitable” families. A consensus was held among the white community that primitive and culturally stumped Aboriginal parents were unable to provide proper care for their children. People’s colonialistic mindset fueled their belief that, for the benefit of Native American children, it was best that they were liberated from their "barbaric" traditions and placed into a home, where they could attain a proper education, mature into “civilized” adults, and assimilate into a more "sophisticated" lifestyle.

          Such an isolation from their original roots led transracial adoptees to feel segregated from society. Aboriginal children did not possess knowledge of their Native American cultures, since they were brought up in families that neither knew, nor cared about building a positive understanding of one’s heritage. Simultaneously, Aboriginal youths did not integrate very well into the white, middle-class, suburban communities they were placed in, and were frequently moved from foster home to foster home. Native children were often taunted and discriminated against, due to their differences. Consequently, many developed uncertainties towards their own identities, since they felt that they fit in to neither ethnic group.

          Unfortunately, abuse was not an uncommon occurrence in the foreign homes of these children. Many foster parents treated Native children with little concern for their dignity or well-being. They were frequent victims of slave labour and sexual, physical, and emotional abuse. Constant exposure to such mistreatment resulted in low self-esteem amongst these individuals, since they began to feel as though they actually deserved this brutality. As a result, adoptees were traumatized to such an extensive degree that they resorted to alcohol abuse, drug abuse, and suicide as ways of numbing their pain.

          However, not all hope is lost for the victims of forced adoption. Organizations such as Origins Canada are attempting to facilitate the cultural "re-integration" of the lost Native children to their rightful families. On their website, they state: "There are lots of adult adoptees searching for families, and families searching for adoptees. As a result, several First Nation/aboriginal reunification programs have sprouted up in Canada" (originscanada.org). Along with these helpful programs, there are two known lawsuits that have come about in the past 3 years. It can only be hoped that once they are addressed, the victims of the Sixties Scoop will have finally been brought to justice, and, perhaps, brought to their true homes.