Sheshatshiu Innu mothers recall having their newborns removed from Labrador hospital

WARNING: This story contains distressing details. All stories were shared with consent of participants.

Two Labrador women say the way their newborn children were taken by Children, Seniors and Social Development Department officials resulted in significant emotional harm.

The first woman to testify at the Inquiry Respecting the Treatment, Experiences and Outcomes of Innu children in the Child Protection System on Wednesday, October 18, was one of two who opened up about provincial officials removing their newborns from the local hospital. 

CBC News can't legally name her in order to protect the identity of her child.

The woman said she grew up in a house with addictions, was in the child protection system herself and faced childhood trauma. She was battling drugs and alcohol and was alone when she gave birth to her baby boy. No one had talked to her about him being taken, she said. 

A nurse feeding her son told her it was OK to go outside for a cigarette, she testified. When she came back, the nurse told her people were there to see her in the other room.

"That's when I knew they were going to take my son, because they had papers," the woman told the inquiry. "Then I went back out of that room. I was going to go get my son, but he was already gone."

"I would have been, like, OK with them taking him if it was me handing him over myself. I understand why they had to take him, but for them to take him like that — I was by myself, I had no one," she said. 

I was so numb. I remember crying all the way from Goose Bay to Sheshatshiu.- Sheshatshiu Innu mother addressing inquiry commissioners

The woman said she understood he was being taken for his own safety, but she wanted to see him one last time. Instead she only had his sweater, pacifier and car seat. The woman phoned her parents to pick her up from the hospital. 

"My heart was just — I was so numb. I remember crying all the way from Goose Bay to Sheshatshiu," she said.

Now, years later, the woman says she no longer uses substances. She said she understands that Children, Seniors and Social Development has a role to play in keeping children safe, but suggested to the inquiry that the department's removal methods caused her significant distress.

A second woman told the inquiry she grew up in a home with addictions. Outside the home, she was sexually assaulted as a young person and battled her own addictions with alcohol and drugs throughout her life. 

She told the inquiry she has been in and out of treatment programs for 10 years, and was 17 when she had her first child. The child was three when the father committed suicide. The woman gave the child up for a traditional adoption to her grandparents. 

Years later, she was in a new relationship and had a newborn girl at the Labrador Health Centre. Children, Seniors and Social Development wanted to take the newborn right away. 

"They told me to look for someone to take care of her and for me to go to a 90-day treatment program," she said. 

The woman said she wanted to go to the 28-day family treatment program at the Charles J. Andrew Youth Treatment Centre in Sheshatshiu to be with her newborn. But because she did not go to the 90-day treatment program, Children, Seniors and Social Development took her daughter from the hospital. 

"When they took her, I felt I wanted to do drugs and alcohol. But I didn't. I decided not to go there," she said. "[I] went by myself to attend the 28-day family program at Charles J. I was alone. CSSD did not even bother to ask me if I could go there with my children, my family." 

After her partner advocated for their child, Children, Seniors and Social Development brought their daughter to the treatment centre. The two stayed there until the program was over before she brought her daughter home, where she stayed. 

"It felt good being together as a family," she said. "She is the one, here with me, who has helped me, trying to change my life and that is why I am here today." 

The inquiry is holding community meetings this week at the Sheshatshiu Youth Centre to hear from any Innu who would like to speak. Commissioners will be in Natuashish for two weeks in November for further community sessions. 

The Inquiry website contains phone numbers for anyone in Natuashish, Sheshatshiu, or elsewhere in the Labrador-Grenfell Region, looking for healing and crisis help.

Mental health counselling and crisis support is also available 24 hours a day, seven days a week through the Hope for Wellness hotline at 1-855-242-3310 or by online chat.

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