’60s Scoop survivors hope foundation aids healing

Children were taken from families and placed in non-Indigenous homes

TORONTO — Survivors of the notorious ’60s Scoop are set to mark a key milestone on Thursday with the ceremonial launch of a $50-million foundation aimed at healing the damage wrought by the practice of taking Indigenous children from their families and placing them in non-Indigenous homes.

Establishment of the foundation was part of a hard-fought class-action settlement and a key demand of a lead plaintiff in the case.

Thursday’s virtual event will see the ceremonial investiture of a 10-member board for the Sixties Scoop Healing Foundation that will comprise of Indigenous directors.

They include the government’s lone appointee, Harry LaForme, a retired justice on the Ontario Court of Appeal and member of the Eagle Clan of the Mississaugas of New Credit First Nation.

“It’s going to be a wonderful time of celebration,” Marcia (Sally) Brown Martel, the lead plaintiff in Ontario, said on Wednesday. “Not only for myself, but a celebration for people all across Canada to be able to say, ‘Look what we can do!’ ”

Other board members will be announced at the virtual ceremony. Among those expected to attend is music icon, Buffy Sainte-Marie. It will be up to the new board to determine where the foundation will be housed.

The ’60s Scoop arose out of government policy under which Indigenous children were taken from their families and placed in non-Indigenous homes.

In what became a years-long legal struggle, survivors successfully sued the government for their loss of heritage, culture and family ties. Ultimately, in 2017, the government agreed to pay $800 million — $50 million of which was earmarked for the foundation.

Jeffery Wilson, the lead lawyer who advanced the claim, said he hoped the foundation will lead to better understanding of the damage inflicted on the children and families.