Loss of culture, identity hard to compensate, says advocate for Indigenous people

An advocate for Indigenous people is questioning whether a fund set up to compensate survivors of the Sixties Scoops is enough to make up for years of suffering, while also warning of another scoop in the making.

Marilyn LeFrank, the head of child and family services for the Mi'kmaq Confederacy of P.E.I., said while the $750 million fund announced Thursday will provide something to survivors, it will be difficult to determine how much is truly owed.

"It's not something you can put a dollar amount on," LeFrank said.

• Ottawa announces $800M settlement with Indigenous survivors of Sixties Scoop
• Sixties Scoop survivor hopes federal settlement leads to healing
• Judge rules in favour of Indigenous survivors of Sixties Scoop

"How do you properly financially compensate people for the pain and suffering they experienced as children?"

The Sixties Scooprefers to the forced removal of Indigenous children from their home communities. They were later placed in foster homes, often with non-Indigenous families. Many survivors point to a loss of culture as one of the major effects of the scoop.

"It was another loss of their culture, a loss of their connection to their home, a loss of their identity, a loss of who they were as an Indigenous person in this country," LeFrank said.

"How do you replace that?"

Millennial Scoop

LeFrank said that while the government has officially apologized for residential schools, another apology may be necessary in the future for the Millennial Scoop, which LeFrank calls a continuation of the Sixties Scoops.

"[There's a] higher number of children in care in Canada now than there was at the height of residential schools," she said.

LeFrank said the government hasn't provided enough money to Indigenous communities to ensure children don't have to be put into care and that these communities are underfunded, compared with non-Indigenous communities.

"That results in [a] continuation of children coming into care and Canada can put a stop to it," LeFrank said.

"For some reason, even though the solutions have been before them, they have failed to do so."

An emailed response from the Department of Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada states the government is "taking concrete steps to fundamentally change the relationship between Canada and Indigenous peoples, and to completely transform how we provide services to First Nations children and families to ensure we are meeting their needs."

• MORE P.E.I. NEWS |'I am their voice': P.E.I.'s new children's lawyer reflects on first 100 days
• MORE P.E.I. NEWS |'Highly intoxicated' Summerside man plucked from city sewer