Journeys Toward Understanding: A Way Forward from the 60s Scoop

© Creating Hope Society 2017

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without prior written permission of the Creating Hope Society, or, in Canada, in the case of photocopying or other reprographic copying, a license from CANCOPY (Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency, 900 – 6 Adelaide Street East, Toronto, Ontario, M5C 1H6).

Published by BookBaby

Print ISBN: 978-1-54392-047-5

eBook ISBN: 978-1-54392-048-2

Table of Contents

DEDICATION

Remembering the Survivors

Key Themes from the Creating Hope for the Future Gathering

FAILURE OF THE SYSTEM

LIVING WITH THE PAST

SHARING THE JOURNEY

BELONGING SOMEWHERE

TOWARD HEALING

Foreword

The Circle Process

OUR TEAM

About the Team

Other Contributors

About the Creating Hope Society of Alberta

MISSION

VISION

PRINCIPLES

Curriculum Overview

INTRODUCTION

KEY OBJECTIVES

SYNOPSIS

MODULE I - Spiritual (East)

SETTING THE TONE

MODULE II – Emotional (South)

TELLING OUR STORIES

MODULE III – Physical /Rational (West)

DISCOVERING WHAT IS IMPORTANT

MODULE IV – Intellectual (North

MOVING FORWARD/CREATING SOLUTIONS

Instructional Methods for Modules

MODULE I - Spiritual (East)

SETTING THE TONE

Learning Objectives:

Reflections

Outline of Learning Units in Module I

LEARNING UNIT 1

ABORIGINAL AND NON-ABORIGINAL PEOPLE – AN UNEASY TRUCE

LEARNING UNIT 2: SQUARE PEGS FOR ROUND HOLES - PREVAILING WESTERN PARADIGMS

Learning Unit 2 – Reflections

LEARNING UNIT 3: COMING TOGETHER

Spirituality and Social Work

Learning Unit 3 – Discussion Questions

PostScript

Additional Resources

MODULE II - Emotional (South)

TELLING OUR STORIES

Learning Objectives

Reflections

Outline of Learning Units in Module II

Instructional Process for Modules

Resource Materials

Websites of Interest:

LEARNING UNIT 1: THE CONTEXT

Learning Unit 1 – Reflections

Learning Resources

LEARNING UNIT 2 - THE STORIES

Memories of Coming into Care

Identity Issues

Experiences in Care

Healing the Traditional Way

Coming Home

Intergenerational Trauma

Experiences of Racism

Finding Hope

Former Foster Children as Helping Professionals

Learning Resources

Learning Unit 2 – Reflections

LEARNING UNIT 3: IMPACT OF THE 60S SCOOP

Impact on the Child

What is culture shock?

Re-connecting

Loss of Identity

Loss of Language

Loss of Community

Loss of Family

Feelings of Abandonment and Rejection

Impact on the Community

Sharing the Journey

Conclusion

Learning Unit 3 – Reflections

Additional Reflections on Learning Unit 3

Learning Activities / Reflections

MODULE III – Physical/Relational (West)

DIGGING DEEPER

Learning Objectives

LEARNING UNIT 1: THE ICEBERG METAPHOR

Learning Unit 1 – Reflections

LEARNING UNIT 2: THE HISTORY OF COLONIZATION AND INTERGENERATIONAL TRAUMA

Child Welfare in Manitoba

Historical Context

Aboriginal Worldview, Pre-contact

Reflections on the Film

Colonial Imperial Perspectives and the Artificial Context

Jagged Worldviews Collide

Intergenerational Impacts

Impacts of the residential school era;

Childhood Resiliency

Resiliency

Conclusion

Learning Unit 2 – Reflections

LEARNING UNIT 3: WHITE PRIVILEGE

Food for thought

Exercise 1 – Uncovering Racism in the English Language

Reflections

Exercise 2 – Making Visible the Invisibility of White Privilege#

Summary

Reflections Questions

Exercise 4 – The Power Triangle

Reflections

Learning Unit 3 – Reflections

Articles, Reports and/or Books:

MODULE IV – Intellectual (North)

MOVING FORWARD/CREATING SOLUTIONS

Overall Purpose and Goals of Module IV

Learning Objectives

Reflection Questions

Primary Contributors

Outline of Units in Module IV

Resource Materials

UNIT 1: WHAT DO ABORIGINAL PEOPLE WANT?

Community Vision for Child Welfare

Recovery and Affirmation of Culture and a Way of Life

Reflections

UNIT 2: ABORIGINAL WISDOM AND RESILIENT CHILDREN

Discussion

UNIT 3: WHAT CAN BE DONE ABOUT THIS NOW?

SUGGESTIONS for PRACTICE

Policy Implications

Systemic Recommendations

Reflections

EPILOGUE - SYSTEMIC RECOMMENDATIONS

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to the survivors of the residential school system, the 60s Scoop and their descendants. We hope that the activities of our team will help to provide the impetus for greater understanding and compassion between the red brothers and sisters, and the white brothers and sisters. We wish to recognize the work of the following team members:

Wil Campbell, Metis Elder and 60s Scoop survivor who dedicates his life to working with Aboriginal men in corrections.

Marlyn Bennett, PhD, Member of the Sandy Lake First Nation & Assistant Professor with the University of Manitoba

Sharon Shirt B.A (Administration) and Martha Jean Lehr Bachelor of Science are co-founders of the Creating Hope Society and are sisters who survived the 60s scoop survivors. They hail from the Fishing Lake Metis Settlement in Alberta

Steven A. Gold PhD was part of the Canadian Aboriginal experience of the 60s scoop. As an Aboriginal infant he was adopted into a non-Aboriginal home. Steven is of Anishinaabe heritage and is a member of the Aamjiwnaag First Nation.

Les Jerome, MSW has a special interest in linking First Nations and Métis teachings with selected western social work practice. He is of Métis/Saulteaux/Cree heritage.

Bernadette Iahtail. RSW was born in Attawpiskat, James Bay Ontario. She is a mother, a grandmother (Kokum) and a wife. She is the Executive Director of the Creating Hope Society and was a prime mover instrumental in gathering our team.

Kristine Morris is a BSW graduate from the University of Calgary. She is a second-generation social worker currently working with Aboriginal and Ethnic Minority youth in Edmonton.

Harley Eagle is a member of the Dakota/Anishnawbe First Nations and is enrolled in the Wapaha Ska Dakota First Nations Reserve, in Saskatchewan, Canada.

Dorothy Badry, PhD, MSW, RSW is an assistant professor in the Faculty of Social Work, University of Calgary. She specializes in FASD where she had received national and international recognition.

Kristine Morris is a BSW graduate from the University of Calgary and a second-generation social worker who has worked extensively the Aboriginal people of Nova Scotia.

Florence Shone originates from the Piikani Nation in southern Alberta but resides in Edmonton. Florence is a self-taught artist and uses acrylic and canvas as a medium.

Duane Bodard Burton lives in Edmonton where she works as a researcher/writer, community development/social worker, and for the most part, as a video producer.

You will learn a great deal more about them as you follow their journey. We believe that the ultimate solution to the challenges that remain in our relationships as Aboriginal and White people can best be addressed by a process of honest communication and striving to know and respect each other. I believe that we achieved this in our team. I hope you will agree with me once you have completed this process.

This course was first developed for social work students and practicing registered social workers for continuing education. Much of the content of this course was derived from this course and converted to the print or digital book that you are now reading, The Creating Hope Society and I are offering this knowledge to all who labour in the human services in a much more accessible and reasonably costed form in this time of greater interest in the 60s Scoop era, which in our view, is not ancient history and continues unabated in spite of the best efforts of so many. The following are comments from some of our Social Work Students:

I think aboriginal people want Canada to acknowledge the injustice that happened to them and to continually educate society on the history of colonialization and the long-term effects on the Aboriginal people. I feel they want their power back and they are the experts in the aboriginal worldview, healing process and what’s best for their community. I feel we need to give that power back to them as they are the experts and we have clearly proven we do not know what is best for their people. We need to walk with them and be their ally how they see fit, not the other way around.  The aboriginal people want their communities, families and children to thrive in a rich culture that was taken from them

I agree that we need to use more of the holistic practices that Aboriginal people value and favor over using the scientific based approaches.  This in turn allows them to feel more in tune with who they are both spiritually and culturally, opposed to feeling forced to comply with foreign dominant western ways, which are reflected in the policies that we are governed by in our agencies.  Some of these flawed policies are reflected in the racial underfunding and access to resources that Aboriginal people receive opposed to other populations.

When I reflect upon the ways I can better understand what Aboriginal people want for their children and families, I repeatedly come back to the place, of Aboriginal People want to matter.  They want their children and families to matter.

As I previously emphasised in my last post, there is a tendency of our social services to be compartmentalized. They often assess and treat one part of the problem, rather than looking at the situation holistically. I know it is not feasible to change compartmentalized approach to social issues overnight, but I almost wonder if there is a community development approach that can act as bridge between the community and social services. Whether that be a community development social worker making connections in the indigenous communities and then back to Social Welfare. Or engaging indigenous community leaders to act as a connection to the community and between services. This would not only offer the indigenous people more comprehensive services, it would also strengthen the relationship between social services and community, hopefully slowly building more trust over time. In addition, the connection with the community could create opportunities for them to become active board members in agencies and help develop and implement holistic approaches to indigenous issues more aligned to their traditional world view.

While I enjoy working with Aboriginal families, I will admit that it is one of the most challenging populations I have had to work with. Knowing how to work with families that have intricate historical and inter generational trauma, being a white person, dealing with agencies limitations, and policy limitations are all challenges that I have experienced when working with these families. I have witnessed families so defeated by their lives that they have given up completely to families that want to continue and fight. I will admit that this work is not for the faint-hearted, though I do enjoy continuing to work with my Aboriginal clients. The main issue that I see daily are clients feeling the sense of hopelessness and having absolutely no belief that their lives can change. One of the biggest challenges I experience when working these survivors, is not the client, but the system. I have gone into meetings with bands, welfare workers and so on, only to meet barrier after barrier that prevents me or the client from being able to move forward. Therefore, it is important to understand the historical significance and the amount of devastation that the 60s scoop has had on aboriginal families, it is equally important to understand the different ways in which individuals react to their context.  

There are some homes on the reserve that have the dogs wandering freely, long grass in some areas, and when walking into the home, sometime there is a distinct smell of moose hide, containers of beads, a plethora of photos of family members on the walls, dried mint and other medicines, a smudge bowl, tv loud, guitar on the side, and kids running around.  This place I describe is my mother-in-law’s home up north.  I did not fully understand what the Aboriginal culture was about until I started to attend the round dances, went to the pow wows, and other ceremonies.  I had to learn to slow myself down, my life style was very chaotic and for some reason, I had to always keep busy.  I didn’t understand the importance of slowing down, breathing, paying attention in the moment meant.  Now, this is my experience as an outsider coming to a community, I felt out of place, awkward and very uncertain.  When I listen to the stories of the survivors, talk to those who have been a ‘child-in-need’ and they seek out connection in their birth right community, I can only imagine what they are experiencing.  As children they are removed from familiarity, and placed in a stranger’s home by a stranger, then exposed to different expectations, different manners, different sense of humor, different food, different rules, limited if any family connections, no photos of relatives, no cousins coming for sleep overs, no familiar smells, no familiar language, or familiar hugs and I love you from those they know.  The longer the child stays in care, there is a development of an insecure attachment, and may feel that if they do the wrong thing, they will be moved. They become a lost generation seeking their place in society.

While there are many actions being taken to help Aboriginal people, I feel that these actions have not been successful. If they were, we would see numbers start to decline, such as fewer Aboriginal children in the child welfare system, less suicides on reserves, and less Aboriginal people in the criminal justice systems. This is a topic that is very intricate and has many different reasons as to why these efforts are not making much of a difference. However, as Russell (2013) states in his news articles, it seems the issue has only simply changed from Duncan Campbell Scott’s infamous quest to solve the Indian problem to solving the Aboriginal Issues. While different tactics are being used to help eradicate these issues, the system that created these issues are generally they one’s running these initiatives in solving Aboriginal problems. In my opinion, Aboriginal people need to start healing from the inside out. With this statement, I do not mean that the Canadian government and non-aboriginal people should not continue to aid and assist Aboriginal’s deal with the problems that have been laid upon them; instead Aboriginal people need more autonomy and more voices on higher policies and decision making to have an effect or enact any real change with thin their population.  

I do believe that we have become more knowledgeable in our approach in dealing with aboriginal families. For example, some reserves have their own child and family agencies within their communities and attempts are made for these children to stay within their community instead of being removed. There are other more forward-thinking strategies that are in the being stages of development, such as in the Misipawistik Cree Nation North of Winnipeg that is attempting to have the children stay in their communities or their homes and placing the parents in other communities away from the children while they seek treatment (Wiart, 2015). Or in Edmonton where the are attempting to keep the families united, with the support of a full-time worker working with the family in the home (Wiart, 2015). Even with this knew knowledge and skills being learned, child protection still has a long way to go in eradicating the old ways of thinking. Furthermore, though we become more culturally competent in helping Aboriginal peoples, we continue to have the authoritative power in making the final decisions on what is best for the child.

I found the power triangle very interesting on dissecting and conceptualizing how oppression’s can act in many ways, and have crippling effects on societies, and individuals. The systemic level and the personal level relationship was especially important to know and understand how one level is impacted by the other. I am going to be using this triangle in the future to help conceptualize why there is more Aboriginal children in the Child Welfare system, or why there are more Aboriginal peoples in the criminal justice system, and so on. It’s simple charts such as this one that can help people understand, and change their perspective and possibly try to understand that these problems were caused on to Aboriginals

What stood out for me the most in the documentary Rise of the West, was the fact that assimilation was already being enacted by the Romans upon the aboriginal peoples this far back in history.  Now this is something I never really thought about or made the connection to until Les brought it to my attention in his documentary.  I never really thought about aboriginal