Métis federation sues Ottawa, Manitoba over Sixties Scoop

The Manitoba Métis Federation is suing the federal and Manitoba governments for damages caused to the Red River Métis as a whole when an unknown number of children were placed with non-Indigenous families during the Sixties Scoop.

The federation is not only seeking punitive and exemplary damages, but also monetary and non-monetary damages “for restoring, protecting and preserving the exercise of the linguistic and cultural rights of the Red River Métis,” says its statement of claim, filed in Manitoba Court of King’s Bench last week.

The federation argues the Sixties Scoop “resulted in the erosion of Indigenous culture, traditions, language and communities, including that of the Red River Métis.”

It says children were removed from their families and placed with non-Indigenous parents, often in other provinces or the United States.

“By engaging in the intentional destruction of the culture of Red River Métis children and communities, Manitoba and Canada caused profound, permanent and ongoing cultural injuries… The Sixties Scoop deliberately inflicted on the Red River Métis conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction,” the 38-page lawsuit says.

Federation president David Chartrand was not available for comment on Monday.

A provincial government spokesman said it wouldn’t comment on the lawsuit because it is before the courts, while a spokesperson for the federal government, which received a request for comment Monday afternoon, said it wouldn’t be able to issue a statement until Tuesday.

No statements of defence have been filed.

Eight years ago, Métis leaders reacted in shock when they were left out of the federal government’s $750-million agreement to First Nations and Inuit who had children taken between 1951 and 1991. Each was to be paid at least $25,000, while a separate $50-million fund was earmarked for the creation of a foundation to assist in change and reconciliation.

Earlier this year, a Federal Court judge ruled the federal government did not owe a duty of care to non-status Indigenous children, including Métis children, because it did not fund provincial child welfare for them.

In the new lawsuit, the Métis federation claims the Manitoba government played a central role in the seizure of children because it delivered and oversaw child welfare services in the province. The federation also says the federal government not only approved funding arrangements with provinces, which “encouraged the apprehension of Indigenous children, including Red River Métis children,” but did nothing to stop it.

The federation says the harm and damage caused to the Red River Métis as a whole is separate from individual cases.

“This action seeks redress for the collective harms and damages experienced by the Red River Métis that are separate and distinct from any individual interests,” the lawsuit claims.

The Sixties Scoop disrupted the connection between generations and their community “including Michif (language), government practices, harvesting, trapping, cooking, fiddling, jigging, weaving and bead work,” the claim says, adding that Michif is an endangered language.

The federation said while it does not know how many Métis children were taken, because they weren’t recorded in files as Métis, there is evidence it began in the 1950s.

It says the Manitoba government arranged to place Indigenous children with American Catholic welfare agencies in Minnesota in the 1950s; archived letters say the kids were “part Indian” and “part Indian origin” with a large percentage of them being Catholic.

“Given Red River Métis are of mixed ancestry and predominantly Catholic, the children referred to in these letters were almost certainly Red River Métis,” the lawsuit states.

Métis and Indigenous activists began calling out the practice in the 1970s. Most provinces stopped adopting out Métis children, but Manitoba, which was the last province to abandon the practice, didn’t until 1982.

A provincial inquiry held in 1985 determined the practice was “cultural genocide.”

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca