After a long eight-year wait, Ontario Superior Court Justice Edward Belobaba ruled that Canada had "breached its 'duty of care' to the children. This landmark decision will have a profound effect on thousands of children who were taken from their homes and placed in non-Indigenous homes, a government action that became known as "the Sixties Scoop".
TORONTO, ON-After a long eight-year wait, a landmark decision has finally been reached that will have a profound effect on thousands of children who were taken from their homes and placed in non-Indigenous homes, a government action that became known as "the Sixties Scoop".
An Ontario judge ruled on Valentine's Day, February 14, 2017, that Canada's government failed First Nations children during the 1960s by placing them with non-Native families which in most cases caused them to lose their Indigenous heritage.
Ontario Superior Court Justice Edward Belobaba rules that Canada had "breached its 'duty of care' to the children. He also found that the government breached part of the agreement that required consultation with Indian bands about the child welfare program."
"This is an odd and, frankly, insulting submission," Belobaba wrote. "Canada appears to be saying that even if the extension of child welfare services to their reserves had been fully explained to the Indian bands and, if each band had been genuinely consulted about their concerns in this regard, that no meaningful advice or ideas would have been forthcoming."
This decision was the result of a lawsuit launched in 2009 on behalf of 16,000 Indigenous children in Ontario who claimed they were damaged emotionally and socially by being placed in non-Indigenous homes from 1965-1984 under a joint federal and provincial program.
Beaverhouse First Nation Chief Marcia Brown Martel says she feels "like a great weight has been lifted from my heart." Chief Martell was the lead plaintiff in the Ontario lawsuit, and was adopted by a non-Indigenous couple in 1972 when she was nine. She later discovered that the Canadian government had said her original indentity was dead. "Our voices were finally heard and listened to. Our pain was acknowledged," she stated at a press conference following the judge's decision.
The federal government says it is prepared to negotiate settlements with the survivors. Indigenous and Northern Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett stated that first the government will come to the table and will listen and be prepared to make settlements with those who have been wronged.
