52 Ways to Reconcile: How to Walk with Indigenous Peoples on the Path to Healing - Week 13

Week 13
Educate Yourself About the Sixties Scoop
from Robertson, David A. 52 Ways to Reconcile: How to Walk with Indigenous Peoples on the Path to Healing

This week asks us to learn about a painful but important chapter in Canada’s history: the Sixties Scoop. As Robertson reminds readers, understanding the history of how Indigenous children have been separated from their families is essential if we are going to understand the depth of trauma many communities continue to carry today.

Many people are already familiar with the Indian Residential School System, where Indigenous children were taken from their families and placed in church-run institutions in an effort to assimilate them into Euro-Canadian society. What is less widely known is that the removal of Indigenous children did not end with the closing of residential schools. Beginning in the 1950s and continuing into the 1980s, thousands of Indigenous children were taken from their families through the child welfare system and adopted into non-Indigenous families across Canada and the United States. This mass removal of children became known as the Sixties Scoop.

Robertson places this history within a broader pattern. Policies that removed Indigenous children from their homes were often justified as acts of protection, yet they frequently failed to address the underlying causes of hardship facing many communities—causes that were themselves rooted in colonization, displacement, and systemic inequality. The result was the continuation of cycles of trauma, separation from culture and language, and the loss of family and community connections.

He also notes that these issues are not only historical. Today, Indigenous children remain dramatically overrepresented in Canada’s foster care system. Understanding this reality helps us see how past policies continue to shape present circumstances.

For Robertson, learning about the Sixties Scoop is part of seeing the larger picture of reconciliation. It helps us understand why healing, accountability, and systemic change remain necessary. He encourages readers to seek out resources that tell these stories, including documentaries, books, and podcasts such as Connie Walker’s Missing & Murdered: Finding Cleo, which explores the experience of one child taken during the Sixties Scoop and the lasting impact on her family.

In the life of the church—especially in denominations like the United Church of Canada that have been directly involved in this history—learning these stories is an important step toward honesty, accountability, and healing.

What might change in our understanding of reconciliation if we take time to learn about the Sixties Scoop and listen to the stories of the children and families who lived through it?

Want to read last weeks post, you can do so here.