Survivors opt out of Scoop deal

SOME MANITOBANS CALLING FOR A BETTER DEAL

Some Manitoba survivors of the ’60s Scoop are encouraging others to opt out of a settlement with the federal government.

They say they were not consulted in the agreement meant to resolve several class-action lawsuits and suggest lawyers will walk away with more money than the Indigenous people who were affected by the adoptions.

“We as children had no say in where we were sent and now they are giving us no say in how we are going to be compensated,” said Coleen Rajotte, who was taken from her community in Saskatchewan when she was a baby and raised by a Manitoba family.

In October, the federal government announced it had reached a $750-million agreement with about 20,000 people who were placed in nonIndigenous foster homes as far away as New Zealand between 1951 and 1991. The agreement, which is yet to be finalized, would see survivors each receive between $25,000 and $50,000.

The four law firms involved would get a separate $75 million. Another $50 million was set aside for the Indigenous Healing Foundation.

Priscilla Meeches and Stewart Garnett were the lead plaintiffs in the Manitoba lawsuit and were in Ottawa for the announcement.

They said they didn’t see the agreement before they were brought on stage with CrownIndigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett.

At a news conference organized in Winnipeg on Friday by a local ’60s Scoop survivors group, they said they are opting out of the settlement.

Meeches said she has felt a loss of identity and home throughout her life because of being adopted out during the ’60s Scoop.

She said she spent her life trying to find a place to say, “I’m here. I’m home,” and the settlement has only brought up more feelings of loss.

“I’m not happy with the fact there was no transparency,” Meeches said.

Garnett said Manitoba was the epicentre of the ’60s Scoop.