The long-awaited apology to Sixties Scoop survivors in Saskatchewan will be delivered Jan. 7, by Premier Scott Moe at the Legislature.
The apology comes approximately three and a half years after former Premier Brad Wall committed to one. In the 1960’s and 70’s the province participated in the adoption process of removing Indigenous children from their homes and placing them in non-native families, stripping many children of the culture.
For Melissa Parkyn it will be an emotional day mixed with excitement, but also thinking about those who will not be alive to witness this historical moment.
“I wish that my late mom and my late kookum (grandmother) and the people who passed on were a part of it,” Parkyn said. “I sat down with Robert Doucette and he’s said that he’s never seen the government of Saskatchewan apologize for anything, and that this is the first thing he’s noticed them apologize for. So, that means a lot.”
The Sixties Scoop Indigenous Society of Saskatchewan conducted six sharing circles throughout the province in October and November to hear from survivors as to what they wanted to be included in the apology.
Parkyn says one recommendation to come from the sharing circles was for help in finding missing children welfare files for survivors, as she says some people are being told their files can’t be located. She says for the government to lose files looks bad and needs to be rectified, given survivors are in the compensation phase.
Moe has committed to delivering a meaningful apology to survivors, but his government is not elaborating on what that apology will look like.
The Sixties Scoop Indigenous Society of Saskatchewan will conduct a secondary celebration of the apology in Saskatoon in February.
(PHOTO: Sixties Scoop Indigenous Society of Saskatchewan logo.)