From October 19 to 21, the Métis National Council hosted a Métis Nation Sixties Scoop Symposium at the Fort Garry Hotel in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Symposium brought Métis leaders together with Métis survivors of the Sixties Scoop from across the Métis Nation homeland to share knowledge and experiences, toward reconciliation for Métis Citizens taken from their families during the Sixties Scoop era. The Symposium gathered input from survivors to build a framework of reconciliation between Métis Sixties Scoop survivors and the Canadian government.
“The Métis Nation will seek justice for those who were robbed of their future,” says MMF President and MNC Vice-president David Chartrand. “We will hear the stories of survivors and work with them to create a reconciliation process that reflects their needs to heal.”
President Clément Chartier stated, “It is a significant time for the Métis Nation as we continue to seek justice for our people, particularly those whose lives have been impacted by the Sixties Scoop era.”
The Symposium marks the first in a series of engagements, directed and guided by survivors, to shape the framework for reconciliation with Canada. In addition to presentations and consultation sessions, the Symposium will launch a registration database to connect Métis survivors with the reconciliation process. A trauma team was on site throughout the weekend to support the health and wellness needs of survivors in attendance, while a gathering place and accommodations are available for Métis Elders.
One year ago, the federal government announced that it would settle numerous lawsuits related to the Sixties Scoop, an era from the 1950s through 1990s during which thousands of Indigenous children were placed with non-Indigenous families. As these lawsuits only involved First Nations survivors, Métis survivors were not included in the settlement. MMF President David Chartrand, in his role as V.P. for the Métis National Council leads this file, working in advancing the creation of a framework that will advance reconciliation for Métis Sixties Scoop survivors.
CBC news:
‘You can’t do this to people’: Sixties Scoop survivors tell their stories in Winnipeg
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/sixties-scoop-settlement-survivors-1.4871905
CTV News Winnipeg: A symposium for Sixties Scoop survivors