The Sixties Scoop

Written by: Meera Baswan and Sena Yenilmez

Trigger Warning: Mentions of genocide and abuse

The Sixties Scoop: What does it mean?

The Sixties Scoop refers to the time period, primarily throughout the 1960s when Indigenous children were taken or “scooped away” from their birth families and communities, usually without the consent of their family and band. The term was coined by Patrick Johnson in his 1983 report on Indigenous children in the Child Welfare system. Throughout the 1960s and onwards, many Indigenous children were taken from their communities and adopted into predominantly white, middle class families throughout North America. The Sixties Scoop occurred not because the government was genuinely concerned for the wellbeing of Indigenous children, but primarily as an extension of the racist policies against Indigenous communities meant to assimilate Indigenous children into Western society and strip them from their culture and communities.

An overview of the Sixties Scoop

The process began in 1951, when changes to the Indian Act gave the provincial government authority over Indigenous child welfare. By the mid-1960s, the number of Indigenous children in the child welfare system in some provinces was over 50 times more than it had been in the beginning of the 1950s. During this time, Indigenous communities faced high rates of poverty and socio-economic barriers, in large part due to the impacts of Residential Schools and the restriction of rights through the Indian Act. Instead of providing these communities with the proper resources and support, provincial governments decided the solution was to take Indigenous children away from their homes.

In most cases, the Child Welfare workers were not equipped with the proper qualifications or knowledge about Indigenous Child Welfare issues. Decisions made to place Indigenous children in the Child Welfare system were mostly made by non-Indigenous social workers who worked in a Euro-Canadian values system and were not exposed to Indigenous world-views and family structures. They were not familiar with the culture of Indigenous groups they worked with, and their idea of “proper care” was based on Eurocentric values. In addition, Child Welfare workers did not have to seek the consent of Indigenous communities when taking these children from their families until 1980. 

Overrepresentation in the Child Welfare System

The 1960s was a time when Indigenous children were heavily overrepresented in the child welfare system. For instance, the number of Indigenous children in provincial care in BC in 1964 (over 1400) was over 50 times higher than in 1951 (around 30).

Map of the Sixties Scoop by the Southern Chiefs’ Organization.

Indigenous children were also sent overseas, to countries including the United Kingdom, Germany, India, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and Botswana, far away from their traditional lands. 

Impact

The Survivors of the Sixties Scoop have faced a multitude of challenges and long-term impacts, ranging from a loss of heritage and cultural identity to low self-esteem. Survivors have grown disconnected from their culture and families which have led to feelings of confusion and isolation. Many adopted children did not learn about their true heritage until later in life, as birth records could not be opened unless the child and parents consented, causing emotional distress. Many survivors have also reported suffering physical, emotional, and sexual abuse from the families that they were placed with. Even children that were placed in caring homes still felt a lack of belonging, as they were “not provided with culturally specific education and experiences needed to form healthy, Indigenous identities.”

Present-Day

Indigenous children are still overrepresented in the child welfare system today. In Ontario, Indigenous children represent approximately 30% of foster children, despite making up only 4.1% of the population under age 15. According to a May 2008 report from the Auditor General of Canada, Indigenous children are still vastly overrepresented in care, with 51% of all children in care in British Columbia, Canada, being Indigenous. Additionally, according to the report, Aboriginal children in British Columbia are “six times more likely to be taken into care than a non-Aboriginal child.” In Manitoba, between 1971 and 1981, approximately 3,400 Indigenous children were adopted, with up to 80 percent to non-Indigenous homes. (Canadian Encyclopedia)

Birth Alerts and their impacts

Indigenous parents are also disproportionately affected by birth alerts. This is when child protection services contact staff to inform them that the expecting parent is deemed unfit to care for their child. As soon as the baby is born, the hospital notifies child protection services, which can result in babies being placed in the child welfare system without their parents’ consent. Although it has been officially discontinued in provinces like Ontario and Alberta between 2019 and 2021, and it has been declared illegal in British Columbia,  it is still widely common in Quebec. This has led to a lack of trust in healthcare providers and government services, preventing many Indigenous people from receiving resources and assistance to which they are entitled. 

What is being done about it?

The AFN (Assembly of First Nations) filed a complaint with the Canada Human Rights Commission in 2007, alleging that INAC’s (Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada, now dissolved and replaced by Crown-Indigenous Relations and North Affairs Canada and Indigenous Services Canada) funding policies magnified disparities between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities.  The Auditor General of Canada confirmed in May 2008 that “Current funding practices do not lead to equitable funding among Aboriginal and First Nations communities.”

In 1989, Canada aided the drafting of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, an international treaty that established the minimum human rights standards for children worldwide.

Despite the fact that Canada contributed to the creation of the Convention, UNICEF reported in 2007 that “Canada has been slow to honor its commitment to uphold those rights and ensure the well-being of children.” The report addressed the situation of Aboriginal children in particular: “Improvements are urgently needed to ensure that Aboriginal children have adequate housing, safe food and water, protection from environmental contaminants and access to health care.”

Sources

Dart, Christopher. “The Sixties Scoop Explained.” CBC, https://www.cbc.ca/cbcdocspov/features/the-sixties-scoop-explained. Accessed 13 May 2022.

Gallant, David. “Sixties Scoop.” The Canadian Encyclopedia, 22 June 2016, https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/sixties-scoop. Accessed 13 May 2022.

Hanson, Erin. “Sixties Scoop.” Indigenous Foundations, https://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/sixties_scoop/. Accessed 13 May 2022.

Martens, Kathleen. “Project maps locations of where '60s Scoop survivors were sent.” APTN News, 24 June 2020, https://www.aptnnews.ca/national-news/project-maps-locations-of-where-60s-scoop-survivors-were-sent/. Accessed 13 May 2022.

Sinclair, Raven. “The Sixties Scoop.” Origins Canada, http://www.originscanada.org/aboriginal-resources/the-stolen-generation/. Accessed 13 May 2022.