In the summer, our team participated in Aboriginal Awareness
Training which will soon be an annual opportunity for us to learn about the
impact of generations of discriminatory government legislation, Traditional
Knowledge that reveals important cultural norms and practice, and the richness
and beauty within Aboriginal culture that we can embrace when working with our
women. More than 80% of the women who access our services are Aboriginal;
this training is not only socially responsible, but very important for our team
as a whole so that we can enhance our capacity to make a difference, to dispel
myths, and to walk beside our women on their journeys.
While discussing history, many of us are aware of the
atrocities of the Residential School era, and understand the impact on the loss
of Aboriginal culture. However, this cultural genocide did not end when the
last Residential school closed its doors. It seems to me that there is a
general lack of awareness of the era that began in the 1960s referred to as the
‘60s Scoop’. I was at a conference recently and one of the attendees playfully
asked if it was ‘when Aboriginal people ate so much ice cream (hence the scoop)
that diabetes became a problem…’ No…. nothing to do with ice cream …
I have been asked a few times why is it that history seems
to never go away with respect to Aboriginal communities’ not healing and moving
on from the horrors of the past. This is so complicated but perhaps it can best
be understood by realizing that 'history’ is not so long ago at all. In fact
‘history’ is so very much in the present. This is never more evident than with
the realization of the true impact of ‘the 60s Scoop’.
The term ‘60s Scoop’ was coined by Patrick Johnston who in
1983 wrote Native Children and the Child Welfare System and refers to
the mass removal of Aboriginal children (particularly babies – newborn babies,
even) from their families and communities. These children were placed into
non-aboriginal foster care homes in most cases without the consent of their
parents or Band council. Imagine the newborn babies very literally being
‘scooped’ out of the arms of their mothers.
To put this into perspective, in the 1950s and 60s, our
government began to recognize the horrid nature of the residential school
system and began to ‘intervene’ (many would argue against this point.) However,
at this time, the Indian Act enabled each province the jurisdiction to provide
services to Aboriginal people where none were previously provided federally.
‘Child Welfare’ became one of these jurisdictions. Herein lies the beginning of
the over-representation of Aboriginal children in the child welfare system (a
trend which continues today), and the eventual 60s Scoop era.
During this time, the predominant thought was that a
non-Aboriginal home would be a better placement for these children. Clearly
this thought pattern was based on ignorance and discrimination. Many Social
Workers viewed the tradition of living off the land as unsafe or unsanitary
conditions for a child. There are documented cases where the Social Workers
would visit the homes, and see raw meat and animal hide and immediately be
concerned about the sanitary conditions of the home. This is just a small
example of the abhorrent misunderstandings and misgivings about Aboriginal culture
that lead to this notion that these beautiful babies would be ‘better off’ in a
Non-Aboriginal home.
As if ‘scooping’ babies and therefore destroying family
structure was not enough damage, the practice of sterilization of Aboriginal
women during this time was equally as atrocious. I lose my appetite even
thinking of this horrible act of genocide. In 1928, our province enacted the
Sexual Sterilization Act which was meant to protect the gene pool and prevent
the passing down of ‘unfavorable’ traits to offspring. Eugenicists believed
that these traits (mental deficiencies, mental illnesses, alcoholism, poverty,
prostitution, sexual perversion, etc) where inherited. As a result, more than
2800 women in our province where sterilized, many of whom were Aboriginal. In
1937, our Provincial government took this Act one step further and decided that
it was too restrictive, and as such, consent was no longer required. In 1942,
following the disgusting lead of the Nazis in Germany, our government forged
ahead, further broadening the category of patients who would undergo
sterilization, and our Alberta Eugenics Board increased the pace of
sterilization in our province. It wasn’t until our late Premier Peter Lougheed
examined this Bill in its entirety that steps were taken to repeal the Act. The
Sexual Sterilization Act remained in effect in Alberta until 1972. (source: http://eugenicsarchive.ca/)
In Edmonton, there is sufficient documentation that connects
a few local hospitals to the 60s Scooping of babies and the act of
sterilization. Most notably, Edmonton’s Charles Camsell Hospital, which was
often used to treat Aboriginal people, was operated by the Federal government
and did not close its doors until 1996. There are current Class Action law
suits involving Aboriginal individuals who were placed in foster care between
the years of 1960 and 1996 (not that long ago!) and also those involving women
who were sterilized against their will; these law suits state that Canada did
not intervene to prevent these horrible acts and consequently participated in
(rather than protecting against) the destruction of Aboriginal culture.
Charles Camsell Hospital
What does all of this mean in moving forward? Well, I would
hope that we can agree that history was not so long ago, that the detrimental
effects of these attempts at cultural genocide are still ever present today.
Understanding that history is still in the present can hopefully put us in the
right frame of mind to talk about the future in a way that focuses on hope
rather than blame. We MUST make sure that we do not allow history to repeat
itself. In particular, we should be very concerned that Aboriginal children are
still vastly overrepresented in the Foster Care system and that this is
perpetuated by the current direction of the Criminal Justice System. In fact,
the imprisonment of Aboriginal people has taken over where the Residential
school system left off. Aboriginal culture will continue to deteriorate in our
country until we are able to address the root causes of crime, and the over-representation
of Aboriginal people in our prisons. We MUST focus on crime prevention, and a
large part of this solution should involve efforts that enhance culture and
traditions, not promote fear and detract from their practices. A summary
of my opinions:
- Interventions. Can we do
more to intervene when an Aboriginal child is being placed into a
non-Aboriginal home? How can we be a part of the solution? Can we do more
to intervene when an Aboriginal mother is being incarcerated for crimes
related to protecting her children, when that incarceration will only
further damage her family and her children? Is this justice? What is
needed in our community and in our province so that more of us feel
equipped to intervene?
- Prevention. We cannot
emphasize enough the importance of prevention. There needs to be more
emphasis on holistic preventative action that promotes healthy families
and individuals, healing from trauma, and developing skills for the
future. There are pots of funding for prevention; unfortunately there is
not enough money to go around. How unfortunate is it that grassroots
agencies must all vie for the same pots of money just so that we can
develop a sustainable program to make a difference. If there was
more money on prevention (perhaps redirecting from the millions spent on
incarceration, for example) we could all work in closer collaboration and
wouldn’t have to struggle so hard just to make ends meet. Isn’t it further
ironic that “Corrections” cannot say no to anyone (the revolving door is ever
present, and even when our prisons are busting at the seams, they must
find a way to accommodate even more individuals), yet Agencies wanting to
pursue prevention programming can be told ‘no’. … Shows where our
priorities are!
- Education and Awareness. I started this blog post by stating that I don’t believe enough people know about the 60s Scoop and what it means locally. Understanding these effects and having us all on the same page is important. Then, we can work together to dispel myths and start important conversations where they matter the most.
Were you well aware of these events already? Or is this
relatively new information to you? What will you do with this information now
that you are aware? How does this make you feel? I confess that it has taken me
over a week to write this blog post, in part because I am busy, but also
because it is a very uncomfortable topic to write about. I hope, though, that
we can all talk about the things that make us the most uncomfortable because
often those are the topics that should be emphasized… How do we truly know in
what direction we need to travel (and on a practical note, how EFry should move
forward as an Agency) if we don’t understand the complete history? I look at
the beautiful faces of the women who access our services and I know that so
many of them have been directly or indirectly affected by discrimination every
day of their lives. Has it directly or indirectly impacted you? And if not,
does it feel right that discrimination should impact anyone?!
Maybe then, I can ask a favor of you? Can you ask just 1
person if they’ve heard of the 60s Scoop? And if they say no, why not fill them
in and educate whenever possible. That way there can be more of us on the same
page about these histories and current realities today.
All My Relations,
Toni Sinclair
Executive Director
