Imagine you were forcibly removed from your family as a child and adopted out by the government into another family that did not share your language, culture or values. This is the reality for more than 16,000 Indigenous people who were victims of what is termed the Sixties Scoop.
The victims of the Sixties Scoop have filed a class action lawsuit against the federal government for psychological and emotional damage experienced from being forcibly removed from their families. However, the government claims they cannot be held responsible for actions in the past.
This logic is dangerously flawed and erases the experiences of 16,000 people who had to live through the damaging consequences of the government's actions.
It is time that the government took responsibility for the Sixties Scoop and gives reparations to the thousands of people who were affected for their entire lives by the racist, colonial decisions of the government.
Sign today to stand with Sixties Scoop adoptees. By signing today you are sending a clear message that reconciliation is important and that the government must take responsibility for its mistakes in the past.
To Prime Minister Justin Trudeau,
As someone who cares deeply about reconciliation with Indigenous people I am greatly concerned by the federal government's stance on reparations for the Sixties Scoop adoptees.
This is a legacy of Canada's brutal colonial history and in order for reconciliation to happen it must be acknowledged as wrong and the federal government must take responsibility and pay the amount necessary to the people who lived through being forcibly removed from their families and adopted into other families that did not share their culture.
I urge you to take responsibility for the Sixties Scoop and pay out reparations to the thousands of victims.
[Your Comment Here]
Sincerely,
[Your Name]
