as an indigenous child i was trafficked
from
northern saskatchewan i was adopted when
i was two
we were brought up for a short while in
saskatoon
i have two older sisters we were taken
from our biological parents
down to the southern saskatchewan we
moved to white rock in british columbia
we went through two or three foster
homes all the way to
africa we ended up moving to england
all the way to ontario we were adopted
into a non-indigenous household which is
about 3 000
miles away from our traditional
territories
back then black cars are dark cars could
just kind of
come up the back roads and scoop up
children and that was how i was
apprehended
i honestly my sisters and i believe we
were the only ones
we thought our experience growing up
with non-indigenous folks was unique
[Laughter]
the social services services would write
what they
said was your story it wasn't
quite literally the truth but it was the
truth in which they
decided to depict your story
my sisters and i we all ran away from
home by the time we're 15 years old to
escape
a very very violent home and
sexual abuse i was documented as a
failure to thrive child in the foster
care system
and i believe that was from being
overwhelmed and not
understanding not being told in my
language because i only spoke cree
i wasn't even told that i was messy so
because of that i didn't really know a
lot about things and especially
growing up as being very young in white
rock and then again
england it was even more far removed
from you know
from where i was
i just wanted my parents to say that
they looked for us that they missed us
i think we were a painful reminder of
what was taken away from them
and even that guilt that they were left
with and i find that you know that's
kind of straight across the board for a
lot of biological families
the settlement includes a 50 million
dollar foundation
for healing commemoration education
language and culture
but we know there are other claims left
unresolved so we're working to address
harm suffered
by other indigenous children as a result
of the 60s scoop
throughout this whole process of the
settlement of
you know the little bit of education
that's out there on the internet about
the 60 scoop
survivors have not been given the option
to tell their stories
it's not enough to talk about it we need
to show
canadians and people in the world how
far we've been taken from our
traditional lands as indigenous people
and having our identities erased
[Music]
it's really important to see that this
legacy
which is within my lifetime we
are a people who have been here for
thousands of years
and in a very short period of time
were pulled up and ripped apart and
really the culture killed
for very many people and because of that
you have a displaced people
within their own land and it makes
a difference when you're trying to
understand who these people are
where they've come from and what kind of
things they've been put through it's
really validating to
meet with other adoptees who have the
similar
similar experiences and feel like they
don't fit in anywhere
the vast connection
that we have and the vast disconnection
we have
i i know there's no word for it because
i'm thinking of it in cree
so we have a word of minnow primondo in
like that good path that good walk
so if i know the hardship of the people
then you would know the hearts of the
hardship of the others
that live around you on this walk
you