Pamela Abraham, director of the newly-formed Sixties Scoop Indigenous Society of British Columbia (Photo credit: CFJC Today).

By Stephanie Swensrude

SIXTIES SCOOP

Newly-formed Indigenous group wants Horgan to issue an apology for the Sixties Scoop

Jun 6, 2022 | 4:00 PM

KAMLOOPS — Inspired by a similar society in Alberta, a society has been formed for the victims of the Sixties Scoop in B.C.

The Sixties Scoop Indigenous Society of British Columbia (SSISBC) is headed by Pamela Abraham. She wants to make sure British Columbians are aware of the Sixties Scoop. Abraham spoke to CFJC Today at the traveling exhibit Bi-Giwen: Coming Home – Truth-Telling from the Sixties Scoop.

“When I tell [others] we’re having an exhibit at the museum, they go, ‘What is that? What is Sixties Scoop?’ We are here to bring lightness to that,” she said.

“The Sixties Scoop” is a term that refers to government practices from the 1950s to 1980s that led to an unknown number of children of First Nations, Metis and Inuit descent being taken from their communities by child intervention services. They were placed in foster care or adopted out to non-Indigenous families. As a result, many children lost touch with their families, communities, culture and traditional language. Many children experienced abuse, mistreatment and neglect.

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“The Sixties Scoop are the children of the survivors of the residential schools. A lot of residential school children that survived had children and the government took them right at birth. If they weren’t taken at birth they were scooped later on,” said Abraham.

“The genocide hasn’t ended; that is still happening today.”

The first item on SSISBC’s to do list is to obtain an official apology on behalf of the government of B.C. for the Sixties Scoop.

“We are hoping that we can start with an apology from John Horgan and get the Sixties Scoop [society] recognized as an entity in British Columbia that is here to support and help heal some of the damage that’s been caused by the government,” said Abraham.

Many survivors struggle later in life due to the trauma caused by the removal from their birth communities.

“We wanna see something happen, we wanna see change, cause it doesn’t have to be like this,” said Abraham. “We see the impact it’s had… on your sidewalks, on your streets with the amount of homeless Indigenous people that we have out there today.”

Abraham also wants to collect first hand accounts from Sixties Scoop survivors. Those interested can join their Facebook page to reach out.