Latest news with #LorraineSinclair
Global News
9 hours ago
- General
- Global News
'60s Scoop survivors demand action on 10th anniversary of provincial apology
Lorraine Sinclair never knew her mother. It was only last year that she saw a photo of her for the first time. 'We have a face that we needed for over 60 years, to say goodnight to.' She and her sister Cindy Munro are both survivors of the '60s Scoop. They were taken from their family as children and were in the same foster home for a time before being separated. They found each other again as adults, along with some of their seven other siblings who were taken, but their mother and one of their brothers had passed away before they could reunite. 'We knew her first and her last name, we thought,' Lorraine says of searching for her mother's grave. 'We didn't know her middle name. We didn't even know the day she died.' Even now, at age 61, she grieves for the childhood she lost. Story continues below advertisement '(Cindy) cried one day, and she said, Lorraine really needed mom. And I did, I really needed mom. And she was gone.' Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy More than 3000 Indigenous children from Manitoba, and between 10,000 and 30,000 across Canada, are estimated to have been forcibly 'scooped' from their families from the '50s to the '80s. They were adopted out to mainly white families across Canada and around the world. Ten years ago, former Manitoba premier Greg Sellinger issued an apology in the legislature for the province's role in the scoop. But many survivors feel it didn't go far enough. Fifty-six-year-old Cory Enns described being adopted out and returned to CFS by two different families, and feeling unloved and unwanted throughout his childhood as a result. He says he's had little support in trying to heal. 'I have felt that we have been left out and forgotten,' says Enns. 'They have acknowledged things, and they have apologized for things. But don't forget, we are still here, and we are still suffering.' At an event hosted by Anish Healing Centre marking the 10th anniversary of the provincial apology, survivors put out the call for mental health supports and financial help for families to reunite. Advocate Coleen Rajotte says they need resources even to determine the actual number of survivors. 'We don't even know how many of those kids are still out there,' says Rajotte. 'So, we need to do research, and we need to reach out to these now adults, and say we're here, we want to help you get home.' Story continues below advertisement In a statement, families minister Nahanni Fontaine says, 'Our government is on the path of jurisdiction, restoring the care of children and families to their Nations back where they rightfully and inherently belong.' She adds the government hired a dedicated employee in April to help survivors navigate services for former children in care and adoptees, and their team was present at the Anish Healing Centre's '60s Scoop gathering last year to connect people with adoption record services.
CBC
9 hours ago
- Politics
- CBC
10 years after apology, '60s Scoop survivors call for support beyond 'grossly inadequate' payout
Survivors of an infamous Canadian campaign to take Indigenous children from their families are underscoring the need for more action on the 10-year anniversary of the Manitoba's government formal apology for its role. Lorraine Sinclair and Cindy Munro are grateful they reunited. The sisters say they're from a family of 11 children — nine of whom, including them, were separated and adopted out during the Sixties Scoop. "We're learning about each other. Our other extended family and our other brothers and sisters, we don't really know them," said Munro. "I don't know who they are. That's not fair — that's not fair to my children, my grandchildren, my siblings." The sisters were among a group of survivors and supporters at an event at St. John's Park in north Winnipeg on Wednesday to mark a decade since then premier Greg Selinger apologized to families caught in the Sixties Scoop. The once legal and systematic practice removed thousands of First Nation, Métis and Inuit children from their birth families from the late 1950s into the 1980s. Most were adopted out to non-Indigenous families in Canada and abroad. Coleen Rajotte, an advocate for Sixties Scoop survivors, said the 2015 apology was an important part of reconciliation but doesn't go far enough. "It recognizes that we were through genocide, we were taken away from our families and placed far away from our culture and language," she said. "It's now 2025, and we're asking the federal government and provincial government: what has really been done for us?" The federal government announced a $800-million settlement for survivors in 2017, though some waited years for payments due to various delays. Over 34,000 claims were submitted by the 2019 deadline. The sum eventually doled out to those deemed eligible amounted to about $25,000 per survivor. Rajotte, who served on a Manitoba committee that asked for the 2015 apology, campaigned against that amount. She calls it "pathetic" and "grossly inadequate" compared to similar settlements reached for residential school and day school survivors. "Not that money is going to fix everything, but we really feel like Sixties Scoop survivors have often been forgotten about," she said. "We don't really have the strong political voices that we need to move our issues forward." Rajotte said beyond inadequate financial restitution, there are also issues that remain in terms of repatriating Canadian-born survivors that were adopted out internationally. "Many of our survivors are still out in this world somewhere — Europe, United States, New Zealand, Australia," she said. "Our children were placed far away, and we don't even know how many more of our Sixties Scoop survivors are still out there." WATCH | Premier Greg Selinger apologizes for Sixties Scoop in 2015: RAW: Premier Selinger apologizes for Sixties Scoop 10 years ago Duration 2:35 Sinclair and Munro say two of their siblings have died. One of their sisters remains in a locked mental health institution in Minnesota, and they want help repatriating her. "I want a family picture. I don't know what that is," said Sinclair. Late last month, advocates convened a group of survivors at Anish Healing Centre, which supports Sixties Scoop survivors, to ask them for input on what more needs to be done to support them. Rajotte said the group penned a letter with recommended supports that they sent to Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew's office. They're hoping to meet with him. Among other recommendations, Rajotte would like to see governments fund the creation of a centre devoted to helping survivors seek guidance should they wish to repatriate, and to help them access financial and mental health supports for all survivors. "I stand here as a proud Cree woman who has gone through her own healing journey," said Rajotte. "I feel blessed that we have a voice and I am using our voice today to say more has to be done."
