The Alberta government has officially apologized for its roll in the Sixties Scoop that happened from the 1950s right up to the 1980s.
This period of time refers to nationwide government practices that led to many First Nation, Métis and Inuit children taken from their parents, families and communities by child intervention services, who were then placed with mostly non-Indigenous families.
According to an Alberta government news release, many of the children suffered abuse, mistreatment and neglect and lost touch with their families, communities, culture and traditional language.
Making a formal announcement at the Alberta legislature, Premier Rachel Notley said it hurts just to imagine the heartbreak each of these families experienced.
"Survivors can never replace what was taken, and I am sorry," Notley said. "We must acknowledge these wrongs and the toll they have taken, and thank survivors for their courage in speaking up.”
Children's Services Minister Danielle Larivee said this historic apology was long overdue.
"We really felt strongly that reconciliation means acknowledging our past wrongs," she said. "This apology is an important first step, and we are really hopeful it's going to bring healing for the survivors and their families."
Larivee added it is really important that Albertans know the history of what happened with the Sixties Scoop, residential schools, and a number of other issues that happened during that time period.
"This apology includes all Indigenous people, status or non-status, as well as Métis people as well," said Larivee. "It includes all of those who were taken from their family and put with non-Indigenous families. In some cases, some of the children were adopted into other countries as a result of the Sixties Scoop. I am just glad that we were able to acknowledge it, to validate their experiences, to provide an opportunity for healing, and to create a path forward for us to move on."
Charity Jardine, who works at the Athabasca Native Friendship Centre, has called the apology a meaningful step for a lot of survivors.
"There has been lots of talk about reconciliation and residential schools, but the Sixties Scoop was largely forgotten," Jardine said. "I myself was not affected by this period of history, but I do know people who were. And I think that this apology will go a long way for healing between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people."
But Larivee added that even today, there is still lots of work to be done.
She said even today, the effects of the Sixties Scoop are being felt, with many of Indigenous children still being a part of Alberta's childcare system.
"There's been a lot of hurt to our Indigenous families and communities, from residential schools through to the Sixties Scoop," Larivee said. "And we are certainly feeling the impacts of that today. But we are working very hard with communities to make sure that have the support that they need in order to stay together, so that the children can stay with their families, as long as they are safe."
For those that are not safe, Larivee says her department are putting a tremendous push in make sure that family or a community member is always the first choice for placement if its possible.
"We are going to continue to work with communities to do that work," she said. "We will continue by building on the relationship that was established over the last couple of years, and to make sure that from this point forward, continue to make a big difference for families within this community."
