Compensation, counselling sought for 60s Scoop victims

Canada's aboriginal affairs ministers are asking the country's premiers to look at compensation and counselling for native children adopted into white families during the so-called '60s Scoop.

The ministers met in Winnipeg recently and are asking the premiers to set up a group to study the issue.

Canada's premiers are to meet in August in Prince Edward Island.

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Manitoba Aboriginal Affairs Minister Eric Robinson says it's time for a national discussion about the thousands of native children taken from their communities during the 1960s, '70s and '80s.

He says nobody talks about it and Canada has to start addressing it.

"It's an issue that's long gone unnoticed," he said in aninterview. "Nobody talks about it. This is one of those issuesthatdoesn't require a hell of a lot of thinking. It's common sense. It'scommon decency that we begin addressing this."

It's estimated that up to 20,000 aboriginal children were taken from their homes by child welfare services and placed withnon-aboriginal families. Many consider the adoptions an extension ofresidential schools, which aimed to "take theIndian out of thechild."

Adoptees say the time for reconciliation has come and they want an apology from the federal government.

Filmmaker Coleen Rajotte, who was adopted by a white family when she was a baby, says a working group to examine the issue is a start.

She says she was lucky to be placed with a loving family, but other adoptees were scarred for life after going to abusive homes where they were treated like household help.

"Lives have been scarred forever," Rajotte said.

If the premiers form a study group, Rajotte hopes it will worktoward more counselling and possibly compensation for adoptees.

And, in the long term, Canadians need to be properly educated about"this dark part of our history," she said.

"I would like to see a formal national apology, more educationand more efforts put into finding the adult adoptees who are stillout there. I would like research done on how many adoptees have comehome, how many are still out there, and help to bring back theadoptees who are still missing."

Robinson, himself a residential school survivor, said what the '60s Scoop victims experienced was just as traumatic.

"In my case, at least I had other Indian boys and other Indiankids my age to be around," Robinson said. "In the case of thesekids who were adopted out, they had nobody. They were a brown faceamong a mass of white faces either in the United States or inforeign lands.

"In some ways, they had it a lot worse."

Prince Edward Island Premier Robert Ghiz, who will chair theAugust meeting, is also his province's aboriginal affairsminister.

He wasn't available for an interview.

"We're really not in a position to speak to this," spokesmanGuy Gallant said in an email.

Gallant said the premiers meeting will coincide with a gatheringof the aboriginal affairs working group, but the twodiscussions areseparate.