Far-flung '60s Scoop siblings — one in Texas, one in New Zealand — meet Manitoba uncle

 Siblings planning trip to Manitoba next year

Stefan Richard · CBC News · March 10

A family gathering. Jonathan Hooker, Lori Brem, Lori's daughter Eva Dawn and Darryl Flett. (Submitted by Lori Brem)

Through laughter, Lori Brem tells the story of the meeting that brought her brother Jonathan Hooker, a New Zealand resident, and her Uncle Darryl Flett from northern Manitoba together for the first time. 

The three relatives met in Texas in November 2024. Brem, a resident of China Spring, Texas, and Hooker, of Mount Maunganui, New Zealand, share the same birth father and Flett is their uncle.

"To hear them all talking," Brem chuckles.

"Jonathan speaks so fast and Darryl speaks real slow. And then we have our drawl, like we say 'Y'all.' Hearing all the different accents was just so funny to me."

How do the roads between three communities on opposite sides of the world converge in Texas? 

Brem and Hooker are survivors of the Sixties Scoop, where First Nations, Métis and Inuit children were removed from their homes and placed with non-Indigenous foster or adoptive parents between 1951 and 1991, and lost their cultural identities as a result.

Brem was taken from Swan River, Man., along with her siblings. Hooker was taken from Moose Lake, Man.

Brem and Hooker's adoptions, like so many others, tore them from their families and their roots. 

Hooker was adopted by a couple from the U.K. who spent time in Canada and eventually settled on New Zealand's North Island. He said he always know he was adopted because he didn't look like his fair-skinned parents.

"It was really obvious that there was some job going on there, having black hair and dark skin," he said.

"I was really too young to realize the enormity of what had happened to me."

During the 2024 reunion, Flett sat down with Brem and Hooker to discuss the family history and the Sixties Scoop. Hooker said it was "a shock to the system" to hear how authorities would go to reserves and remove children.

KEEP READING:  https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/60s-scoop-texas-new-zealand-manitoba-1.7477466 

• In Depth
  Sixties Scoop survivors journey home to N.W.T. to reunite with family, reconcile past

• New series tells story of Sixties Scoop survivor learning about her past

 

Investigation finds millions meant for women, children fleeing violence was never spent

An investigation by the Winnipeg Free Press found hundreds of millions of dollars meant for housing for Indigenous women and children fleeing violence has never been spent.   For more on this, APTN News spoke with investigative reporter Marsha McLeod.
PLEASE WATCH VIDEO:
https://www.aptnnews.ca/videos/investigation-finds-millions-meant-for-women-children-fleeing-violence-was-never-spent/

I thought my biological family didn’t want me. But they'd never stopped looking for me

"I felt so much pain that I had been carrying melt away."

TODAY Illustration / Courtesy Yvette McKinley

Nov. 22, 2024

By Yvette McKinley, as told to Rachel Paula Abrahamson

When I was a toddler, I was stolen from my home in the middle of the night. Child welfare authorities banged on the door and said, “We’re here for Yvette,” and my parents had no choice but to hand me over.

I’m one of more than 20,000 Indigenous children in Canada who were ripped from their families during what is known as the Sixties Scoop. The Canadian goverment believed that Indigenous people were not fit to raise children. In the words of former prime minister Hector Langevin, “To educate the children properly we must separate them from their families. Some people may say that is hard but if we want to civilize them we must do that."

Similar things happened in the United States, where an estimated 25% to 35% of Native American children were removed from their families before the Indian Child Welfare Act was established in 1978.

My siblings — I’m the youngest of 14 — were sent to federally operated, Catholic boarding schools where they were given English names and forbidden from speaking their aboriginal language. In these programs of forced assimilation, many experienced horrific physical, sexual and emotional abuse.

I was more fortunate.

In 1974, I was adopted by a white Christian couple in Oregon. They were told by the adoption agency that my biological parents didn’t want to raise me. For decades, I believed that story, too.

My adoptive parents were kind, but I always had a sense of being different.Courtesy Yvette McKinley

It was quite easy for a white couple to adopt an Indigenous child at the time. My adoptive parents started the paperwork in January, flew up in March to meet me for the first time, and the very next day they took me back to their home in Oregon.

Growing up, I was aware that I was Indigenous, but it’s not something that I embraced. At school, my classmates called me an Indian. Redskin was another one I heard a lot. My mom says I always asked her to buy me white tights so my legs would look white like the other girls. I didn’t want brown skin. I didn’t want to be different.

It wasn’t until my 20s that I started to get more curious about my history. My brother, who is half Japanese, had started looking for his biological family, so I decided I would, too. I knew my birth parents had the same name, Acoby, so I started by writing to every Acoby I could find in the Canadian providence of Manitoba.

The first person I heard back from was my sister Lorraine, who shared that we are members of Swan Lake First Nation. She said our parents had never stopped looking for me. When I read those words, I felt so much pain that I had been carrying melt away. I had spent my life believing that they didn't want me.

From Lorraine I learned about how our sister Charlotte was taken at a doctor's appointment when she was 5 months old.  My mom handed Charlotte over to a nurse, not realizing she would never hold her baby again.  My mom went back to that doctor's office every single day for months begging for them to let her see Charlotte, but she was gone.

My sister Charlotte (left) and me: I've discovered a whole family I never knew I had.Courtesy Yvette McKinley

At the age of 24, I reunited with my mother.  My dad, a former chief of Swan Lake, had died a few years earlier.  My sisters were there to translate for our mom who spoke only Ojibwe.  She was relieved to learn I was raised by kind parents.  For all those years she had wondered if I was OK, and I’m glad she was able to have some closure. 

It’s so hard to put into words what it was like to be surrounded by people who look like me.  There’s this feeling of acceptance.  But at the same time, I feel so Caucasian when I’m around my biological family.  Sometimes I feel like I don’t belong anywhere, which is not uncommon for survivors of the Sixties Scoop.

Since reconnecting with my birth family, I travel to Swan Lake reserve every summer.  I feel at peace there.  It’s just prairie land and it’s a part of me that I didn’t know I had been missing. 

Now I have sisters that I text and call.  We do big family dinners.  When we’re together there is this overwhelming sense of calm. 

I love sitting around with the council people and learning about where I came from. At my first powwow, I met family members I never knew existed — aunts, uncles, cousins.  Unfortunately, the tribe can’t recognize me as a family member because the Canadian government erased my birth certificate.  But I do have my Ojibwe name, which means Morning Sky in English.  My kids now want to get their spiritual names. 

I'm working to get my real birth certificate.  The one I have now lists my adoptive parents as my parents.

I received a $25,000 apology check from the Canadian government.  And that’s what my life is worth in their eyes.  It’s like, "We destroyed your entire family.  We took you from your home, from your family.  Here’s a check for $25,000.”  That hurts a lot.

There are so many people that don’t know anything about what happened to my people during the Sixties Scoop.  One summer, I stopped at a burger stand just a few miles from Swan Lake and the woman working behind the counter had never heard of the Scoop.

I want the government to acknowledge what they did and honor those children who never made it out alive from their schools.  Let’s call it what it is: The Sixties Scoop, like the Holocaust, was a genocide. 

At least 4,120 children are known to have died in the residential schools in Canada. In the U.S., a federal investigation found that at least 973 children died in residential schools — and the actual number is probably much higher, since many were buried in unmarked graves.

My siblings were sent to those schools.  They say their hair was cut off.  They were beaten for speaking our language and singing our songs.  They were forced to study the Bible.  My sister Yvonne can only talk about it in little tiny segments because it was so traumatic. 

We are healing together.

I will never forget how Swan Lake First Nation chief Jason Daniels welcomed me back.

"You're home," he said. "This will always be your home."

Manitoba: Brandon's Eagle Healing Lodge strengthens Dakota, Cree, Anishinaabemowin and Michif speakers at 3-day camp

'It feels like home': Southwestern Manitoba camp connects language to land

Chelsea Kemp · CBC · Posted: August 9

Brandon Friendship Centre’s Eagle Healing Lodge program co-ordinator Denise Sinclair says the camp is helping people reclaim their Indigenous languages through land-based activities. (Chelsea Kemp/CBC)

Nestled in a ceremony site east of Southwestern Manitoba's biggest city, a group of language keepers is working to strengthen and grow fluent Dakota, Cree, Anishinaabemowin and Michif speakers.

They're part of the Brandon Friendship Centre's Eagle Healing Lodge's first land-based language camp.  Four teepees have been set up between the forest and prairies, each home to an Indigenous language in Westman.

"Language has always been connected to the land," says Denise Sinclair, program co-ordinator for the healing lodge. "Everything that we're doing here is specifically land-based ... in the language so that you can hear it [and] you can pass that on."

The three-day camp, held Tuesday through Thursday, was an opportunity for participants to learn and speak Dakota, Cree, Anishinaabemowin and Michif, she said.  They would speak their languages for different activities like setting up tents, smoking meat or medicine picking.

Julia Brandon, left, and Martina Richard crush chokecherries as a way to learn Anishinaabemowin. (Chelsea Kemp/CBC)

It's powerful seeing connections forged as people learn and speak their languages, Sinclair said. It's important work that has to carry on to help with language revitalization.

"Whatever you're learning you're going to remember … you're building that core memory with the language, that you needed growing up," Sinclair said.

Language as strength

The healing lodge has been cultivating a community centred on strengthening Indigenous languages since 2021, Sinclair said. It began as a program for Sixties Scoop survivors and grew to include residential school survivors and others.

Language serves to reconnect people with their culture and identity in a safe place centred on healing, Sinclair said.

"We have to remember that there's still that sense of …. something being taken," Sinclair said. "Now they feel safe to talk to us as learners because they feel that importance of passing on that language."

Martina Richard, from Waywayseecappo First Nation, camped out at the site for two days to immerse herself and her family in language and culture. Participants could choose to camp, or to go home for the night.

Eagle Healing Lodge Cultural support worker Lacey Hotain says she wants to strengthen her Dakota to pass it on to future generations. (Chelsea Kemp/CBC)

Richard's focus was on learning Anishinaabemowin. As she gets older, Richard says, she feels the need to be a fluent learner to help strengthen the language for future generations.

"Just like how it was spoken around me, I'm starting to use the language more around my children and they're starting to understand and use the words too," Richard said.

"It feels like home ... It's good to be around what feels like family."

Julia Brandon, also from Waywayseecappo, was one of the language helpers at the camp. She teaches Anishinaabomowin through cultural activities like smoking moose meat, beading and crushing chokecherries.

It's exciting getting out of the classroom and onto the land, Brandon said. It's a more hands-on experience for everyone involved no matter their language skill level.

• How learning a First Nations language helps these 3 people connect with culture, family, community

• Classes reawakening Indigenous languages in southwestern Manitoba

She still considers herself a learner, because other women are expanding the words she knows in Anishinaabemowin.

"I'm getting strength from being around the other speakers to keep going," Brandon said.

Building Community

Lacey Hotain from Sioux Valley Dakota Nation is a Dakota speaker who works as a cultural support worker at the healing lodge.

Hotain visited each of the teepees to participate in different cultural activities and learn about different Indigenous languages.

"I definitely feel a sense of importance here because everybody who comes here has a role," Hotain said. She says she's always felt "a calling, of an obligation" to go back to language as a priority.

Hotain wants to help teach Dakota to young people in the future. She says her knowledge is being strengthened by working on the land at the camp.

Brandonite Shirley McKay beads a wolf willow necklace. (Chelsea Kemp/CBC)

The Eagle Healing Lodge is planning on hosting a second language camp in the spring. It's important to keep activities like this accessible – through being welcoming and available – for those struggling with their identity and their connection to language and culture, Sinclair said.

Brandon hopes the next camp will be fully immersive for participants, with Indigenous language spoken the whole time, to help keep languages thriving in the community.

• End of funding for holistic Michif program brings fears endangered Métis language won't survive

She wants her grandchildren and the next generations can help carry the language forward, Brandon said. But, it's challenging because she wants them to be engaged and curious about Anishinaabemowin, but doesn't want to force them to learn the way she was forced to learn English.

This means they need more language options outside the camp so First Nation children can stay connected to their culture and traditions.

"The First Nations, we don't have our language because it's not promoted," Brandon said. "How do you promote your own language if you're if you're not talking it yourself?"

Brandon camp connects language, culture and land

VIDEO: Duration 1:55

The Brandon Friendship Centre's Eagle Healing Lodge hosted its first three-day language camp this week. The camp's goal is to help people reconnect to their Indigenous language through land-based and cultural teachings.

APTN National News – Victory for MMIWG families in Manitoba...

Residential school, Sixties Scoop survivors reflect on National #TRC DAY

*

Winnipeg  News

'A mixed-emotion day': Day of Reflection honours Sixties Scoop victims

The day included drumming, singing, round dancing, and smudging, among other Indigenous ceremonies. (Source: Zach Kitchen, CTV News)

Dan Vadeboncoeur Editorial Producer Contact Sept. 30, 2023

 

As Manitobans marked the third National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, an event in Winnipeg's North End remembered Residential School victims and those affected by the Sixties Scoop.

The Day of Reflection, Sacred Fire and Gathering took place at St. John's Park Saturday afternoon, jointly organized by the Anish Corporation, Manito Ahbee Festival, and 60s Scoop Legacy of Canada.

The day included drumming, singing, round dancing, and smudging, among other Indigenous ceremonies.

"We wanted to provide a space where people could come and learn a little bit about Indigenous culture, but also be mindful that today is kind of a mixed-emotion day for Indigenous people who have been affected by Residential Schools and the Sixties Scoop and day schools," said Katherine Strongwind director of the 60s Scoop Legacy of Canada.

Beginning in the late 1950s through the 1980s, the Canadian government enacted a series of policies allowing Indigenous children to be "scooped" from their families and then adopted into white homes.

Strongwind said Canada's Indigenous peoples have been through a lot of tragedy. "It's important to remember that we're still here, our culture is still alive," she said.

Orange-clad families gathered at the park to enjoy free entertainment and food, and to learn about Indigenous culture through tipi teachings.

Members of the White Horse Ranch in South Dakota brought "Sunka Wakan," or sacred horses to the event.

"They're often the lead for our walks and our events, and so it was really important to have them here so that we could honour the horses today," Strongwind said.

More information about the Sixties Scoop can be found online(opens in a new tab).

 

RELATED STORIES

• 'Wear your shirt throughout the year': Winnipeg marks third National Day for Truth and Reconciliation
• 'Every Red River Metis Child Matters': The new MMF sash
• Manitoba NDP says it would make Orange Shirt Day a statutory holiday if elected

 

Revelations from an excavation near a former residential school

• 9-25-23
• News

Warning: This video contains distressing details | The Pine Creek First Nation in western Manitoba is one of the first in Canada to excavate a site near a former residential school.  CBC’s Wawmeesh Hamilton explores how the community is paving the way for others as it faces the tough revelations that come with searching for answers.

MMIWG BILLBOARDS

‘Hope & Strength’ – New billboards along Hwy. 16 to honour missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls (MMIWG)

August 15, 2023

Carrier Sekani Family Services (CSFS), in partnership with the Highway of Tears Governing Body, is excited to unveil the creation of four new billboards along Highway 16’s notorious ‘Highway of Tears’. This partnership aims to address Recommendation 9 of the 2006 Highway of Tears Recommendation Report, which includes creating a number of billboards to bring further awareness on the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls (2006:21).

Located between Prince George and Smithers, the billboards feature images and messaging of hope and strength to highlight the value of people in the north and that we are all, as communities, stronger together. As you travel on this stretch of Highway 16 we hope that these billboards will create a moment for pause to remember, honour and to reflect on what we all can do to make this Highway and the communities surrounding it a safer place.

“We hope these billboards act as a visual reminder to travelers to be part of keeping Highway 16 safe for everyone,” said Mary Teegee, CSFS Executive Director of Child and Family Services. “It is time to move forward with Hope and Strength and to honour our loved ones by making Highway 16 safe again.”

The billboards are part of a larger commemorative series project that will eventually include commemorative pillars at each end of the ‘Highway of Tears’, rest-stop signage and more to honour and remember Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls in addition to providing more education and awareness of safety along Highway 16.

“While these billboards serve a reminder of our loved ones who went missing – we must do more to stop these violent acts committed against our people and people from all backgrounds,” said CSFS Board President and Cheslatta Carrier Nation Chief Corrina Leween. “We must collectively take part in ensuring a commitment to building a safer space for all of humanity. Please ensure that your MLA and MP’s help us achieve safe places and spaces for all.”

The billboards will be erected this week and are booked until 2025.

Contact Person: CSFS Communications: 778-349-1676
Email: communications@csfs.org

**

NEW LICENSE PLATES

 

#MMIWG UPDATE: Alleged Serial Killer in Custody

https://t.co/WdMnIQMmNf

— a mote of dust, suspended on a sunbeam (@CarlaHolley) December 2, 2022

Sadly, as @r_bergen reports in this piece in June, Jeremy Skibicki was already on the police radar for domestic violence charges. https://t.co/pgS7NdAEht

— Anna Withrow (@flozer) December 2, 2022

 

Alleged serial killer in custody and charged in killings of 4 Indigenous women in Canada, police say

 December 2, 2022| CNN

Winnipeg Police Chief Danny Smyth provides an update Thursday to the homicide investigation. John Woods/AP

 

CNN  — 

Authorities in Winnipeg, Manitoba, believe the murders of four Indigenous women came at the hands of an alleged serial killer now in custody in Canada.

Jeremy Anthony Michael Skibicki, 35, of Winnipeg, has been charged with four counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of the women, a news release from the Winnipeg Police Service states. It is not clear if he has an attorney.

The investigation dates to May 16, when Winnipeg police shared information on the murder of 24-year-old Rebecca Contois, of the Crane River First Nation, after her partial remains were discovered.

Skibicki was arrested May 18 by the agency’s Homicide Unit and charged with first-degree murder, the release says.

During the investigation, detectives established three more victims murdered between March and May – before Contois’ death.

Morgan Beatrice Harris, 39, is believed to have been killed on or around May 1, and Marcedes Myran, 26, is believed to have been killed on or around May 4. Both women were members of the Long Plain First Nation, according to the release.

A fourth victim also is confirmed but not yet identified. She is believed to be an Indigenous female killed on or around March 15, police said.

And the investigation is not over, Winnipeg Police Inspector Shawn Pike said Thursday during a news conference.

Bodies of those three new victims haven’t been recovered, said Winnipeg Police Chief Danny Smyth, noting police have enough evidence to charge Skibicki in their killings.

“Our officers will continue to search for information with the goal of identifying this fourth unknown victim,” Pike said, adding DNA has helped in their probe without saying how.

Meantime, Winnipeg must better address the safety concerns of the community, Mayor Scott Gillingham said at Thursday’s news conference.

“As a city, we must all grieve their loss and recognize that we have much more work to do to protect the lives of Indigenous women and girls,” Gillingham said.

Skibicki is being held at the Milner Ridge Correctional Centre in Manitoba. 

In his Facebook bio, Skibicki described himself as an "official member of 'Holy Europe,'" which is a small faction of a broader far-right movement, an anti-facism expert told CBC last June.

Jeremy Skibicki is now facing four first-degree murder charges in connection with the deaths of four women, including Rebecca Contois, Morgan Beatrice Harris and Marcedes Myran. (Jeremy Skibicki/Facebook)

 

Support is available for anyone affected by details of this case. If you require support, you can contact Ka Ni Kanichihk's Medicine Bear Counselling, Support and Elder Services at 204-594-6500, ext. 102 or 104, (within Winnipeg) or 1-888-953-5264 (outside Winnipeg).

Support is also available via Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak's Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Liaison unit at 1-800-442-0488 or 204-677-1648.

 

Two Manitoba First Nations search former residential school sites, find anomalies

 

By Kelly Geraldine Malone | The Canadian Press | June 11, 2022

WINNIPEG - Chiefs from two First Nations in Manitoba say their communities are still looking for answers after finding possible graves using ground-penetrating radar at the sites of former residential schools that were run by the Roman Catholic Church.

Sagkeeng First Nation found 190 anomalies in the soil and Minegoziibe Anishinabe First Nation located six. Initial data shows the irregularities fit some of the criteria for graves, but both communities say more information is needed.

The news was recently shared with community members.

“We are going to take our time and make sure we do the right thing,” said Sagkeeng Chief Derrick Henderson.

Sagkeeng’s efforts began last year. Residential school survivors shared their memories of areas they thought could have graves linked to the Fort Alexander Residential School.

The school was opened in 1905 in the community of Fort Alexander, which later became Sagkeeng First Nation. It ran until 1970 and had a reputation for abuse. Survivors told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission about starvation and harsh discipline.

The community worked with a drone company which conducted ground-penetrating radar on three levels.

Henderson said it found two locations with anomalies. Neither is a known graveyard, but both were spots residential school survivors had pointed to on maps before the search began.

Henderson said leadership will be consulting with elders, survivors and pipe carriers to decide next steps to confirm whether there are graves.

“How do we start excavating?” Henderson pondered. “I probably have to bring in archeologists. There’s a lot of work to be done yet.”

When the information was shared with community members, they had a feast and ceremony, he said.

Many community members are struggling with unanswered questions as more anomalies are found, Henderson said. It will take time to find certainty, he added, and only after that can closure and healing begin.

“Now we know locations. Now we know there’s something.”

At the Minegoziibe Anishinabe First Nation, six anomalies are under a church on the site of the former Pine Creek Residential School, said Chief Derek Nepinak.

Survivors had asked that the area be examined because of “horror stories” about what happened in the basement of the church, he said.

The First Nation is treating the area like a potential crime scene, he said.

“We are searching for answers, but what we are doing is arriving at more questions,” he said.

Minegoziibe Anishinabe also hired a drone technology company that specializes in ground-penetrating radar. The company used a cart to perform a ground search under the church due to the confined space, a community notice said.

Survivors and community members have directed leadership to do another, more detailed radar search of the basement.

The community is still waiting for results from another area that is suspected to have unmarked burial sites, the chief said.

The Pine Creek school ran from 1890 to 1969 in a few different buildings on a large plot of land. The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation has a record of 21 child deaths at the school and survivors have long spoken about abuse at the institution.

Nepinak said the First Nation has gone through records and knows of dozens of children who died while attending the school but there could be others who are not part of that history.

Healing will take time, he said. The hope is that it will inform future generations.

“We want the truth to be told and the truth to be known.”

The Indian Residential Schools Resolution Health Support Program has a hotline to help residential school survivors and their relatives suffering from trauma invoked by the recall of past abuse. The number is 1-866-925-4419.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 11, 2022.

Read more about:

Winnipeg, Manitoba

Pimicikamak Cree Nations will search for graves

 National Native News

Another First Nation in Canada is preparing to search for unmarked graves at a former residential school.

As Dan Karpenchuk reports, this time it will be in northern Manitoba.

The Pimicikamak Cree Nations has announced plans to search the site of the former St. Joseph’s Residential School. It was operated near Cross Lake by the Roman Catholic Church in northern Manitoba, between 1912 and 1969. The chief of the Pimicikamak Nations is David Monia. He says the reserve has identified the names of 85 children who died at the school.  However, he adds that surviving records are incomplete.

“Many of them are listed as boy, as girl, 40% of them have first names only. Where did these kids come from?”

Investigators say they will use ground penetrating radar to search the site, which is now a neighborhood with homes.

“You know they don’t describe it as a school. More like assimilation camps, torture camps, or death camps and really that’s an international crime.”

No start date for the search has yet been determined. It was just over a week ago that the Pope apologized at the Vatican to a Canadian Indigenous delegation, for the role of the Catholic Church in the abuses at Canada’s residential schools. Thousands of Native children were abused at the schools, many died.

Artist passing on skills to next generation

 SOURCE

SIOUX VALLEY (Manitoba)— Sioux Valley Dakota Nation artist Roland Ironman (60s Scoop adoptee) has a prolific portfolio.

People are bound to have encountered one of his logo, sign or mural designs while travelling around Westman.

One of his most recent projects has been painting the walls of the new Canupawakpa Dakota Oyate community hall, which have been adorned with hand-painted, brilliant star blankets and significant spiritual symbols after consultations with elders.

"We sat in a room and we just talked … they talked about what they wanted on those walls, and I just had a notebook and wrote down whatever ideas they gave me," Ironman said.

He has emblazoned the walls with bright reds and yellows complemented by rich blacks and whites. He still has some finishing touches to complete, but the project has been delayed due to COVID-19 and bad road conditions.

Ironman created the original mural in the old community hall before it burned down in a fire.

One of his bigger initial projects was painting the inside of Veterans Hall in Sioux Valley. The hand-painted images include a woman on horseback with a baby, representing the arrival of people in Sioux Valley. The other animal images included are spiritually significant — the Buffalo Clan, the Eagle Clan and the Elk Clan.

Ironman is originally a sign painter by trade.

He learned his trade in the core of downtown Toronto while attending George Mountain College. It was a major change of pace for the young artist, who grew up in Sioux Valley.

He ended up in the city after visiting his dad, who lived just outside of Toronto, and his mom, who lived in the core of the city. Ironman said he considers himself lucky because both sides of his family are filled with artistic souls. His father was an artist and his mother was a star blanket seamstress, his older sister creates star blankets and his younger sister creates ribbon skirts.

Ironman is a ’60s Scoop survivor and saw his family split up, sending the siblings out of Sioux Valley through adoptions. He was the youngest and was taken away from home when he was six or seven years old.

Ironman and his older brother were placed on a Kola-area farm. The people they were staying with, who were an older couple, wanted to retire and move back to British Columbia. Because of this, Ironman was sent back to Sioux Valley.

"We were lucky we got to come back to the rez here," Ironman said.

He and his brother were transferred to the Pratt family, and it became the place that suited them best. They got to stay on a farm, where they worked, driving tractors and combines.

"All the fun kind of stuff," Ironman said. "They had horses there too, so that’s where I learned to ride the horse."

He took to the arts while in grade school and eventually signed up for an arts class. From there, he went to Virden and took another art course. His passion later took him to Oak Lake, and he eventually settled in at Crocus Plains Regional Secondary School when it first opened up, and was able to take a two-year art course.

Upon graduating, he attended Red River Community College in Winnipeg to try out advertising art.

"It wasn’t my cup of tea," Ironman said with a shy smile.

From there, he went to Toronto and was looking for a job downtown. While visiting, he stopped by a sign shop. They were not hiring at the time, but they told him to apply for the George Brown Community College sign painting course.

"I got in, and that was my cup of tea," Ironman said with a grin. Before the course was over, he had already secured a job. "It worked out perfectly."

He stayed in Toronto for about 10 years before returning to Manitoba following his previous trail — he started in Winnipeg, then Brandon, Oak Lake and Virden before resettling in Sioux Valley.

"I came back the same way, just in reverse," Ironman said.

He launched a sign shop in Brandon in the early 1990s. He completed countless signs and also took to hand-painting unique designs on cars.

Ironman continues to work on signs and other projects, but is making more time to focus on his art and his community.

"I’m kind of an outdoors camper guy," Ironman said. "I like hunting and fishing … I’m into archery, too, real heavy, it’s the traditional archery I’m into."

He enjoys sharing his skills with others in the community.

Ironman recently turned 65 and has been focused on passing down his skills to young people, especially when it comes to traditional archery. He tries to get them out hunting with him in the fall, and they also go down to Rapid City, S.D., for an archery tournament run by the Dakota people.

"It is an excellent place to go. I like going to the Black Hills," Ironman said, adding he hopes to return this year.

Ironman also volunteers with Sioux Valley Dakota Nation’s Wipazoka Wakpa Climate Change and Environment working group.

"It’s a good feeling to know that I’m doing stuff for the community," Ironman said. "I try and do lots for my community."

[Sioux Valley Dakota Nation or Wipazoka Wakpa is a Dakota First Nation that resides west of Brandon, Manitoba.]

Manitoba: Missing Indigenous tuberculosis patients

U of W researcher wants to empower families, communities to navigate records, government agencies

Sarah Petz · CBC News · November 15

The Ninette Sanatorium opened in May 1909 and over the next several decades, the facility grew into the largest sanatorium in the province, comprising over a dozen buildings and taking in thousands of tuberculosis patients. With advances in medicine it was eventually not required and closed in 1972. (Gordon Goldsborough/Manitoba Historical Society)

A University of Winnipeg researcher is developing an online research tool to help Indigenous communities and families find missing tuberculosis patients who were sent to Manitoba hospitals and sanatoriums but never came home. 

Anne Lindsay is a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Winnipeg and will be working with the university's Manitoba Indigenous Tuberculosis History Project on the initiative. 

Lindsay has spent several years working as an archivist and researcher. Her experience includes working with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Some of her work has involved helping families research connections to residential and Indian hospital schools, and find where missing residential school children may be buried. 

Due to privacy laws, the tool won't be a database of records of missing tuberculosis patients, but will instead empower families and communities to do their own research, Lindsay said. 

"I think it needs to be something that is not just a set of links, but that gives people some information about where to start looking and how to use the information from that to get other information, and sort of helps to give people a bit more of a step-by-step understanding of how to perform their own research," she said. 

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’60s Scoop exhibit stops in Saskatoon

 

 

A travelling exhibit that tells the history of the ’60s Scoop, and its survivors will be on display at the Western Development Museum in Saskatoon on Wednesday.

It tells the history and impacts of the ’60s Scoop stopped at the Western Development Museum (WDM) in Saskatoon on Wednesday.

The Sixties Scoop led to an unknown number of First Nations, Métis and Inuit children taken from their parents, families and communities by child intervention services and placed in non-Indigenous families, according to organizers.

Legacy of Hope Foundation president Adam North Peigan said the national exhibit is an opportunity to share and educate with the experiences of survivors, including 12 personal testimonials.

 The travelling exhibit, known as Bi-Giwen: Coming Home — Truth Telling from the Sixties Scoop, has also made recent stops in Regina, Prince Albert, Yorkton and Swift Current.

Source: ’60s Scoop exhibit stops in Saskatoon | Globalnews.ca

 

Read more: ’60s Scoop survivors in Saskatchewan want change, not just apology

 

Province acknowledges Day for Truth and Reconciliation (September 30) #OrangeShirtDay

James Snell | Sep 03, 2021  • Join the conversation

Krystyne Hastings ties an orange ribbon to a post at a memorial to the 215 children killed at a residential school in Kamloops, B.C., at the Oodena Circle at the Forks in Winnipeg, on Sunday, May 30, 2021. Photo by KEVIN KING /Winnipeg Sun

The province (Manitoba) has decided to acknowledge and observe the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation (NDTR) on Sept. 30.

Observance of the holiday, which will see Manitoba public schools closed and non-essential public servants off work, will advance reconciliation, and allow residents time to reflect on the residential school experiences of First Nations, Métis and Inuit, Alan Lagimodiere, Indigenous Reconciliation and Northern Relations Minister announced Friday.

“We all have a role to play in reconciliation,” he said in a statement. “We can all listen, learn, and support the healing needed to address the intergenerational trauma caused by the residential school system. Reflecting on our tragic history by recognizing the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation provides an opportunity for Manitobans to learn about the ongoing legacy of residential schools.”

The NDTR was instituted as a federal statutory holiday in June by the federal government in recognition of Indigenous families and communities harmed by Canada’s residential schools, which existed up to 1996.

“Thanks to the hard work of survivors, who pushed for the recognition of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation as a provincial holiday, Manitobans can have the chance to learn, grow, and move toward reconciliation,” provincial NDP leader Wab Kinew said in a statement on Friday. “In 2017, I introduced a bill to recognize this day in Manitoba, which was one step, and our NDP team has been honoured to work alongside survivors and communities who pushed the PCs to take this latest step.”

Katherine Legrange, director of 60s Scoop Legacy of Canada, said the provincial recognition is a good first step. She said real reconciliation can only come with the truth.

“We encourage all Manitobans to take this day to learn the truth behind the terrible IRS (Indian Residential Schools), Day Schools, and Sixties Scoop policies of the federal and provincial governments that continue to affect our families today,” she said in a statement. “We encourage the minister to engage with survivors with lived experience in amending Wab Kinew’s 2017 Bill for Orange Shirt Day to acknowledge this day as a general holiday in Manitoba, and support our healing, going forward.”

Grand Chief Arlen Dumas of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs said on Friday his organization appreciates the province’s decision.

“There are some provinces that will not be observing the national holiday,” he said. “We all look forward to September 30 and paying our respect to the former IRS students and helping this government to move forward on the path to reconciliation with First Nations in Manitoba.”

Sept. 30 will also see flags on all provincial government buildings lowered to half-mast in observance of National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

Nova Scotia also said Friday that it will recognize the day. British Columbia and the Northwest Territories have already indicated they will observe the day.

A Crime: Police handling 4 residential school investigations across Canada

By Kelly Geraldine Malone | The Canadian Press| Updated August 22, 2021 

A tally from police across the country shows there are four ongoing criminal investigations and one decade-long probe into complaints involving residential schools.  The Canadian Press contacted RCMP and other policing agencies across the country over the last two weeks.  The agencies said there are four ongoing investigations in Ontario, Saskatchewan and Yukon as well as a probe that began in 2011 into the Fort Alexander Residential School in Manitoba. 

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These were children. Every child mattered. It was GENOCIDE.

‘My grandmother’s sister had a name. It was Maggie’

By David A. Robertson |  Special to the Star |June 25, 2021

David A. Robertson has written many books about his — and his family’s — experience with residential schools and its intergenerational impact. He is the author, most recently, of the graphic novel “Sugar Falls: A Residential School Story,” the memoir “Black Water” and the picture book “On the Trapline.” He is donating part of his payment to the Indian Residential School Survivors Society.

I grew up in Winnipeg. I’ve lived here since I was about three years old. My grandparents lived in Melita, which is about three-and-a-half hours southwest of the city. Between Winnipeg and Melita is the city of Brandon, which was also the site of Brandon Indian Residential School, one of approximately 150 residential schools in Canada. My parents used to drive out to Melita to visit my grandparents and, on every trip, they’d have to go through Brandon. And, on every trip, when they passed a particular RV campground, my father would point to it and tell my mother that children were buried there.

That was decades ago. And while the discoveries of, so far, over 1,300 unmarked graves of Indigenous children over the last few weeks, some as young as three, might be shocking to the majority of Canadians, it is not shocking to Indigenous people.

Maybe what’s happened recently has robbed me of the ability to be tactful, but I’d like to put things into perspective in the most direct way I can. Allied soldiers in World War II had, by far, a better chance of surviving D-Day than an Indigenous child forced to attend residential school.

There was a 40 to 60 per cent mortality rate in Indian residential schools.

It’s an appropriate analogy, using an event that occurred during World War II, during the time of the Holocaust, an indisputable act of genocide. There are laws against Holocaust denial in 16 European countries, as well as Israel. Meanwhile, in Canada, with most residential school sites left to be searched and already thousands of children confirmed to have died, the word genocide has yet to be uttered by Justin Trudeau. Carolyn Bennett recently called it a “terrible mistake.”

Can you imagine somebody referring to the Holocaust as a mistake? As though the deaths of millions of human beings, or thousands of children, warrants no more than a “Whoops.”

It’s disgusting, shameful, embarrassing, and Canadians need to demand better.

My grandmother, Sarah Robertson, attended Norway House Indian Residential School in the 1920s and 1930s. It was a perpetually overcrowded school that fed children rotten food, made girls sleep on a balcony in the winter, tied up kids to prevent them from running away and beat them when they wet their beds.

She didn’t tell anybody about her experience there; only to say to a granddaughter that it had made her sad when they cut her hair and to tell my mother that her sister had died while attending school. My grandmother had looked and looked for her sister but never found her. It was years later that she’d found out her sister had died. I’ve been to my home community, Norway House Cree Nation, on several occasions to look for her grave, but it, too, is unmarked.

I don’t want you to forget that 751, 215, 180, 104, 38, 35 are not statistics. I want you to get over the shock. What I don’t want is for you to become desensitized to the fact that these were children. My grandmother’s sister had a name. It was Maggie, and she mattered. Each number you’ve seen over the last few weeks is a child, and they all mattered.

The best way to honour their memory is to fight for a better Canada because, in so doing, you are fighting for them.

As more unmarked graves are being revealed:

Don't scroll by or turn the page.

Don't forget the thousands of children who were sent to these schools, and never came home.

Don't normalize the reality of graves at schools for children.

Honour the children.

— Kona Williams (@WilliamsKona) July 13, 2021

#160 time to bring in the truth of Canada’s #Genocide in all educational institutions- All Provinces & Territories must step aside and let IndigenousPPls Elders and Indigenous academics to change quality of curriculum -Time for Educational SelfDetermination

— Ellen Gabriel (@EllenGabriel1) July 13, 2021

#EveryChildMatters
WARNING: distressing
160 Kuper Island
751 Cowess
215 Kelowna
=1126 unmarked graves in just three of the 139 Indian residential schools
March for the Children in Chemainus Aug. 2 to remember students #healing & #reconciliation.https://t.co/cmRGdj4AkR

— @FFFCanada (@FFFCanada) July 13, 2021