Indigenous women recognized for children’s welfare work

 www.wellingtonadvertiser.com /indigenous-women-recognized-for-childrens-welfare-work/

Robin George 7/24/2024 

And they took away more than just culture, Stewart said – “They disposed of everything. Family. Teachings. Land. Inheritance.”

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GUELPH – Family and Children’s Services of Guelph and Wellington County (FCSGW) has recognized three Indigenous women for their work in child welfare advocacy.

Tauni Sheldon, Donna Dubie and Wendy Stewart were presented with FCSGW’s Award of Merit on June 20. 

“The invaluable contributions of these Indigenous leaders and unwavering dedication to their communities serves as an inspiration to us all,” FCSGW officials state.  

“This is the first time in local history Indigenous providers have been recognized for our child welfare advocacy,” Stewart said.

Sheldon, Dubie and Stewart advocate for Indigenous children involved with child welfare societies across Ontario. They are not agents of family and children’s services but independent providers who offer culturally appropriate support to Indigenous families.

Inuit advocacy

Sheldon lives in Ospringe and is Inuk from Nunavut and Northern Quebec, a Sixties Scoop survivor, and a cultural advisor with Kamatsiarniq. 

Sixties Scoop refers to the removal of tens of thousands of Indigenous children from their families into the Canadian child welfare system. 

Kamatsiarniq translates to “a place where Inuit are welcome” and is a child welfare program at Tunjasuvvingat Inuit, a non-profit service provider. 

Sheldon oversees Inuit culture with families, supports Inuit families through navigating the child welfare system and guides children’s aid societies regarding Inuit culture and Inuit rights. 

“Its important for Inuit to have that advocacy and support,” Sheldon said, “especially as none of us are on our traditional lands” in southern Ontario. 

Tauni said Inuit are often swept under a pan-Indigenous approach, or assumed to be First Nations, instead of recognized as a distinct Indigenous group. 

When Inuit are sent to Ontario from northern Canada through the child welfare system, she said it’s important the children “remain connected to who they are as Inuit.” 

Sheldon said she “has that fire to try and be that voice for people who don’t have their voice or don’t know what to do,” because she knows how it feels to be a voiceless child.

Her family and her adoptive family are “still trying to understand the Sixties Scoop.”

“For my birth mother, it was very traumatic,” she said. Sheldon’s birth mother had arranged for a traditional Inuit adoption, but instead Sheldon was “scooped” and taken away to Ontario. 

“I was a baby when I was apprehended” and at that time, there weren’t Indigenous people in the system who could advocate for her, Sheldon said.

After decades apart, Sheldon reconnected with her mother and said they now have a loving relationship. On Sheldon’s 50th birthday, she spent the day with her mother – the first birthday with her mother since the day she was born. 

“We cried and held each other,” Sheldon said, adding she hears many stories similar to her own through her work.

Tauni Sheldon, 60s Scoop Adoptee

READ THIS: https://www.iheartradio.ca/ctv-news-content/there-are-thousands-of-us-sixties-scoop-survivor-shares-story-following-national-day-for-truth-and-reconciliation-1.20319957

60s Scoop survivor reconnects with birth mom, discovers her culture, decades after separation

It took many years for the pair to develop a mother-daughter relationship

Rachel Watts · CBC News · January 6, 2023

Tauni Sheldon, pictured when she was about three years old. Sheldon has worked to reconnect and rebuild the relationship with her birth mom after she was taken away as part of the Sixties Scoop three hours after birth. (Submitted by Pam Sheldon)

WARNING: This story contains distressing details

Tauni Sheldon remembers the first time she saw her biological mom.

Sheldon was 23 years old. 

It was 1993 and she was in the Winnipeg airport, having just flown in with her adoptive parents, Jim and Pam Sheldon. 

Her birth mom was waiting at the bottom of the escalator. 

"She had flowers and she looked up at me … and she just said, 'Wow, you're very tall,'" said Sheldon with a chuckle, adding that her mother is legally blind, but can see shapes and features.

Sheldon says she towered over her mother's petite frame as the two cried and tried to process what was happening. 

"I was afraid and I was happy and excited, but I was also scared and angry, and I think it was a whole mix of 'Holy cow, like, this is real now,' and I think it was the same for her," said Sheldon.

CBC is not identifying Sheldon's birth mother after being unable to speak with her directly.

In 1970, Sheldon's birth mom was flown from Inukjuak, Que., to Thunder Bay, Ont., to give birth. 

Sheldon was taken from her just hours after birth, and for more than two decades, her mom had no idea where she was.

Sheldon was adopted by a white family in southern Ontario. She was part of the Sixties Scoop — a period when Indigenous children were forcibly removed from their birth families, those families often having no idea where their children had gone. 

As one of the estimated 20,000 survivors across Canada, Sheldon has since worked to build a relationship with her biological mother and move past the anger and trauma that tainted their relationship for decades.

Advertised for adoption in Toronto newspaper 

In 1970, Sheldon's photo was posted in a column in a Toronto newspaper, the Toronto Telegram.

The advertisement included a description — and used an offensive and outdated term to describe Inuit, highlighting the racist attitudes surrounding the Sixties Scoop.

Sheldon compares it to a car ad. 

Tauni Sheldon is pictured here as a baby and to the right is the newspaper clipping from the Toronto Telegram that advertised her for interested parents as an 'Eskimo Baby.' (Submitted by Tauni Sheldon)

"Little Miss Eskimo can't crawl yet but she moves around anyway, pulling with her arms and pushing with her sturdy legs. She's big for her age and has lovely almond-shaped eyes and round cheeks," read the column.

Ten months later, Sheldon was adopted.

Although she describes her adoptive family as "very loving," Sheldon says she grew up feeling as though she didn't truly belong in the southern Ontario town of Milton where they lived.