One of the care packages that will be handed out to survivors of the Sixties Scoop (photo provided by the Sixties Scoop Indigenous Society of Alberta)

By Liam Verster

SSISA in GP

Survivors of Sixties Scoop to receive COVID-19 care packages from SSISA

Jun 20, 2020 | 5:30 AM

The Sixties Scoop Indigenous Society of Alberta will be providing special COVID-19 care packages to survivors of the Sixties Scoop across the province, including to those in Grande Prairie.

The Sixties Scoop, which dates back as early as the 1950s and continued on through to the 1990s, signifies the time in Canadian history when Indigenous children were being taken from their homes, families and communities, and placed into foster homes with white families.

Vice-President of the Sixties Scoop Indigenous Society of Alberta (SSISA), Sharon Gladue, says the displacement had a long term effect on many of those who had to endure it,.

“We grew up half-white and half-red, and we walk that fine line. So, we try to go home, back to our First Nations, and were shunned because we come back with European last names, or we come back with no knowledge, we don’t even carry our language, and so we’re shunned from our own community.”

Gladue says this exclusion and sense of loss has lead many to develop mental health and addictions issues, and that’s where SSISA comes in, to offer their supports and services.

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SSISA encourages survivors of the Scoop to share their stories and open up, and provide group supports and gatherings to those in need. However, since the COVID-19 pandemic began, they have moved most of their programs to online platforms.

Now, SSISA is offering the survivors care packages to help them through the ongoing pandemic. The packages include information on the novel coronavirus, hand sanitizer, gloves and masks, a journal, gift cards for each dependent under the age of 18 living in the recipient’s home, and a comfort blanket, which Gladue says is a very important addition.

“In Indigenous communities and our culture, blankets are very sacred to us, and we have seven blankets as we’re supposed to walk through life. A lot of the Sixties Scoop survivors don’t understand the teachings of the blanket, so when we signify it by handing out the blankets to them, we tell them ‘This is a sacred blanket, we can smudge it for you, bless it.'”

She says by doing this, they also show that the organization is there to offer support and advocate for the survivors if needed.

Also included in the package is information on local mental health resources that the survivors may need to access. A list of local elders is also included in the package, so if anyone feels like they want to reach out culturally, there’s an elder that’s just a phone call away.

SSISA will be travelling around the province, delivering these care packages to those who apply for them. Gladue says they mostly will be going through Friendship Centres, but they didn’t organize it far enough in advance for their trip to Grande Prairie, so will instead be handing them out from their hotel. Gladue and other SSISA members will be in Grande Prairie on June 25 and 26, on the first day they will be inviting people to come and pick up their packages, and on the second day they will be going and dropping off the packages to those who did not come out.

In order to apply, Sixties Scoop survivors are asked to contact SSISA, either online or by phone at 587-520-5910. Gladue says she will also take calls, and can be reached at 780-245-0240.

Funding for the care packages is being provided by Indigenous Services Canada.

Following the stop in Grande Prairie, SSISA will visit Peace River (June 27, 28), Edmonton (July 11,12), Fort McMurray (July 14,15), Medicine Hat (August 11,12), and Lethbridge (August 13,14). Stops are also planned for Calgary and Red Deer in September, though exact dates have not been determined.