Apology, not compensation, likely from Sask. gov’t over ‘60s Scoop

Watch above: The Saskatchewan Government says it will begin to formulate an apology to aboriginal people involved in what’s known as the 60’s Scoop. Joel Senick tells us there will be no financial compensation attached.

SASKATOON – Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall says his government will work toward a formal apology for the so-called ’60s Scoop that uprooted thousands of aboriginal children from their homes and into foster care. Wall said he and a number of his cabinet ministers will sit down with aboriginal leaders later this summer to discuss what an appropriate apology would encompass.

“We’re going to work together with stake holders to make sure that it’s something that’s well thought out, that it goes beyond words,” said Wall to reporters after a cabinet meeting in Saskatoon Wednesday.

READ MORE: Tears and painful memories as Manitoba premier apologizes for aboriginal adoptions

The scoop refers to a period of time when Canadian government officials took roughly 20,000 aboriginal children from their homes and placed them in foster care with mostly non-aboriginal families.

“There were children stolen from their parents, their loving homes, without any fault of their own and they were taken and displaced,” said Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations (FSIN) interim chief Kimberly Jonathan.

“I was pleased to hear about the premier saying that there will be an apology forthcoming. I was further pleased to hear that he is not just going to do it off the cuff,” added Jonathan.

Wall cited Métis Nation of Saskatchewan President Robert Doucette as one of the reasons why he and his government decided an apology was needed. Doucette says he was taken from his home in Buffalo Narrows when he was four months old and relocated to live with a family in Prince Albert.

“I will never have the opportunity to learn all of those skills that a lot of my uncles and my aunties have,” said Doucette, who has been calling on the government to issue an apology.

“It still troubles me.”

READ MORE: Saskatchewan Métis leader wants premier to apologize for ’60s Scoop

Sherri Swidrovich was also taken from her mother during the same time period. She says an apology has to be about more than just the fact that children were taken from their homes. She points to her case as an example of an apprehension that was justified.

“It’s not necessarily always that those apprehensions were incorrect, we have to look at the fact that many children did need care, many children did need protection,” said Swidrovich, who wrote her master’s thesis on the era and is now a sessional lecturer at the University of Saskatchewan.

Swidrovich said she believes the apology must take other issues into consideration; the effect of residential schools on aboriginal people, she says, led to some of the interventions. She says an apology that only focuses on the seizure of aboriginal children could be a mistake.

“It prevents us from looking at why many of those children did in fact go into care, so our governments are kind of let off the hook for that,” she added.

While the exact formation of the apology is still uncertain, the conversation around compensation is not. Wall stated there will be no money allocated to those impacted by the ’60s Scoop.