Many indigenous leaders say Canada’s foster care system is a continuation of cultural genocide against their people. We tell the story of one BC community’s struggle to wrest control from the government, and reinstall indigenous child welfare.

This week’s episode of Cited is part of Discourse Media’s BC Child Welfare Media Day: a multi-organization collaboration with media outlets across the province telling stories about the child welfare system. For our contribution Cited is telling a story about the Sixties Scoop – a two-decades long push to remove aboriginal children from their homes and place them in adopted white families.

First we talk with Splatsin Chief Wayne Christian, who tells the story of his apprehension during the Sixties Scoop. In 1980, Chief Christian led the Indian Child Caravan, an historic struggle to win indigenous autonomy for child welfare decisions in his Shuswap community – a struggle that the provincial government continues to oppose even today.