60s Scoop Class Action Progress Report

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Ph: 1-844-287-4270    |   sixtiesscoop@collectiva.ca

December 2023: Progress Review 

As 2023 comes to an end, we would like to reiterate our commitment to finalizing the claims administration phase of this class action. Our goal remains that each Eligible Class Member receives their compensation.

With more than 99% of the total number of claims received having been processed under the terms of the settlement, we are actively working to resolve those applications that remain in process. The Claim Statistics Table will continue to be the source for updates in 2024.

We wish everyone peace and comfort in the coming weeks.

On all other days, the call centre will be open, and voice messages can be left when calls are received outside of regular business hours. The phone number is 1-844-287-4270 and our email is  SIXTIESSCOOP@COLLECTIVA.CA.

If at any time you are dealing with trauma or need support, please do not hesitate to contact the Hope for Wellness Helpline for counselling: at 1-855-242-3310 or online at www.hopeforwellness.ca. Counselling is available in English, French, Cree, Ojibway and Inuktitut on request.

If you are in British Columbia, you can contact the First Nations and Aboriginal Helpline offered by the KUU-US Crisis Line Society toll-free at 1-800-588-8717.

***Not every claim will follow a straight path from assessment to approval or denial. Some claims will be assessed and reassessed more than one time, as new information is requested and received. View the claims process

 OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS:

https://sixtiesscoopsettlement.info/official-documents/

VIDEO:

https://sixtiesscoopsettlement.info/sixtiesscoop-english-master-1280x720/  

NOTE:

The CLASS ACTION settlement for which the parties seek judicial approval provides for legal fees in the amount of $75 million. These amounts are over and above the compensation and Foundation amounts the Defendant is obliged to pay pursuant to the agreement.  The potential total value of the settlement is $880 million. 

When Brown v. Canada was commenced in Ontario in 2009, it was true pioneer litigation, the first of its kind anywhere in the country (Canada).  The claims in the action generally related to loss of cultural identity. No court in Canada has ever awarded damages for loss of cultural identity. In consequence, these claims were novel, and therefore there was significant risk with respect to the monetary value that a court may place on such loss.

Ontario Superior Court of Justice:
"Those eligible for compensation included not only Indian adoptees, as Justice Belobaba had ordered based upon the '65 Agreement, but also crown or permanent wards. …. The period of time to be eligible as a class member is double the period in the Brown v. Canada class definition.  It covers all survivors who were placed in non-indigenous homes from 1951 to 1991.  It eliminates the hardship for the class member who has no 'record' (ie. adoption or crown wardship orders) to prove her or his eligibility, shifting that burden to the governments."

This finding applies with full and equal force to this action and the largely untold history of the Sixties Scoop until these cases were brought.

Victims Sought: Canada Awards $635 Million to Stolen Native Children #6os Scoop

YouTube Screen Capture

Chief Marcia Brown Martel is a lead claimant in the 'Sixties Scoop' court settlement with Canada. Under the settlement, First Nations and Inuit children who were taken from their homes between 1951 and 1991 will be eligible for personal compensation.

Montreal Sixties Scoop victims from 1951 to 1991 can seek assistance from National Indigenous Survivors of Child Welfare Network regarding settlement

Vincent Schilling • January 2, 2018

In October of 2017, the federal Government of Canada reached a settlement with the First Nations victims of the “Sixties Scoop.”  The program gained its nickname when child welfare agencies removed thousands of indigenous children from their communities primarily in the 60’s and placed them with foster families or adopting families.
After years of trying to fight against the Canadian federal government, Lead claimant Chief Marcia Brown Martel won a massive victory when the court awarded a payout of $800 million Canadian / $635 million American, to about 20,000 victims.

How to seek compensation and / or support as a “Sixties Scoop” survivor
Colleen Cardinal, (Plains Cree from Saddle Lake Cree Nation) one of the co-founders of the National Indigenous Survivors of Child Welfare Network (NISCW) told Indian Country Today that the NISCW is a great resource for those seeking compensation and / or support as a “Sixties Scoop” survivor.
In addition to offering services such as leadership, support and advocacy for those affected by Indigenous child removal systems in Canada, the NISCW is currently offering a specific “Sixties Scoop” Peer Support Toll Free Number (1-866-456-6060.)

According to the NISCW website:
The peer support line will provide listening and support services to Indigenous 60s scoop survivors who experienced displacement, loss of culture, due to being adopted or fostered in non-Indigenous households across Canada, the U.S.A.
The Peer Support Line will provide safe, respectful and non-judgemental confidential listening.It will link Survivors to approved services across Canada to support their emotional, cultural, spiritual and mental needs.
Services include:

• Provide direction on how to access government information related to their adoption and other government documentation.
• Provide direction to support their repartition efforts that include finding families and communities.
• Provide information and direction on how to attain Indigenous programs and services, Treaty Indian Cards, Metis memberships and Nunavut Land Claims Agreement services for Inuit.
• Provide one-on-one talks with Survivors to listen to stories, connect them with other Survivors, or Sixties Scoop organizations across Canada.

For more information on the National Indigenous Survivors of Child Welfare Network visit www.NISCW.org.


READ: Victims Sought: Canada Awards $635 Million to Stolen ‘Sixties Scoop’ Native Children - Indian Country Media Network

$1.3 billion in damages: #60sScoop get their day in court

August 23, 2016

 

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Michelle Siu

Thousands of First Nations, Métis and Inuit across Canada who were ripped from their homes as children are getting their day in court after a years-long struggle in what has become known as the “Sixties Scoop,” a painful, but little-understood chapter of Canadian history.

The so-called scoop happened between the 1960s and the 1980s and saw thousands of aboriginal children taken from their homes by child-welfare service workers and placed with mostly non-aboriginal families. In some cases, children were sent to live with families in other provinces, the United States and the U.K., often without the consent of their parents.

A  legacy of  ‘cultural genocide’

The fallout from the practice has negatively impacted generations of aboriginal Canadians.

The final Truth and Reconciliation Commission report stated “the effects of the residential school experience and the Sixties Scoop have adversely affected parenting skills and the success of many Aboriginal families.”

“By the end of the 1970s, the transfer of children from residential schools was nearly complete in Southern Canada, and the impact of the Sixties Scoop was in evidence across the country,” the TRC said.

“In 1977, Aboriginal children accounted for 44 per cent of the children in care in Alberta, 51 per cent 

of the children in care in Saskatchewan, and 60 per cent of the children in care in Manitoba.”

READ MORE: Indigenous community shares stories of survival decades after the ’60s Scoop

The “Sixties Scoop” has not received the same attention as another dark chapter in Canada’s history: the issue of residential schools. And unlike survivors of the residential school system, adults who went through the Sixties Scoop have never received an apology from the federal government. Last June, the Manitoba government formally apologized to those affected.

Marcia Brown Martel, a member of the Temagami First Nation near Kirkland Lake, Ont., was taken by child welfare officials and adopted by a non-native family as a child.

Martel has described what happened to her and thousands of others as “cultural genocide.”

“I lost everything, including my name. I lost my family. I lost my language. I lost everything about my culture,” Martel told The Canadian Press. “This should never have happened. It was wrong.”

Dozens of supporters rallied outside a Toronto courtroom Tuesday where an Ontario Superior Court judge will hear opening arguments for a summary judgment in a class action lawsuit against the federal government by survivors of the Sixties Scoop.

At the heart of the Ontario lawsuit, is a federal-provincial arrangement in which Ontario child welfare services placed as many as 16,000 aboriginal children with non-native families from December 1965 to December 1984.

WATCH: Indigenous community shares stories of survival decades after the 60’s Scoop

The claim, which has not been proven in court, alleges the children suffered a devastating loss of cultural identity that the federal government should have protected. The suit alleges plaintiffs suffered emotional, psychological and spiritual harm from the lost connection to their aboriginal heritage.  

They are seeking $1.3 billion in damages, or $85,000 for each affected person.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs will argue they have enough evidence to forego a trial and prove that Canada had an obligation in law to ensure that indigenous children removed from their homes retain their cultural identity and heritage.

READ MORE: ’60s Scoop plaintiffs finally to get day in court

Tuesday’s hearing comes after seven years of delays due to appeals by the federal government, which has fought the claim since it was launched in 2009.

“Today I stand with the survivors of the Ontario Sixties Scoop as they fight for justice and acknowledgement after decades of heartache,” said AFN National Chief Perry Bellegarde, in a statement. “Survivors of the Sixties Scoop deserve just resolution and restitution without further delay.  The federal government said recently that they would prefer to resolve this issue outside the courtroom.  If they are serious then they should work with survivors of the Sixties Scoop to get a respectful, acceptable process in place.”

Sixties Scoop survivor Dokis Thibault is emotional as she gathers with supporters at a rally in Toronto on Tuesday, August 23, 2016. Scores of aboriginals from across Ontario rallied in Toronto today ahead of a landmark court hearing on the so-called ’60s Scoop.

Calls on Ottawa to recognize an ‘immense wrong’

A number of indigenous leaders called on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in an open letter to resolve the issue without further delay and to “recognize and right an immense wrong — with both words and deeds.”

“This case is about Canadian values – past, present and future,” the letter says. “This moment is an opportunity for Canada to put an ugly legacy behind us, for the government to take steps to reform its conduct so that the injustice does not continue and build a better future for all. It’s a chance to open the door for future generations to grow up healthy and proud of who they are.”

Federal Indigenous Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett has said she wants to see the lawsuit over the Sixties Scoop taken out of court.

“We, as you know — as a government — would like to get things out of court and to a table where we can make those kinds of agreements together, as a way forward,” Bennett told reporters in Winnipeg in August.

“We want to work together with all of the litigants that are presently in court and try and get to the table.”

*With files from the Canadian Press