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An Ontario court judge found today that Canada was wrong to round-up Aboriginal children from their homes, placing them in foster care or putting them up for adoption. The decision comes after an eight-year-long class action lawsuit by victims of the so-called Sixties Scoop.
In his decision, the judge said, “the Sixties Scoop happened and great harm was done.” Justice Edward Belobaba.
He said thousands of children living on reserves were taken from their families by provincial child welfare workers, from 1965 to 1984. They vanished from their families and were given no information about their heritage, which left them disoriented and kept them from healthy, fulfilling lives.
“The loss of Aboriginal identity resulted in psychiatric disorders, substance abuse, unemployment, violence and numerous suicides.”
Last year hundreds rallied in front of Toronto courts to support the lawsuit, including Wilamina McGrimmond. Today, she learned of the decision while gathering for missing and murdered Indigenous women, at a sacred fire at Hamilton City Hall.
“The government was always wrong to take our brothers and sisters and cousins away. I’m glad they’re finally accountable.”
The lawyer who fought the case says the next step will be sitting down to negotiate with the Aboriginal Affairs Minister, who called the Sixties Scoop a dark and painful chapter in Canada’s history.
Damages have yet to be decided but they could be $85 000 for each of the 16 000 victims in Ontario, a total of 1.3 billion.
