Unprecedented ruling in Sixties Scoop Claim

By Christine Smith McFarlane

TORONTO – Jeffrey Wilson, lawyer for the representative plaintiff Chief Marcia Brown Martel for the Brown v. Canada case spoke at a Dec. 4 press conference.

“We are here today to discuss the decision of the appeal court in Brown versus Canada, the decision of the divisional court ruling that Canada’s attempt to eliminate the claim has failed and this case will finally be able to proceed to trial,” said Wilson.  “This case started in February 2009 and it has taken us five years to get to the point where we are close to access to justice.   The person I want to salute for taking a journey that is five years in length – up against Canada that I suspect has spent up to 1million dollars to get rid of this case – is Marcia Brown.”

It was between 1965 and 1985 that an estimated 16,000 Aboriginal children in Ontario  were removed from their homes and placed in other-mostly non-native communities.

In a Nishnawbe Aski Press Release, Deputy Grand Chief Goyce Kakegamic said, “An entire generation lost its Aboriginal identity and culture through what is known as the ‘Sixties Scoop’.  This is the first time a court in the Western world has given this importance to cultural identity and granted permission for a legal case to proceed where a people were robbed of their cultural identity.”

Despite the judgment given, Marcia Brown feels very apprehensive.

“It has taken a long time to get to this point,” she said.  “The Sixties Scoop was wrong and it shouldn’t have happened to 16,000 children. Canada needs to be brought to a place where they will acknowledge this event in their history. This is for all children in Canada, not just me, Brown said.

The case can now proceed as a class action lawsuit.