Lost Children Book Series #60sScoop

Just in time for November's Adoption Awareness Month or #NAAM? Yes.

Photos of the Native children in the anthology Two Worlds (vol. 1) and Called Home (vol. 2). These anthologies are a major and important contribution to American Indian history told by its own lost children/adult survivors.

On Amazon and Kindle!

ISBN-13:  978-0692700334 (Blue Hand Books)

Are you searching for your tribal family? We have the roadmap and advice you need in this book series Lost Children of the Indian Adoption Projects...
There is a growing need for answers, answers adoptees have trouble finding. In this anthology, you will hear their answers and how other adoptees were able to find their tribal relatives, but most importantly, how they healed....

Called Home: The RoadMap

[2nd Ed.] An important contribution to American Indian history told by its own lost children/adult survivors, American Indian and First Nations adoptees and family... Editors Patricia Busbee and Trace L. Hentz are writers and adoptees who reunited with their own lost relatives. From recent news about Baby Veronica, Canada’s 60s Scoop, and history such as Operation Papoose, this book examines how Native American adoptees and their families experienced adoption and were exposed to the genocidal policies of governments who created Indian adoption projects. "Adoptees do need a road map and that is what other adoptees have created," Hentz said about this anthology and book series.

CALLED HOME offers even more revelations of this hidden history of Indian child removals in North America, their impact on Indian Country and how it impacts the adoptee and their entire family. “We have created a body of work, a roadmap for adoptees coming after us. Governments stole the land and stole children. It’s time the world know,” Hentz said.

paperback

The second anthology in the Lost Children of the Indian Adoption Projects Book Series is published by Blue Hand Books in Massachusetts. 

President Obama Signs Bill For Native Children Commission

AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, President Barack Obama held a Native baby during his visit to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Nation, in Cannon Ball, N.D., Friday, June 13, 2014. It was his first trip to Indian Country as president and only the third such visit by a sitting president in almost 80 years.

Vincent Schilling |10/14/16 | ICT

U.S. Senators Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) are celebrating a long-fought victory after President Barack Obama signed their bill to improve the lives of Native youth by creating a commission on Native Children.

The commission will be called The Alyce Spotted Bear and Walter Soboleff Commission on Native Children, named for the former Chairwoman of Mandan, Hidatsa & Arikara Nation in North Dakota, and for the Alaska Native elder and statesman.

The bill was unanimously passed in the U.S. House of Representatives, after being approved by the Senate last year.


As ICTMN reported, the bill will create a commission to identify the complex challenges facing Native children in North Dakota, Alaska and across the United States by conducting an intensive study.

In a statement from the White House, President Obama said, "Today I am pleased to sign into law S. 246, the "Alyce Spotted Bear and Walter Soboleff Commission on Native Children Act," which will create the Alyce Spotted Bear and Walter Soboleff Commission on Native Children. The Commission is tasked with the important work of undertaking a comprehensive study of Federal, State, local, and tribal programs that serve Native children, and making recommendations on how those programs could be improved. Over the past 8 years, my Administration has been committed to working closely with tribes to strengthen our nation-to-nation relationships and to forge a brighter future for all our children. During my own visits to Indian Country, I have been inspired by the talent and enthusiasm of young people who want nothing more than to make a positive difference in their communities. From the Indian Child Welfare Act to working to return control of Indian education to tribal nations, I am proud of the progress we have made over the past 8 years. I applaud the Congress, and in particular, Senator Heitkamp, for the efforts that made this new law possible."

Heitkamp is thrilled that the President has signed but said now is the time to roll up sleeves and get to work.

“This is just the beginning stages, with a commission is now established we need to make sure this commission is held in a way that achieves results and we measure the success based on outcomes.”
Heitkamp and Murkowski’s efforts and a formal commission will address the overwhelming obstacles Native children face – including levels of post-traumatic stress similar to newly returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan dramatically increased risks of suicide, and lower high school graduation rates than any racial or ethnic demographic in the country.

“I am so pleased to see this piece of legislation cross the finish line, creating a commission established in memory of the late Dr. Walter Soboleff, a treasured Alaska Native elder and a champion for Native youth. I can cite many examples of young Native people who are living healthy lives and doing great things for their people. Yet far too many have found themselves in a world of despair,” said Murkowski.

“There is an urgent need for a broad range of stakeholders to come to the table and formulate plans to give every young Native person a fighting chance at a productive life,” she said.

Heitkamp also said Native children were of great concern to both Barack and Michelle Obama.

“I am so gratified that we were able to do this so that this President was able to sign this bill,” said Heitkamp.

Senator Heidi Heitkamp at the Fort Yates Pow Wow. File Image.

“We have always lived by Sitting Bull's words, ‘Now let's put our heads together and figure out what we're going to do for our children,’” said Heitkamp.
The Commission on Native Children will conduct a comprehensive study of the programs, grants, and resources available for Native children, both at government agencies and on the ground in Native communities, with the goal of developing a sustainable system that delivers wrap-around services to Native children.
For a summary of the bill, click here.
See Related: Bill to Help Native Children Passes Unanimously in House

Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2016/10/14/president-obama-signs-bill-native-children-commission-166108

Dennis Banks: They Wanted to Destroy Our Identity

Standing with Standing Rock

Indian Child Welfare Act Trailer

Traditional Knowledge

SOURCE: MFNERC’s blog

I first heard the term Traditional Knowledge when I lived up in the Northwest Territories. I lived in a small community of about 500 people called Fort Good Hope. The majority of people are Dene, and probably about a third of them speak their traditional language, Slavey.

Elders are keepers of much Traditional Knowledge

A friend of mine, who worked for a land use planning board, told me about Traditional Knowledge and gave me some literature to read when I asked her for more information. While I was reading I became frustrated because I still couldn’t really figure out what it was. This is mostly because, as I came to learn, it is not something that is easy to specify or categorize. Yet, in today’s world most people like things to be definable. Modern influences compel us to put labels on everything. But reading about Traditional Knowledge, this wasn’t the case and I ended up with many more questions.
I was very lucky to be actually living in a place where I could ask people about Traditional Knowledge, people who lived it in their day-to-day lives. So I didn’t really need a dictionary definition to further understand it, I could just walk down the road. I visited with community members who were living off the land. One Elder took me on many boat rides down the Mackenzie River and hikes in the nearby rocks to teach and tell me stories about the history and geography of the area. Another friend, the Chief of Fort Good Hope at the time, was a very gracious man who was so willing to share much information with me – particularly regarding the seasons of the river, and the importance of the drum. He was also a residential school survivor who practiced compassion and took part in ceremonies in order to heal, and was not afraid to speak about it to those who were eager to listen. Through these different experiences and interactions I came to learn that Traditional Knowledge is something one does, rather than simply something one knows. It is a process, and a way of living that is deeply connected with the land. It is a personal relationship with Creation and the natural world. It isn’t linear, but should be viewed as a circle.

As Deborah McGregor says in her 2015 article from American Indian Quarterly entitled “Coming Full Circle”:

Traditional Knowledge cannot be separated from the land

Building on prior learning and traditions is never a direct or linear path. Instead, Indigenous science pursues a rather meandering path around things and over obstacles, a roundabout way. In the Western mindset, getting from point A to B is a linear process, and in the Indigenous mindset, arrival at B occurs through fields of relationships and establishment of meaning, a sense of territory, a sense of breadth of the context.

Relationships are key when it comes to Traditional Knowledge, relationships with the Creator, the land, and other people. For those who are interested in learning more about it, the question should not be, What is Traditional Knowledge? It should be, Am I ready to receive Traditional Knowledge?

[please visit their blog for more, including books on this topic]

**

Coming to Manitoba

(Courtesy of bandwidth digital releasing ltd.) Movies! Movies! Movies! Created by Hollywood actor Adam Beach, bandwidth is a mobile movie house releasing Aboriginal and mainstream ‘first-run’ Hollywood feature films in Canada and the United States. And three communities in Manitoba will soon be experiencing bandwidth first hand: Norway House, Brokenhead and Sandy Bay First Nations.

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

#60sScoop survivors: birth records 'mysteriously' lost or destroyed

This is amazing series of stories! Stay tuned!

'I was told I don't exist,': survivors search for paper trail to their past

Donna Carreiro · CBC News 

Sixties scoop survivor Lori O'Cheek was told her adoption records were destroyed in a fire. (Donna Carreiro (CBC))

When Lori Ann O'Cheek went to search for her birth records, she was told her files burned in a fire. When Carla Williams asked a different agency for her birth records, she too was told they burned in a fire. Likewise Trevor Bass. Likewise Jessica Sear.

Wayne Snellgrove, on the other hand, was not told his birth records were destroyed. He was told there were none to begin with.

"I got a very nice letter from Vital Statistics telling me I don't exist," Snellgrove said. "I am nowhere to be found."

Different survivors dealing with different agencies from across Canada facing similar barriers to access their past.

Carla Williams (left) leans on her daughter for support as she recalls the abuse in her adoptive home. (Donna Carreiro (CBC))

It is a yet another twist in the evolving legacy of the Sixties Scoop. Survivors, pulled from their Indigenous homes and adopted by white families around the world, now search for their birth and treaty records only to be told they cannot be found.

"There was no record of my adoption, no record of the adoption agency," Lori Ann O'Cheek said. "I just kept getting answers that the agency burned down and that's it."

Carla Williams was told the same thing. She didn't believe it.

"A fire that I don't believe ever happened, that [the child welfare agency] couldn't confirm at all," she said.

Survivors and critics say it is another example of forced assimilation and the federal government's effort to erase their Indigenous identities.

"If we grow up not knowing we're Indigenous and we're entitled to the land and treaties and status, then they don't have to honour those treaties," said Colleen Cardinal, a Sixties Scoop survivor, author and advocate. "They don't have to resource or revenue share."

That's why so many survivors can't find their way home, she said.

"There are so many Indigenous adoptees out there that have no idea what their rights are," Cardinal said. "That they are connected to the land and to status and to treaties."

Lori Ann O'Cheek was a toddler in Camperville, Man, when her mother began to warn her about strangers in the town.

The Sixties Scoop explained 1:12

"She used to warn us if a strange car came onto the reserve, to run as fast as we could," O'Cheek said. "Because kids went missing all the time."

Sure enough, child welfare officials drove up and knocked on their door. Some of her siblings escaped. She did not.

"I tried to run away but I was too young to flee," she said.

She was adopted to a family who moved to Vermont, and she spent the next several years trying to come home.

"I was always running away, just to find somebody I belonged to," she said, adding she was eventually placed in foster care.

Once she found her birth family, she returned to Canada.

To this day, her birth certificate lists her adoptive parents as her parents. Her original birth certificate remains "mysteriously" non-existent.

 

Former MLA calls for national inquiry

Eric Robinson is a former NDP MLA and was Manitoba's former Aboriginal and northern affairs minister. He said he's "disappointed but not surprised" to hear some survivors can't access their birth records.
"I've heard stories like this for years," he told the CBC. "It's a further violation of these people."
Robinson noted that in 2014, the province attempted to improve access to archived adoption records from before 1999.
But that doesn't help survivors born in other provinces.

"That's why I have long been calling for a national inquiry into the Sixties Scoop," he said. "We need a proper investigation and we need answers."

• Manitoban taken during Sixties Scoop returns after 2 decades behind bars in U.S.
  • Indigenous children for sale: The money behind the Sixties Scoop
  • Manitoba Sixties Scoop apology moves Indigenous families to tears 

What needs to be happening?

Residential school cemetery gets heritage status

Jennifer Graham

Janine Windolph, president of the Regina Indian Industrial School commemorative association, at a fence that marks the RIIS cemetery in Regina. Michael Bell / THE CANADIAN PRESS

Along a dusty gravel road on the edge of Regina is a small plot of land surrounded by a rail fence with peeling white paint, weathered teddy bears, flowers and a couple of dream catchers.
There’s just one headstone in the 680-square-metre cemetery for the two children of Rev. A.J. McLeod, the first principal of the Regina Indian Industrial School, belying that dozens of indigenous children from the school are buried there too.
“It’s easy to overlook the cemetery itself. Even when I first came out here, we drove right by,” said Janine Windolph, president of the Regina Indian Industrial School Commemorative Association.
“The site needs to take another step further in basically acknowledging the students that are here and how we can start making it more apparent that this is a scared site for gathering. That’ll all come in time.”
A big step came Sept. 26, when Regina city council voted unanimously to grant the site municipal heritage status. Civic administrators suggested the move after a 2014 land survey found there were potentially 22 to 40 unmarked graves of children in the cemetery.
Windolph said an archeologist for the association identified 36 anomalies, but she said there could be many more children because it was practice at the time to bury several together.
Sakimay First Nations Chief Lynn Acoose, whose grandmother attended the Regina Indian Industrial School, said the heritage designation process has been emotional.

“It’s not only about preserving the memory. It’s not only about preserving the site and the graves. We need to also, from this tragedy, create something powerful and good out of the loss of these children,” said Acoose.

The Regina Indian Industrial School operated between 1891 and 1910. An unknown number of students died there.

Justice Murray Sinclair, who led the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, has estimated at least 6,000 children died at residential schools but it’s impossible to say with certainty.
The federal government stopped recording the deaths around 1920 after the chief medical officer at Indian Affairs suggested children were dying at an alarming rate.
Residential schools were often crowded, poorly ventilated and unsanitary. Children died from smallpox, measles, influenza and tuberculosis. Some were buried in unmarked graves in school cemeteries, while others were listed as “missing” or “discharged.” In some cases, parents never found out what happened.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s offices are now closed and the work has been transferred to the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation in Winnipeg.
Centre director Ry Moran said the designation in Regina “is just exactly what needs to be happening.”
“It means that one city in particular has really stepped up and honoured the children that are buried in that cemetery,” said Moran.
“And sadly, across this country, there are many, many, many other locations exactly like the one in Regina. So the fact that we’re seeing the city designate this site as a commemorative site, really I think can help encourage other cities and other jurisdictions to take a real hard look at this work that needs to happen across the country.”
Moran said preliminary estimates suggest there could be around 400 burial sites across the country directly associated with a residential school or where residential school children are likely were buried.
He said the centre recently looked at the cemetery associated with the Cecilia Jeffrey Indian Residential School in Kenora, Ont.
“That’s a really good example of a site where we know there’s kids buried there, but it’s heavily overgrown,” said Moran.
“We know that there’s graves likely outside of the cemetery as well, and that’s just one of many examples of a cemetery that’s really been forgotten and a critical part of our history being ignored and disrespected, truthfully.”
The work is not done for Windolph. She would also like to see the Regina cemetery get provincial heritage designation.
She said it marks a pivotal point in history — the time where cultural and identity loss began.
“And so, in order to start our healing journey, we have to go back to that point where this happened. We have to make good out of our past and simply acknowledge it is the beginning of that journey.”

[Mass graves, dead children, no one even knows their name. This is the bloody history of North America... Trace]