'60s Scoop survivors march on legislature

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This article was published 30/9/2016 (1283 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Children are still being victimized by the ’60s Scoop — look at the lack of education funding for indigenous schools and the young men and women languishing behind bars, a survivor declared on the steps of the Manitoba legislature Friday morning.

"What concerns me is the government’s continued inaction on our children," said the woman, whose name is Thunderbird Woman but who was called Jocelyn after being taken from her home and adopted out.

Survivors marched from Thunderbird House to the legislature Friday morning.

"We are the fallout of colonization," she told the crowd. "Our jails are full of young men and women who continue to struggle. It’s a continued struggle that works to keep us down."

She was adopted in 1965 into a family that already had seven children, two of them with special needs.

"At 13, I ended up on the streets for two years and moved to Vancouver. My brothers had no idea where I was, my sister is in the States — I have no idea where she is," she told the rally. "I didn’t go to a powwow until I was 28; I felt I didn’t fit in."

Debbie Latka said she was taken from her mother in Saskatchewan and placed in Winnipeg foster homes.

"They have no idea what they have put us through. Something has to be done, something very soon — we’ve waited enough," Latka said.

She’d invited Child and Family Services officials to the rally, but no one appeared to speak. The only member of the legislature apparent at the rally was Liberal MLA Jon Gerrard.

Cousins Peter and David Chartrand said they’re trying to get the government’s help to bring home their cousin Scott Meyer, who’s serving a life sentence for murder in Louisiana. He was taken from his home in Camperville at the age of five, said Peter Chartrand.

Meyer was taken, said Peter Chartrand, even though "this guy’s mom and dad don’t drink, they live off the land. His dad’s a carpenter."

nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca