Edmonton Sixties Scoop survivors disappointed in federal hearing
‘I just wanted to pay homage to the poor parents that had their children ripped from their arms'
As a federal hearing over a $875 million Sixties Scoop settlement played out in Saskatoon on Friday, survivors from the Edmonton area were disappointed when they tuned in via video satellite.
On the second day of the two–day hearing, almost a dozen Sixties Scoop survivors sat in a federal court room in Edmonton watching the hearing and voicing their opinions.
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The Sixties Scoop refers to a time in Canadian history when thousands of First Nations and Métis children were apprehended by child welfare authorities and placed in the care of non-Indigenous families.
On Friday, lawyers and a federal court judge spent half of the day in a continuous discussion over the $75 million in legal fees, which is included in the $875-million settlement for survivors of the Sixties Scoop.
Federal Court Judge Michel Shore approved the settlement Friday after he said he exhaustively studied submissions for the past year, which includes $750 million for the estimated 20,000 survivors, $50 million for a foundation and $75 million for lawyers' fees.
The Saskatoon Federal Court hearing was to grant approval for the national settlement. An Ontario hearing scheduled for the end of this month regarding claimants in part of that province will also be required for full implementation.
"It's the first time we've been able to have a voice. The lawyers are talking about all of these millions and when it pertains to us, they're only talking about thousands. I just don't understand that," said Judith Gale, a Sixties Scoop survivor, in Edmonton.
Gale was born as her mother's tenth child on the Salt River First Nation near Fort Smith, N.W.T. She was taken from her mother as a baby, and remained in government care until she was adopted by a family in Montreal.
On Thursday, she testified as a survivor on satellite TV from a federal court room in Edmonton.
"Nobody had ever asked me my opinion and this is something that has affected my life," Gale said.
"I just wanted to pay homage to the poor parents that had their children ripped from their arms."
Adam North Peigan, a survivor and president of the Sixties Scoop Indigenous Society of Alberta, watched the legal discussions of the settlement with frustration on Friday. He wanted the hearing to focus on survivor testimony. The federal judge gave them a time limit of three minutes to speak
"It's taking away from the survivors from doing what they need to do," North Peigan said.
He's glad the legal fees were a topic of the hearing because he feels the fees take money that could go to survivors.
"Let's say more than 20,000 survivors come forward and make an application, you could make far less than $25,000," he said. "What I've been hearing from a lot of survivors in Alberta and across Canada is that they're not happy with it."
But he's caught in a tough spot, because if this deal isn't accepted, he worries about how long it will take to get another one done.
"If we wait two more decades, there's going to be that many more [survivors] who may not be here to actually see any type of reconciliation whatsoever," North Peigan said.
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With files from Jason Warick