John Swinney apologises to travellers for 'Tinker Experiment'
'Unfair and unjust'
In a statement to parliament, the first minister said: "It falls to this government to state without ambiguity that what happened to Gypsy Traveller communities was unacceptable."It is clear to the government that stark prejudice and lack of cultural awareness led to a series of unfair and unjust policies."These policies resulted in children being removed from their families and families were forced to live in sub-standard accommodation and degrading conditions."Swinney told MSPs: "The Tinker Experiments should not have happened. Those policies were wrong and we recognise it is still hurting so many today."He added: "On behalf of Scotland, we are sorry."
Swinney's statement coincided with the publication of an independent report into the experiments that was commissioned by his government. It concluded that the social experiments were a form of "cultural genocide". The report, produced by academics at the University of St Andrews, found that the UK government's Scottish Office, as well as churches, charities, local authorities and police, were complicit in facilitating forced assimilation, settlement and the removal of children.The academics said this involved traveller children being placed into care, forced to attend industrial schools or adopted by non-traveller families in Scotland and overseas.The report recommend that the Scottish government, as the body now responsible for the issue, gives an apology and considers paying compensation to those affected.
The university report's draft findings have been explored in a BBC podcast called The Cruelty - Stolen Generations, presented by Davie Donaldson, who comes from the traveller community.He told BBC Scotland News: "The belief was that if older travellers were forcibly settled, they would forget about their culture. "And as the generations went on the younger travellers could be boarded out or placed in institutions and be brought up as non-travellers, and by doing that they would eradicate the culture."It really is a really dark period in Scottish history and one that sadly few people have heard of until today."
Members of Scotland's traveller community have been campaigning for an apology for their treatment for years.Efforts to "assimilate" travellers into Scottish society were first documented in the late 1800s, with the authorities aiming to force them into "normal" housing.Gypsy Travellers were settled on sites across Scotland, including in Aberdeenshire, Argyll, Highlands, Perthshire, Fife and the Borders.It is not know precisely how many were forced from this life, or how many children were forcibly removed.
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