By Owen Charters

In a previous role, I helped craft the Order of Canada nomination for my organization’s board chair, Patrick Johnston. In pulling together the nomination, I did a lot of research about the Sixties Scoop, as Patrick had been a social worker and researcher who among many other accomplishments wrote a significant paper on the Scoop and brought the issue to prominence in the Canadian media.

Many of us have heard of residential schools and their travesty and tragedy—as well as the ongoing impact of these institutions—on generations of Indigenous children and families. But fewer of us may be aware of the ongoing removal of Indigenous children from their families and placing them “in care,” which is often foster care with other families.

In the 1960s, it was common practise to remove almost all newborn children on reserve from their mothers and place them into the child welfare system—to ‘scoop’ them. Patrick named this period the Sixties Scoop, and it is yet another indignity and abomination that this country has perpetuated on Indigenous families and communities. And the Scoop has not stopped. Today, Indigenous mothers often still have their babies taken from them by child welfare agencies and the battles to retain custody are frequent and many.

The First Nations Child and Family Caring Society (FNCFCS) was established in the 1990s to connect Indigenous families and resources, and to ensure that Indigenous children can grow up supported at home, with their families. Executive Director (and former BGC Canada board member) Cindy Blackstock is a vocal advocate, speaking frequently about the needs of Indigenous families and children and exposing the ongoing disparities and failures of policy.

In the fall of 2021, FNCFCS won a significant legal victory. The Federal Court upheld a ruling to award compensation in response to ongoing underfunding of child welfare programs, for the unnecessary removal of Indigenous children from homes and families, and failing to uphold Jordan’s principle, which is a policy to ensure that funding flows to First Nations children no matter if various levels of government cannot agree on responsibility. This ruling will result in billions of dollars in compensation to more than 50,000 people.

Today, we honour and participate in Have A Heart Day, a campaign from FNCFCS to recognize and support Indigenous families and children and to continue to advocate for fair funding and supports. Our official statement in support of Have a Heart Day can be found here.

Have A Heart Day, Spirit Bear, and working with FNCFCS is one of many steps we can each take on the path of Reconciliation, a journey of lifting up all children and families and undoing the terrible legacy of residential schools, the Sixties Scoop, and dismantling families.

Today and every day, show your support, learn and reflect, and join us in taking action.

Partnership creates more opportunities for young people to learn about and lead the reconciliation movement

Toronto, ON, October 18, 2021 – The Gord Downie and Chanie Wenjack Fund has partnered with BGC Canada to provide Clubs  in Canada with Legacy Schools toolkits, empowering kids and teens to participate in reconciliation through awareness, education, and action.

Containing resources and activities to help staff engage young people in reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples, the toolkits will be used in existing Indigenous-focused programs at BGC Clubs, like Youth Leading Reconciliation, and incorporated into other activities as an opportunity to teach Indigenous worldviews and cultural understanding.

“Providing meaningful opportunities for Indigenous and non-Indigenous young leaders to forge new pathways together is a crucial contribution to Truth and Reconciliation,” says Owen Charters, President & CEO, BGC Canada. “We are inspired by the Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund’s commitment to helping young people across the country realize the many ways they can contribute to reconciliation and build a better future.”

The Legacy Schools toolkits also include copies of the graphic novel Secret Path, written by Gord Downie and illustrated by Jeff Lemire, which tells the story of Chanie Wenjack, a 12-year-old Anishinaabe boy who died while trying to escape an Ontario residential school in 1966.

Answering Gord Downie’s call to action “Do Something,” Club staff and youth will participate in Secret Path Week October 17 – 22 by creating reconciliACTIONs in their individual Clubs and communities and encouraging further conversations and education about the history and ongoing impact of residential schools.

“Young people are the leaders and changemakers of not only the future, but of today,” says Sarah Midanik, President & CEO, Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund. “We are thrilled to be able to reach more youth through BGC Clubs to ensure youth in Canada understand the true history and legacy of residential schools and the continued strength and resilience of Indigenous Peoples.”

76 Club locations have received toolkits to date, with more to follow. Clubs will also receive a booster pack each year with updated information and new resources.

Read BGC Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commitment Statement here.

About BGC Canada
For 120+ years, BGC Canada has been creating opportunities for millions of Canadian kids and teens. As Canada’s largest child and youth serving charitable and community services organization, our Clubs open their doors to young people of all ages and their families at 736 locations nationwide. During out-of-school hours in small and large cities, and rural and Indigenous communities, our trained staff and volunteers provide programs and services that help young people realize positive outcomes in self-expression, academics, healthy living, physical activity, job readiness, mental wellness, social development, leadership, and more. Opportunity changes everything. Learn more at bgccan.com and follow us on social media @BGCCAN.

About the Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund (DWF)
Inspired by Chanie’s story and Gord’s call to build a better Canada, the Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund (DWF) aims to build cultural understanding and create a path towards reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples. DWF’s work centres around improving the lives of Indigenous people by building awareness, education, and connections between all Canadians. www.downiewenjack.ca @downiewenjack

Media contact:

Jared Morrow, BGC Canada
jmorrow@bgccan.com
905-477-7272 x2202

By Owen Charters

I had a high school teacher who liked to do a thought experiment with the class. He’d ask: “If we made contact with aliens from another planet, would the concept of individual, sovereign countries matter as much as it does today?” As the discussion wound on, we realized that there is always an Us and a Them. The idea of nation states is an evolution of Us vs Them for the current era. Nation states might not matter when the Us is the Earth vs Them, the aliens from another planet: nations would become increasingly irrelevant as we regrouped around this new Us/Them configuration. And don’t get me started on the galactic federation or other governing bodies imagined for the universe.

But today, right now, we operate under nation states. Our news is filled with the issues of how China, the United States, Russia, or the United Kingdom are acting. Who has the highest vaccine rates? What international incident is filling the headlines? Who is irritating who? Nation states matter.

And I’ve always been proud to be a Canadian, proud of Canada, the nation state. I’ve indulged in the Us/Them of waving the maple leaf and cherishing a beaver as our national animal. As a child, I’ve waved the paper and cardboard stick flag proudly that was handed out at celebrations each Canada Day. I’ve been smug and patriotic when visiting other countries, proud to be a Canadian. Catching sight of the Maple Leaf sewn on a backpack in a foreign country gets my heart racing. I like wearing plaid and flannel. I own many toques. I should invest in a maple syrup sugar bush given how much of the golden nectar is consumed in our house. I like visiting other countries, but I’m always happy to be waved past border security and back onto home soil. My heart rate slows and my blood pressure drops when the scenery outside the car window becomes the rocks, lakes, and pine trees of the Canadian Shield. I’ve lived by the idea that you should see more of your own country before you see others (and that’s challenging when you live in country as vast as ours). My family has matching red Canada shirts for July 1. And the Canadian flag often flies prominently outside our house.

Why so proud? Canada stands out on the world stage. A peaceful, democratic country. A country that created peacekeeping, welcomes refugees and immigrants. It has a cohesive, generally well-run healthcare and social support system (with a few holes in it). A country that has mostly learned to live with differences, embracing them instead of suppressing them. The U.S. is often referred to as a ‘melting pot’ of cultures, blended together to form something new. Canada is a tossed salad, where individual identities remain, with a light dressing of common cause sprinkled on top. That seems so much better.

Now, we have a crescendo of calls to cancel Canada Day. We are living in the shadow of two immense tragedies. At least 750 graves in Cowessess First Nation. 215 children’s graves in Tk’emlups Te Secwépemc First Nation. These are but two of the over 150 residential schools across the country, and the horrors will keep coming. We have the duty to observe, to remember, to commemorate the thousands of children lost. Statues of Sir John A. Macdonald are coming down or being relocated. Names of institutions are being reconsidered and changed. We have a history of treating others badly. Of taking land. Destroying resources. Killing Indigenous people. Racism. Polluting. Denial of adequate resources and clean water to Indigenous communities and First Nations.

History does not change, but the telling of history changes based on the teller. What is remembered, what is suppressed. History is being revised to incorporate the other stories, the stories that were conveniently neglected, swept under the rug. It is all the history of Canada, the beautiful and the ugly. It is an acknowledgement that we aren’t all roses—we are also thorns.

I am a realist, and I am an optimist. To be Canadian is to accept and live with the tension of being many things. Of being proud of the good things built by this country. To be ashamed by the wrongs perpetrated by this country. We are a country of compromises. Of living in the in-between. French and English. East and West. Land and sea. Indigenous and settler. Recent immigrant vs multi-generational.

This country took almost everything from my ancestors. I am torn by that terrible familial history and the hope I have for what this country can be. This country has condoned violence and the murder of Indigenous people. Yet I still believe that the country strives for better. To atone for our sins. To Reconcile. To acknowledge. To never repeat.

I am awake to the nightmares that this country has levied on many. I dream of the possibilities this country holds to do better.

On July 1, we will not be cancelling Canada Day, but we will observe a more sombre celebration in my household. Red shirts may be mixed with orange. And the flag we’ll raise is another compromise—the Indigenous Canada flag, designed by Mulidzas-Curtis Wilson of the Wei Wai Kum First Nation. I believe it embodies the realities of the two worlds that Canada is today: a history of unbearable tragedies and wrongs. And a future of Reconciliation, promises to be kept, and memories to be made sacred, bound that we never forget.