Saskatchewan Indigenous residential school and ‘60s Scoop survivors speak out

An event at the MacKenzie Art Gallery is giving Indigenous survivors a space to share their stories. Sierra D’Souza Butts reports.

To honour the voices of Indigenous residential school and ‘60s Scoop survivors, a gathering was held at the MacKenzie Art Gallery.

Diane Campeau, who goes by Ji-gaabiikwe, has been on a journey for over a decade trying to obtain documentation from when she was born.

“I was taken from Saskatchewan and then flown across the country to an American family in Nova Scotia. It was a horrific experience and that adoption broke down,” she shared.

“When I was a teenager, I suffered mental health addictions all because I didn’t know who I was and dealing with the traumas, not only of the former adoptive home, but just my journey in general.”

It was not until her late twenties that Ji-gaabiikwe became aware she was a ‘60s Scoop survivor.

“I fully don’t understand what it means to be a ‘60s Scoop survivor because the gravity of the loss and what happened to us is just, it’s overwhelming,” she said.

Events like these help create a safe and welcoming environment where survivors like herself can feel supported, she added.

“We get the tail end of residential school survivors and so for things like this it’s more of an awareness that the genocidal policies of the Canadian government not only was with the residential schools, but also the 60s Scoop, and then now the millennial scoop,” Ji-gaabiikwe said.

“Being able to gather and come together with other survivors and share some of our lived experience continues to keep our voices alive.”

In addition to Ji-gaabiikwe, people also heard from a panel of survivors from Carry the Kettle Nakoda Nation who attended Lebret Indian Residential School in the 1960s. Speakers who attended boarding homes also spoke at the event.

The event was organized by the gallery in partnership with the Buffalo People Arts Institute. One of the organizers, Tracey George Heese, said providing a platform for survivors helps educate the public about Saskatchewan’s history of Indigenous people.

“A majority of society is only beginning to understand about the residential schools. With regards to the Truth and Reconciliation, the 94 Calls to Action,” George Heese said.

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“A lot of people in Saskatchewan specifically were not aware about the ‘60s Scoop either. In my case, my parents were unaware of what was going on, these different policies that government implemented to colonize First Nations people, that was started after the treaty was signed.”

She added that having the support from local organizations helps First Nation communities continue the conversation while working towards a path of healing.

“It’s bringing awareness and also bringing about the discussions to hear the story, to witness the stories, to come together as community,” said George Heese.

The Buffalo People Arts Institute continues to partner with organizations and First Nations in effort to remind and integrate the significance of the buffalo to communities.

“As nations there are communities that are bringing the buffalo back and the Buffalo People Arts Institute that has been their focus, of bringing awareness of the buffalo to our Treaty 4,” explained George Heese.

“It’s in our DNA and it was our whole life, our whole sustenance. Lorne Kequahtooway and Joely BigEagle-Kequahtooway go out into communities, scrape buffalo hides, share the teachings of the buffalo, share stories of the buffalo.”