'Children matter': Organizations call for a national inquiry into the Sixties Scoop

Survivors of the '60s Scoop and their supporters gather for a demonstration at a Toronto courthouse on Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2016. (THE CANADIAN PRESS / Michelle Siu)

WINNIPEG — First Nations leaders in Manitoba are urging the federal government to commission a national inquiry into the Sixties Scoop.

The Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak (MKO), the Southern Chiefs' Organization (SCO), and the 60s Scoop Legacy of Canada made the announcement on Monday, noting that from about 1951 to 1982, thousands of Indigenous children were taken from their families and placed in non-Indigenous homes under government policy.

Katherine Legrange, director of the 60s Scoop Legacy of Canada and a Sixties Scoop adoptee, said the organization has held 19 healing ceremonies throughout Western Canada and heard about the need for a national inquiry from survivors.

"It's important that we dig into the Sixties Scoop and the government policies of Indigenous child removal to determine how many children were taken, where they were taken to, and the long-term effects of trauma and permanent child removal," she said.

The groups noted that it is estimated that more than 20,000 First Nations children were taken from their families. However, survivors and their families believe that number is even higher.

Recently, MKO and SCO chiefs unanimously passed resolutions in support of the 60s Scoop Legacy's call for a national inquiry and long-term funding support for survivors.

Legrange said an inquiry would lead to government accountability.

"So for me, it's about accountability," she said. "The Canadian government has never been held accountable for the Sixties Scoop and certainly the provincial governments have never been."

Teri Starr, another Sixties Scoop survivor, said she believes a national inquiry is also important.

"We matter. People matter. Children matter. Please remember that," she said.

Starr believes teaching the truth about the Sixties Scoop is key to helping survivors heal.

"I was told the reason I was scooped was because my parents didn't love me or that community didn't love me, but it was due to a policy and other people's hands that I was scooped."

She said trying to learn about her Indigenous heritage was very tough after learning she was a Sixties Scoop child.

"When I learned I was part of the Sixties Scoop, I tried to go back and learn my culture, but it's been taken away. Where do you start? Where do you go? Who do you ask? Those questions still aren't answered."

CTV News Winnipeg has reached out to the federal government for comment.

-With files from CTV’s Mason DePatie