The “Sixties Scoop” and Its Dismantling of Indigenous Motherhood First Nations, Metis, and Inuit children were ‘scooped’ from their homes by the Government of Canada beginning in the 1960s, although it was 1983 when Patrick Johnson created the term “Sixties Scoop.”1 The term ‘scooped’ is putting it gently. Children were apprehended, separated from their siblings, and stripped of their culture.2 The child welfare systems established by the government removed Indigenous children, placed them in nonIndigenous homes, and stripped them of their culture. The 1964 Annual Citizenship Reports record that the welfare services used the term ‘adoption’ to describe their actions.3 The numbers of children being scooped from their homes steadily increased. In 1958 the total number of Indigenous children taken was 871 but increased to 1,159 the following year.4 The apprehension of Indigenous children created intergenerational impacts, by preventing the transmission of culture from elders to children. The child welfare systems claimed to be working in the ‘best interest of the child’; this was far from the reality.5 Indigenous adults who were ‘scooped’ from their homes have reported experiences of severe trauma and abuse, have questioned their identity, and have exhibited behavioral trouble.6 The norms of Indigenous mothers differed from those of settler society. They were not confined to the private sphere, because their domestic work was extended to the public sphere where women were active members of the community.7 Each Indigenous community has unique practices. However, several Indigenous communities share the commonality that “express joint responsibilities and mutual respect amongst genders to meet the
R.C. Indian Residential School Study Time, Fort Resolution, N.W.T., date unknown, Bibliothèque et Archives Canada/PA-042133, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
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