It had been the long-standing practice for the Indian agents to use their wide administrative powers to address any child welfare matters on reserve. In 1951 governments changed legislation, giving additional power to social workers and provincial and territorial governments. Between 1960s and the 1980s, the “Sixties Scoop” removed First Nations, Métis and Inuit children from their homes. Children were adopted into predominantly non-Indigenous families, often out of province or out of the country and away from their languages, traditions and extended families. Parents and families were rarely notified about where their children had been relocated. Only after 1980 would provincial child welfare workers inform a Band or community about where the children were taken. Many families and children who were part of the Sixties Scoop are still searching for their relatives.
Today, the child welfare system in Canada is often not able to provide adequate or safe care to children or families, especially for Indigenous children. Advocates and organizations like the First Nations Caring Society support ongoing political, social and legal struggles in order to assure fair, just and safe care of Indigenous children in the ‘system.’ The child welfare system today is connected to both the history and the intergenerational impacts of the Residential School System.
The Centre is involved in advocacy and initiatives related to the current state of the child welfare system and the recently introduced Bill C-92.
If you would like more information about the Sixties Scoop Settlement, visit the Settlement website.
Further resources
- Blackstock, C. (2015). Should governments be above the law? the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal on First Nations child welfare. Children Australia, 40(2), 95-103. doi:10.1017/cha.2015.6
- Fournier, S., & Crey, E. (1997). Stolen from our embrace: The abduction of First Nations children and the restoration of Aboriginal communities. Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre.
- First Nations Caring Society. Indigenous Knowledge Portal. Retrieved from https://fncaringsociety.com/ikp
- Legacy of Hope Foundation. (2017). Bi-Giwen: Coming home – Truth telling from the Sixties Scoop. Retrieved from http://legacyofhope.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Bi-Giwen_-E_reprint_complete.pdf
- Mosoff, J., Grant, I., Boyd, S. B., & Lindy, R. (2017). Intersecting challenges: Mothers and child protection law in BC. University of British Columbia Law Review, 50(2), 435.
- Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs. Indian Child Caravan Digital Collection. Retrieved from http://caravan.ubcic.bc.ca/node/21
- Wang, C. (2018). (Some) mothers know best: A case comment on M.M. v. T.B. and the plight of Indigenous mothers in child welfare and adoption proceedings. Canadian Journal of Family Law, 31(2), 179-213.