Scooped not shattered: I am a Sixties Scoop survivor

 

Opinion

I
want you to consider building a better future for the next seven
generations, writes Mike "O'dah ziibing (Heart of the river) Ashkewe

By Mike "O'dah ziibing / Heart of the river) Ashkewe

Guelph Mercury |  January 3, 2023

O'dah
ziibing indizhinikaaz. I am Heart of the river. I am also a Sixties
Scoop survivor, and I am a product of Canada’s violence and colonization
against its Indigenous population.

I
was raised as someone who only knew being Indigenous as a hustle, and
it was something not to be proud of, but rather hidden and shameful. I
was stripped of my culture, my language and the very core of my Ojibwe
identity. I would not begin to explore who I was until I started to
attend college in 2006. Even then I would face racism and I was
relatively alone there. I started to talk with people who looked like
me, had the same experiences as me from rural Ontario, but also I would
be exposed to new things. I was exposed to compassion, understanding,
and empathy. I was welcomed as an Indigenous student and I could be
proud of where I came from.

It
would take the lawsuit against Canada regarding the Sixties Scoop for
me to really begin to explore my roots, discover who I was, and what my
blood was calling to. My biological mother, Kim gave me up when she was a
teenager and as a result, we didn’t have a traditional relationship and
she never told me about where I really came from. She told me about the
lawsuit and what it meant. She told me that I was illegally adopted by
the people I thought were my parents, and she told me that a lot of my
childhood was a lie that was wrapped in an alleged compassion.

I
would meet a group known as the 60s Scoop Legacy of Canada and that
would prove to be an amazingly transformative experience. I would learn
about the true horror of the scoop but most importantly, I would learn
that I was not alone, and that my story was not unique. I had brothers
and sisters who were united in a painful experience that was considered
completely legal and only spoken about in hushed tones, hidden in plain
sight.

This
is where I would begin my journey in earnest and I would talk to
elders, advocates, politicians and others in asking hard questions but
chiefly among them,

“Why?”

A
lawsuit would be filed against Canada and it would be settled and it
was determined that our stolen childhoods, cultures and languages were
worth a paltry $25,000.  Our very identity was determined to be worth
less than the poverty level for a single family of two.  This hardly
seems fair but then again, when has Canada ever been fair to the
country’s original inhabitants?

I
decided that my trauma could be something I could harness and use to
fight back for a better tomorrow for my people. We have a belief in our
culture that speaks of seven generations and that our actions will echo
forward seven generations. There is an opportunity to rebuild, grow and
change the future of our shattered cultures and fractured relationships.
I look back at all the wrongs that have been done, and I have promised
that I would not willingly allow that to happen to another person again
regardless of what colour their skin was.

My
Indigenous spirit name translates to “Heart of the river” in Ojibwe.  My
name means that I build community and like the river, I can connect all
things and be the flow of life itself. Water connects all living things
and is the essence of life, it is necessary to all things and it is
necessary to build successful communities.

We
can’t change the past but we can change what happens in the future and
we can promise that we won’t willingly visit those wounds upon future
generations.

O'dah
ziibing indizhinikaaz. I am Heart of the river. I am a Sixties Scoop
survivor and I want you to consider building a better future for the
next seven generations.

Mike "O'dah ziibing / Heart of the river) Ashkewe
is from Neyaashiinigmiing, Ontario. Mike is a disability and Indigenous
activist in the city of Guelph. Mike has had a career in the media
since 2007 in a variety of different roles such as commentator, reporter
and podcaster.

 

He also wrote:

WHAT IS THE 60s SCOOP: https://www.parrysound.com/news-story/10806584-what-is-the-sixties-scoop-the-story-of-indigenous-children-taken-from-their-families-across-canada/