Sixties Scoop survivor David Smith devotes his time to learning about the culture he has lost

 

The ’60s Scoop robbed his culture. Now he restores it through storytelling

30/09/2022 SOURCE

Sixties Scoop survivor David Smith devotes his time to learning about the culture he has lost. (Mike Heenan/CBC)

When social workers visit David Smith’s community, his sister takes him into the woods.

As a young kid, Smith asked if they were playing hide and seek. I told him they were.

Then they lost one day.

“It
was too big to lose that match because I and my brother were sent off,”
Smith said. “We both had the same thing happen to us – we got adopted
and lost everything.”

Smith
and his brother were taken from the Metepenagiag Mi’kmaq Nation as part
of the scoop of the 1960s, a period in Canadian history from 1961 to
the 1980s, when Aboriginal children were taken from their families and
adopted mainly by Canadian settlers.

Smith said he was relatively lucky when talking.

“I had a good family. I love my family. They are still my family. Now I have two families.”

Since
the beginning of the year, Smith has reconnected with his culture
through First Nations Storytellers, a company he and business partner
Gail Bremner launched this summer that provides tours of Aboriginal
history in Saint John and surrounding areas in New Brunswick.

David
Smith with a tour group. His company, First Nations Storytellers,
explores the Aboriginal history of the Saint John region and beyond.
(Mike Heenan/CBC)

“I decided, as a way for
me to take back my culture, that I would do that and devote all of my
time and energy to learning my culture and my language, learning my
family history, and sharing as much as possible with people,” Smith
said. “So that they can get a better understanding of who we are.”

Watch | David Smith shares the history of the Wolastoq and Mi’kmaq peoples from an Aboriginal perspective:

A survivor of the ’60s Scoop reclaims his culture by educating others

Forty-four
years ago, David Smith was moved from his home in Metepenagiag Mi’kmaq
Nation. Now, he’s reclaiming his culture by sharing St John’s Aboriginal
history.

For Smith in particular, he
believed that truth and reconciliation should revolve around supporting
Indigenous communities, through infrastructure and attitudes.

“I just want to see a world where not all rivers flow away from society,” he said.

“Not all paths lead me away from society. Not every government policy or all social convention takes me away from society.”

Loss of culture and search for communication

Despite his love for his adoptive family, Smith said his life away from Metepenagiag was isolated.

“I’ve
lived in a society where I’m the only one of its kind…and they, kids,
aren’t very tolerant. And remember, kids weren’t alone either.”

But Smith was still searching for his culture anywhere he could.

“Secretly
I was in the woods, looking at plants, or saving animals and looking
for any connection: movies, videos, books, anything I could find that
connects me,” he said.

“But I still tried to hide it so much that I
met my biological mother once. And I didn’t have the courage to come up
to her and say hello.”

When Smith was 16, he was at a gymnasium
for a martial arts tournament and spotted a group of Aboriginal parents
and children. Smith said that whenever he saw other Aboriginal people,
his little eyes naturally gravitated toward them—looking for something
to help him understand where he was from.

Although his culture was taken from him, Smith as a child would seek connections to his roots. (Mike Heenan/CBC)

His eyes were dumbfounded at a certain woman he saw.

“It was like when you’re staring at someone in a crowd and you don’t know why you’re staring at them,” he said.

He imagined it might be his mother, but he couldn’t bring himself to go and talk to the group.

“I guess at one point, I didn’t want to be, I just wanted to be normal, which I did until recently.”

He
will never have the opportunity to talk to his mother, who died when he
was 19. At her funeral, he knew who she was and realized she was at the
gym that day.

Smith
walks with a tour group. On his tours, he shares familiar stories about
the creation of local landmarks such as Partridge Island. (Mike
Heenan/CBC)

“I’ve dreamed for years about that moment where I’d walk in and say hi. And just…it never happened.”

Decades later, it was the family that set him on his new path.

Smith has a 16-year-old daughter and wants her to know he was trying to do something important.

In January, he quit his job and embarked on his expedition.

“I
hope she makes the journey herself eventually, if not today, sometime
in the future, because I don’t want my culture streak to end with me.”

A trip anyone can join

One thing Smith wants to make clear is that he doesn’t know everything there is to know about Aboriginal history and culture.

“I’m not the end, everything, I’m just a guy learning and I want to share my journey.”

Smith
said that every piece of feather in his company logo represents an
indigenous community in New Brunswick. The colors represent the three
countries in the province. (Mike Heenan/CBC)

He’s
also trying to fill a gap in St. John’s tourism offerings, which his
business partner Bremner noted before founding the company.

One of
the company’s tours takes visitors on a walk through time by the
Wolastoq River or the St. John’s River. On it, Smith describes the rich
history of the area that existed before the arrival of Samuel de
Champlain.

During the company’s first summer, Smith said he spoke to groups of 100 and groups of two.

“I will speak to anyone who is willing to listen and has open ears.”