Sixties Scoop Survivor details failures of the Child Welfare System in new essay collection
NEYAASHIINIGMIING — Kegedonce Press proudly announces the release of These are the Stories: Memories of a 60s Scoop Survivor by author, editor and journalist Christine Miskonoodinkwe Smith. This timely collection of auto-biographical essays addresses a topic that has gained increasing attention in Canadian news and cultural media; the historical and ongoing treatment of Indigenous children in Canada.
Miskonoodinkwe Smith relates her experiences in the child welfare system after she and her siblings were taken from her mother on Peguis First Nation. The stories describe the author’s failed adoption by a non-Indigenous family, her quest to find her birth mother, and address the lasting harm caused by the seizure of First Nations children from their homes and communities. While this is a story of the lamentable failures of the Canadian Child Welfare system, it is also one of hope, as Miskonoodinkwe Smith relates her journey towards home and healing.
Cynthia Wesley-Esquimaux, Chair for Truth and Reconciliation, Lakehead University writes:
“Christine’s story illuminates a pathway trod by far too many Indigenous children over the last 100 years. When Indian Residential Schools didn’t ‘kill the Indian in the child’, Child Welfare agencies stepped in to finish the job. There was light; however, in the darkness for Christine. Light that healed her brokenness through kindness, the connection of friends, and the reconstitution of a family. Lost and found, and lost again is a tragic summary of her experience of being scooped, to abandoned, to finding solace in the arms of a mother who died far too soon. Still, her strength shines through in her hope, her joy of storytelling, and her endearing ability to break open the hearts of those around her. She has a rare courage, and I’ve always admired her ability to show us all how it’s done, because this is a woman who truly understands how to ‘walk in beauty.’”
Christine Miskonoodinkwe Smith is a Saulteaux woman from Peguis First Nation who currently lives in Toronto. She graduated from the University of Toronto with a specialization in Aboriginal Studies and received her Master’s in Education in Social Justice. Her first non-fiction story, Choosing the Path to Healing, appeared in the 2006 anthology, Growing Up Girl: An Anthology of Voices from Marginalized Spaces. She has written for the Native Canadian, Anishinabek News, Windspeaker, First Nations House Magazine, New Tribe Magazine, Muskrat Magazine, and the Piker Press.
Kegedonce Press hosts an online book launch for These are the Stories on January 22 with moderator Nathan Niigan Noodin Adler and introduction by Cynthia Wesley-Esquimaux. Details on Facebook @60sScoopBookLaunch.
Kegedonce Press is a dedicated Indigenous publisher, based in Neyaashiinigmiing and Owen Sound, Ontario. It has been publishing books involving Indigenous peoples at all levels of production since 1993.
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Patricia Campbell
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519 377 1319
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Photos, sample chapter and review copies available.