The Little Bird Story of the 60s Scoop

During the “Sixties Scoop” thousands of Indigenous children were taken from their families. These children were forced into the child welfare system and often placed in non-Indigenous homes. The exact number of children taken, of families torn apart, varies – it’s estimated that over 20,000 First Nations, Métis and Inuit children were removed during the Scoop.

But many still don’t know this story. Enter: Little Bird.

Little Bird is the first television series to explore the Sixties Scoop. It is available on CRAVE, APTN Lumi and will soon air on PBS. This six-part award-winning series follows Esther, raised in a Jewish family but born Bezhig to an Ojibway family, as she searches for her birth family and discovers the truths of her past.

The Little Bird family shows us what life was like for many Indigenous people living on the prairies, until a government policy left a path of destruction that devastated families, communities and cultures – the wake of which continues to be felt today.

Four of the Indigenous women behind the series take us behind the scenes.

Producer/Creator Jennifer Podemski is Saulteaux/Ojibway and Jewish and says it is not “any one person's story” but is reflective of many Sixties Scoop stories.

Directors/Writers, Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers (Blackfoot and Sámi) and Zoe Leigh Hopkins (Heiltsuk and Mohawk) were more like Aunties, taking great care on the set of the series to make sure everyone felt safe to tell this story.

Darla Contois is the star of Little Bird in the role of Esther/Bezhig. The Cree-Saulteaux actor from Misipawistik Cree Nation says she brought her own family's experience with the Scoop to inform her role.