The Sixties Scoop

refers to the large-scale removal or “scooping” of Indigenous children from their homes, communities and families of birth through the 1960s, and their subsequent placement into foster care or adoption into predominantly non-indigenous, middle-class families across Canada. This experience left many Indigenous children with a lost sense of cultural identity. Although referred to as the Sixties Scoop, the practice actually began in the 1950s and continued into the 1980s. The physical and emotional separation from their birth families continues to affect adult adoptees and Indigenous communities to this day.