Sixties Scoop survivors say settlement, apology a milestone on path to healing

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This article was published 06/10/2017 (2981 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA — Two Winnipeg cousins say their long quest for justice reached a milestone Friday, when Ottawa announced it would apologize and compensate thousands of Indigenous people ripped from their families in the Sixties Scoop.

However, many of them say it will take decades to heal — especially as Manitoba’s child-welfare system continues to intercept a staggering number of Indigenous children.

Stewart Garnett, 43, sobbed Friday in the lobby of the House of Commons, as the federal government announced it would settle multiple lawsuits and compensate the Indigenous children it had placed in non-Indigenous foster homes as far away as New Zealand, often without a reason.

“Now I’m going to step up and have a purpose in life,” said Garnett, who was intercepted as a toddler and placed with an Oakbank family.

To Garnett, it means recognition of a traumatizing but little-known phenomenon that put him on the path to alcoholism. “When I tell people to Google it, their mouths drop open.”

It’s unknown how many Manitobans were caught up in the Sixties Scoop, which spanned the 1960s to ’80s. One Ontario case found 16,000 people affected in that province, and experts estimate at least 4,000 people were intercepted elsewhere.

On Friday, Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett stood among a handful of plaintiffs from various class-action cases to announce an agreement-in-principle aimed at settling as many as 19 lawsuits.

Bennett got emotional talking about the parents left behind.

“I don’t know what people were thinking. I don’t know how anybody — why settlers or government thought they could do a better job than the village,” she said.

“That secure personal culture identity is the key to health outcomes, education outcomes, economic outcomes. And that was locked away.”

Bennett stood beside Priscilla Meeches, 48, who was born in Portage la Prairie to a mother with multiple children — too many, according to children’s aid workers who whisked her away just days after her birth.

She grew up in a loving family in Altona, under the name Myrna Schmidt. Her childhood was a mix of family camping and vacations, and school bullies calling her “a dirty, Indian sq—w.”

Bennett announced Friday an $800-million payout, with $50 million of that going to a new “foundation for healing” aimed at reviving Indigenous languages and cultures. Separately, $75 million will go to settle legal fees, without pulling from compensation money.

Meeches and Garnett are lead plaintiffs in a Manitoba case filed in April 2016, which will soon be dismissed. The two cousins are members of Long Plain First Nation, though they live in Winnipeg.

Garth Myers, a lawyer with Toronto firm Koskie Minsky, led their case. He said the settlement was even better than a legal win, because the foundation it sparked will try reversing the effects of “cultural genocide.”

Myers said the payout was historic, because years-long cases faced “tremendous challenges” and a high risk of no payment. “The amount being paid as fees really encourages lawyers to take cases like this, on behalf of vulnerable groups that have been denied justice for so long.”

Bennett hinted Friday the $750 million for individual compensation will likely be open to those who hadn’t joined class-action lawsuits.

Government sources familiar with the compensation process say survivors will receive a minimum of $25,000, and as much as $50,000, depending on how many come forward. Garnett plans to donate his money to programs treating Indigenous people ravaged by alcohol problems.

It is not yet known whether the Canadian government will open a process to offer citizenship to those taken abroad. Last month, a grassroots group of people who haven’t pursued lawsuits asked for such a process, including a Manitoban man whom the government sent to New Zealand.

It’s also unclear whether those who were physically abused in foster homes, will be compensated. Lawyers say Ottawa is only responsible for taking children out of their cultural context, whereas provincial and foreign agencies were responsible for their care.

In June 2015, former premier Greg Selinger made Manitoba the first province to apologize for its role in the Sixties Scoop.

Sheila North Wilson, grand chief of the Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak, represents 30 First Nations in the province’s north, praised the settlement, saying many in her area were affected.

“It signifies a first step towards a lasting justice,” she said, but noted Manitoba’s child-apprehension rate remains the highest in Canada, and among the highest worldwide. The vast majority of children intercepted are Indigenous.

“We must hold the different levels of government accountable for properly resourcing our Indigenous child protection agencies.”

Garnett and Meeches says First Nations and Métis communities will now have to decide how to integrate people who were torn away. Garnett says he feels no connection to Indigenous spirituality, while Meeches carefully practices traditional feasts and sweat lodges, and is waiting for a spirit name.

“I’d like to see people come home, but when you come home, you’re into culture shock. Is it home? I don’t think so,” she said, staring into the distance on Parliament Hill. “I don’t know if I’ll ever find my home.”

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca