Quebec law helps adopted children to find their birth parents

Quebec government, Catholic oblates still haven't delivered key residential school records #TRC

 

As First Nations in Quebec plan possible searches of former residential school sites, documents that could help that process have still not been turned over by the Quebec government and the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate.

"Recent events have definitely given some urgency to the situation," he said, adding the oblates seem willing to work on releasing more records and that a meeting has already been set up.

• Sask. First Nation announces hundreds of unmarked graves found at former residential school site

"I expect there will be some movement on this very shortly."

WARNING: DISTRESSING CONTENT: Quebec government, Catholic oblates still haven't delivered key residential school records | CBC News

The central repository of oblate records on Quebec's residential schools is the Archives Deschâtelets in Richelieu, about 35 kilometres east of Montreal.

Students and staff of the Fort George Roman Catholic Indian Residential School, Fort George Que., Aug. 8, 1948. (National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation / Deschatelets-NDC Archives )

DEATHS: the true figure could be far higher

 CONTINUING COVERAGE

Across the country, more than 150,000 First Nations, Métis and Inuit children were forced to attend the government-run school system between the 1870s and 1997.

The final report by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 2015 identified 3,200 children who died as a result of residential schools, including 38 in Quebec. But Indigenous leaders and other experts believe the true figure could be far higher.

In her testimony before the TRC, Marthe Basile-Coocoo recalled the grey day when, as a six-year-old, she first saw the school at Pointe-Bleue.

"The nuns separated us, my brothers, and then my uncles, then I no longer understood," she said. "That was a period of suffering, nights of crying. We all gathered in a corner … and there we cried."

The Roman Catholic school in Fort George was the first residential school in Quebec. It opened in 1931. (Truth and Reconciliation Commission/Deschâtelets Archives)

READ: Quebec's residential school system started later than most in Canada — and also has history of abuse | CBC News

Cree Nation Welcomes Bill on Customary Adoption

NEMASKA, QC, Oct. 6, 2016 /CNW

The Grand Council of the Crees (Eeyou Istchee) and the Cree Nation Government (GCC(EI)/CNG) are pleased with the initiative of the Québec government, and particularly the Minister of Justice, to have legal effects of customary adoptions clearly reflected in the Civil Code of Quebec through Bill 113 ("An Act to amend the Civil Code and other legislative provisions as regards adoption and the disclosure of information") (Bill 113), tabled in the National Assembly on October 6, 2016.

The Cree Nation welcomes the presentation of this legislation in the National Assembly.  This Bill follows the tabling of similar legislation in 2012 and in 2013, both of which "died on the order paper" with the calling of the provincial elections.

For the Cree of Eeyou Istchee, customary adoption has been practiced for generations and continues to be practiced today. It remains an integral part of Cree culture and identity.

As stated by Dr. Matthew Coon Come, Grand Chief of the GCC(EI) and Chairman of the CNG, the Cree have sought changes to provincial legislation regarding customary adoption since the early 1980s and for almost as long, Québec has committed to doing so in the Civil Code of Québec.

"Now, with this Bill, the Québec government is taking an important step to fulfill that commitment," said Dr. Coon Come.

"The creation of the Working Group on Customary Adoption in Aboriginal communities (Working Group), made up of representatives from Québec, the Inuit and First Nations organizations, including those of the Cree Nation, helped to facilitate important discussions regarding customary adoption.  It was also an opportunity to collaboratively consider how its effects could be reflected in the Civil Code of Québec," he said.

The Cree Nation wishes to underline its support for the collaborative approach among the Indigenous stakeholders, the Québec Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Health and Social Services in the development of Bill 113. 

"We see Bill 113 as a positive first step in creating a bridge between Indigenous customary adoptions and the provincial adoption regime in order to clarify the legal effects of these adoptions, which have always been recognized in our communities and by our community members," stated the Grand Chief.

"Bill 113 begins to harmonize provincial adoption legislation with Cree Aboriginal and treaty rights in relation to adoption matters and reflects the right of Indigenous Nations and communities to govern affairs regarding their children", continued the Grand Chief.

Ultimately, this legislation will benefit the children and families involved in customary adoptions by helping to facilitate the exercise of parental authorities and responsibilities.

In the words of the Grand Chief, "it is a continuation of the on-going development of the Nation-to-Nation relationship between the Cree Nation of Eeyou Istchee and Québec. This Bill represents another positive and important step forward in the relationship between Quebec and Indigenous peoples, including the Cree Nation."

About the Grand Council of the Crees (Eeyou Istchee):The Grand Council of the Crees (Eeyou Istchee) is the political body that represents the approximately 18,000 Crees of Quebec or "Eeyouch" ("Eenouch" – inland dialect). The Council is constituted of twenty (20) members including: a Grand Chief and Deputy-Grand Chief elected at large by the Eeyouch, the chiefs elected by each of the nine (9) recognized Cree communities, and one (1) other representative elected by each community.

About the Cree Nation Government:The Cree Nation Government (CNG), previously the Cree Regional Authority, was set up by virtue of the signing of the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement as the administrative arm of the Cree Nation. It has responsibilities in respect to environmental protection, the hunting, fishing and trapping regime, economic and community development, Cree governance and other matters as decided by the Board of Directors. The Board of Directors of the CNG is the same joint governing body that manages the GCC(EI) and is referred to as "Council/Board".

SOURCE Grand Council of the Crees (Eeyou Istchee)

For further information: Ms. Melissa Saganash, Director of Quebec Relations, Tel.: (418) 691-1111
RELATED LINKS
www.gcc.ca

Wahkohtowin: Cree Natural Law

Successful Cree negotiator finds the French-Canadian father he never knew (tearjerker alert)

By Terrence Duff, Lynne Robson, CBC News  Oct 08, 2014 

It took 53 years for Abel Bosum, right, to find his birth father, Cyprien Caron (left). (Abel Bosum)

​Abel Bosum grew up with a Dad-sized hole in his life.
He remembers being a boy who envied his friends when they talked about their dads — going hunting or fishing with their fathers, even doing ordinary things.
Abel pretended to not care. But in truth, he cared a lot.
The story of  Abel Bosum starts with a clash of cultures and language. In the 1950s, a young Cree woman named Lucy Busom lived in a settlement near Chibougamau, Que. She met and fell in love with a French-Canadian who hailed from Quebec City, more than 500 kilometres away. They wanted to marry, but her parents refused.
Instead, following tradition, the elders arranged a marriage between Lucy and Sam Neepoosh.
No one talked much about Abel's biological father, so he grew up full of questions and feelings, but not even certain of the name of the man he missed. And that's how it remained — for 53 years.
It's not that Abel didn't have a father. He did; Sam adopted and raised Lucy's son, and Abel will always be grateful for that. Still, even a kind, adoptive parent couldn't fill the void where Abel pictured a "real dad."

'I did not know how to react, I did not know what I would say, and I certainly did not know what I would do when I met him.'- Abel Bosum

Then on a lovely summer day in 2008, the spectre of his father reappeared and shook Abel's life to the core.
By this time, Abel was was married with children and grandchildren.
A family friend reported seeing Abel's missing father in a shopping mall. That led to an intense search for a man whose name no one remembered.
Abel spoke to all the elders and, bit by bit, pieced together enough information for a computer search.
His dad's name: Cypien Caron.
Try to imagine Abel at this point: He was 53 years old, a successful Cree negotiator who has his own consulting firm. He was sitting in his car in front of a suburban home, "stalking" a man he thought might be his father.
"These were very unsettling moments," said Abel.
"[It] made me feel like a young boy again. I was experiencing strange feelings that I had never had before, and I was in turmoil. I did not know how to react, I did not know what I would say, and I certainly did not know what I would do when I met him. "
On Aug. 19, 2008, father and son finally met in Saint-Joseph-du-Lac, Que.
After years of wondering what that moment would be like, Abel describes it like this: "He reached out to me, hugged me and whispered, 'My son, I am so happy. I love you!'"
It is the fantasy of many adopted children. For Abel it was a reality — Cypien Caron was happy to connect with the child he was never allowed to father.
For the next six years, father and son spent a lot of time doing the things dads and boys might do — hunting and fishing. Abel's family was suddenly included in much larger family reunions.
Six years is a long time in some ways. It was far too short a time for Abel when he learned Caron was mortally ill. He was, however, able to spend the last days of his dad's life at his bedside, with enough time to both of them to say everything that was in their hearts.
When his dad died, Abel wrote, “Cyprien, it broke my heart to lose you but you did not go alone, a part of me went with you the day God took you home. In life I love you dad, and in death I love you still, in my heart you will hold a place no one could ever fill!”

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Abel Bosum is currently writing a book about Cyprien Caron and the way their lives connected. It will be published in the near future.

This make me cry like a baby...Trace