The official government apology this week by Premier Rachel Notley to survivors of the Sixties Scoop is an historic and important step. It shines a public light on the pain and injustice inflicted on Indigenous people.
Sixties Scoop survivors said that having their pain as Scoop survivors publicly acknowledged allows for the healing to begin.
The Sixties Scoop was a series of federal and provincial policies that saw thousands of children taken from their families and fostered into non-Indigenous families. It was just one of the measures of forced assimilation that saw many Indigenous people lose their language, their culture and their family connections. Many people were also subjected to physical, mental and sexual abuse.
Saying sorry acknowledges that injustices were done and that Indigenous people suffered lasting harm as individuals, as families and as a culture. The apology brings to the forefront an issue that for decades went unacknowledged. This is also an admission of past government wrongdoing in establishing such practices.
The Sixties Scoop is just one of the shameful practices across Canadian history that also included residential schools where thousands of Indigenous children were taken from their families and sent to boarding schools set up across the country. It was only in recent years that many Canadians learned about residential schools. Many of these schools remained open until the 1990s. Did you know there were two residential schools in St. Albert?
We may feel good about acknowledging the wrongs of the past; there are many current wrongs that need to be addressed today. Apologies for past wrongs do not erase the factors that continue to put more Indigenous children in foster homes than their non-Indigenous counterparts even today. While Indigenous people make up less than eight per cent of the general population, Indigenous children still account for more than 50 per cent of the children in foster care. Those figures based on the 2016 Statistics Canada figures are actually higher than they were in 2011.
A corner is being turned in our society. The groundwork is being laid so that government and the Indigenous people can work toward a brighter future – one that spans financial considerations and works towards empathy and recognition of an incredible culture.
Truth an Reconciliation Week ends today. It is important to remind ourselves of the need for Truth and Reconciliation and to revisit the Calls to Action in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission report.
Sharon Morin, a St. Albert Métis woman who teaches people about Indigenous culture, said reconciliation is still a long way off. She added all Canadians need to own that history and recognize our role in history. She sees the potential for change but says we are not there yet.
She is right. In addition to being sorry for past actions, we need to examine what we, as a society of inclusion, is doing today to better the circumstances for all. Apologies are a start, but they alone do not make change.
