Premier Wall set to apologize for Sixties Scoop

Leader has had mixed record when it comes to Indigenous issues: Professor

Premier Brad Wall says he will apologize to Sixties Scoop survivors as soon as Indigenous leaders name the time and place.

“We are ready immediately. We are ready to do this next week,” Wall told reporters Friday.

Wall, who announced Thursday that he will step down as leader of the Saskatchewan Party, first made the promise of an apology two years ago, after then-Manitoba premier Gary Selinger was the first to apologize to Indigenous people who were taken from their parents and placed in adoptive or foster homes, where they lost connection to families and communities and grew up without their cultures or languages.

The Saskatchewan apology has been delayed, in part because Wall wanted to include the Metis Nation-Saskatchewan (MN-S), which had been in limbo ahead of a leadership election.

Glen McCallum, who was elected MN-S president earlier this summer, said he looks forward to discussing the matter with Wall and Chief Bobby Cameron of the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN) to arrange the apology.

“It’s great. A lot of people were scooped up and they’ve been dealing with this issue for quite a while. For the premier to do that, that’s honourable of him to do that,” McCallum said.

Jackie Maurice, who included her own history in her PhD thesis on the Sixties Scoop, said it’s time for an apology.

“Many community members are still waiting for a public apology from the provincial government,” she said.

“An apology provides a validation that the Sixties Scoop did take place, that it was actual policy that impacted individuals, families and communities.

“It helps people move forward in their own healing and reconciliation.

“It doesn’t necessarily create change overnight, but from the government’s perspective, some sense of accountability and responsibility so that change can take place.”

Robert Innes, an associate professor of Indigenous studies at the University of Saskatchewan, said there were a few positives during Wall’s tenure when it came to Indigenous issues, but with big caveats.

The provincial government fostered partnerships with First Nations and Metis communities on resource development, but that kind of economic development has a shaky foundation in the long term, Innes said.

“Once the economic opportunities dry up, what’s left of the foundation?”

Innes said the province was an early supporter of an inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women, but recent budget cuts aimed at reducing a $1.3-billion deficit have hurt First Nations and Metis women and children.

“Saying that you’re going to support an inquiry and then making lives more difficult for Indigenous women is very contradictory.”

Innes said he would like to see the premier and his successor take a stronger leadership role in fighting discrimination against Indigenous people.

The issue of racism in Saskatchewan was brought to the forefront after the shooting death of a young Cree man a year ago.

Colten Boushie was killed Aug. 10, 2016 after the vehicle he was in drove onto a farm west of Saskatoon.

The property owner, Gerald Stanley, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and is scheduled to stand trial early next year.

The shooting ignited racial tensions in the province, prompting Wall to condemn “racist and hate-filled” comments he had seen online.

However, he said last summer that racism is not unique to Saskatchewan, nor is it somehow worse in the province as some have suggested.

Innes said he was not satisfied with that response.

“The premier has to acknowledge that there’s racism and it’s prevalent in this province.”

An apology provides a validation that the Sixties Scoop did take place, that it was actual policy that impacted individuals, families and communities.