DCHP-2

Sixties Scoop 60s scoop, '60s scoop, Sixties' Scoop DCHP-2 (August 2016)

• n. — Aboriginal, especially First Nations

  the practice of removing Aboriginal children from their parents and communities and putting them up for adoption or into foster care.

  Type: 6. Memorial — The term Sixties Scoop was popularized by Patrick Johnston in his 1983 book (see the third 1983 quotation). Starting in the 1960s, the proportion of Aboriginal children under the care of social services grew from less than one percent in 1955 to at least 35 percent in the mid 1960s (see the first 1983 quotation and the 1989 quotation). Many of the 20,000 children (see the 2002 quotation) who were directly affected by the Sixties Scoop developed severe cultural identity, social, and personal problems. As Chart 1 shows, the term is most frequent in Canada.
  Two lawsuits were filed against the Canadian government for this practice, in 2010 in Ontario and in 2011 in BC (see the 2011 quotation). This forced removal of children from their communities continued the segregation and abuse in residential schools. Aboriginal children are still over-represented in care, because it is easier to take a child into care than to solve the larger problems of Aboriginal communities and families caused by racism and colonialism. Some have called the continuing practice of child removal the Millenium Scoop (see, e.g., the first 2011 quotation).

  See also: residential school  residential school survivor