Plaintiff in Sixties Scoop class action wants to give Métis and non-status Indian survivors a 'voice of pride'

WARNING: This story contains distressing details.

A co-lead plaintiff in a national class action on behalf of Métis and non-status Indian survivors of the Sixties Scoop says she wants to be a voice for all of them after hearing that some feel they won't have a say in the legal proceeding.

"That is very good information for me to know," Shannon Varley said. "I want to try and help all these people."

The Sixties Scoop refers to the Canadian practice — from the early 1950s until the early 1990s — of taking children from Indigenous families and placing them for adoption with non-Indigenous parents. Many of the affected children lost their Indigenous identity and suffered mentally, emotionally, spiritually and physically.

Varley said she grew up on a farm about 75 kilometres northeast of Regina, not realizing she was Indigenous or adopted.

She said she grew up in a very loving adoptive family and felt "totally included."

Varley said she was 11 years old when her adoptive family told her that she had been adopted through the Adopt Indian Métis (AIM) program when she was an infant.

Varley said even though kids at school had been previously asking what reserve she was from, she was in denial.

"I told my parents, 'No, I'm not. I'm part of your family. I've been with you as long as I can remember,'" she said.

'Ashamed of being Aboriginal'

She said she refused to believe she was Indigenous for most of her life — and was not able to teach her three children to be proud of who they are — because there was shame.

"There was subliminal, just under the surface, racism toward Native people in the farming community where I grew up all my life," she said.

"So I was ashamed of being Aboriginal when all of this started coming out."

Until she learned the circumstances of her adoption through government records later in her life, she said she always wondered why it happened.

"Why am I not with my real mom? Where is my real dad? And it gives you a sense of loss and wondering," she said.

"Why wasn't I good enough? Why didn't they want me?"

Varley was born in Prince Albert to an Indigenous mother from northern Saskatchewan, but was taken at birth by child welfare workers.

"These are the reasons I've seen on the documents: she had no dependable vehicle to take me from the hospital and she wasn't married," she said.

"At the time, a single Aboriginal woman with a child — that factored into it also."

She said a few survivors have since contacted her.

"The common thread is that we all thought we were alone," she said. "We all thought there was no one else out there like me."

Varley said she wants people to know she is aware of all the emotional aspects of being a Sixties Scoop survivor. She said she wants to be a "voice of pride" for Métis and non-status Indian survivors.

"I am going to do my best to just bring pride to us and give us a prideful voice," she said.

"We are here and we are speaking now and we are not alone and we are all going to get together and we are going to get some good things going for us — something to bring some happiness and a sense of, yes, we do matter."

Some survivors feel excluded from process

Before the class action was certified earlier this year, a Federal Court judge had to decide which law firms and plaintiffs would carry the legal action against the federal government because of "bad blood" between the lawyers of four overlapping claims. It was the first time ever a federal judge had to make such a decision.

Some plaintiffs from the other claims now feel they are on the outside looking in with little or no direct say on how the class action proceeds.

The other lead plaintiff in the surviving class action, Sandra Lukowich, previously told CBC News the process should involve the government talking to every single survivor to hear what they need to make them feel whole.

The two law firms handling the class action, Koskie Minsky LLP and Paliare Roland Rosenberg Rothstein LLP, previously declined to be interviewed by CBC.

However, in a statement, Koskie Minsky said the next step was for counsel to agree on a schedule, including a trial date in the Federal Court, and that it would have a further comment for the media once that step had been concluded.

Government says it remains committed to resolving litigation

In a statement provided to CBC following a Nov. 21 story on the class action, Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada said the Government of Canada is working toward recognizing past wrongs, especially those involving historic harms committed against Indigenous children, outside of the courts.

Earlier this year, Canada consented to the certification of the Varley class action involving Métis and non-status Indians, it said.

"The parties have committed to focus on discussions that could support a future resolution of the litigation," the statement said.

"We remain committed to working with survivors, their counsel, leadership, and the provinces and territories to resolve this litigation, as we believe that negotiation is always preferable to litigation."

Katherine Legrange, the director of 60s Scoop Legacy of Canada, a national non-profit organization that works to provide peer support to survivors, said she is encouraged that the government has said it is willing to negotiate an agreement out of court.

However, Legrange also believes the government's statement is "kind of contradictory."

"I think that by certifying and consenting to the certification, that indicates that they're prepared to go forward in court," she said. "But what they promised us is that they would negotiate and reach a settlement."

Legrange said Métis and non-status Indian survivors have already had to wait unnecessarily for more than four years since they were promised a negotiated settlement, after being excluded from a previous Sixties Scoop settlement for status Indian and Inuit survivors.

Legrange, a Sixties Scoop survivor herself, and co-plaintiff Derek Chief filed a claim against the federal government in 2018.

She said there has been no action on that case, partly because they don't have legal counsel.

"My guess is that our case will be stayed once a settlement is reached," she said. "My understanding is that it will probably be dismissed and then I will become part of the class as opposed to being a plaintiff in the negotiations."

Told to stop writing to court

In the meantime, she feels "out of the loop" and not included in the communications, she said.

"In fact, I stopped writing to the Federal Court after I was told that it was inappropriate," she said. "So I stopped trying to get updates from the court and the judge at that point."

A June 17, 2020, memorandum from Justice Michael L. Phelan said since Legrange was not a party to the proceeding, it was "not appropriate" for her to write to the judge or set up communications except by means of compliance with the court's rules.

"My hope is that if Koskie Minsky or the other law firm is interested in creating a settlement for all survivors, then they need to include us," Legrange said. "And so my hope is that they'll reach out to us and want to include us in that negotiations team."

Support is available for anyone affected by the lingering effects of residential school and those who are triggered by the latest reports.

A national Indian Residential School Crisis Line has been set up to provide support for residential school survivors and others affected. People can access emotional and crisis referral services by calling the 24-hour national crisis line: 1-866-925-4419.

Do you have information about unmarked graves, children who never came home or residential school staff and operations? Email your tips to CBC's new Indigenous-led team investigating residential schools: WhereAreThey@cbc.ca or call toll-free 1-833-824-0800.