Far-flung '60s Scoop siblings — one in Texas, one in New Zealand — meet Manitoba uncle

Through laughter, Lori Brem tells the story of the meeting that brought her brother Jonathan Hooker, a New Zealand resident, and her Uncle Darryl Flett from northern Manitoba together for the first time. 

The three relatives met in Texas in November 2024. Brem, a resident of China Spring, Texas, and Hooker, of Mount Maunganui, New Zealand, share the same birth father and Flett is their uncle.

"To hear them all talking," Brem chuckles.

"Jonathan speaks so fast and Darryl speaks real slow. And then we have our drawl, like we say 'Y'all.' Hearing all the different accents was just so funny to me."

How do the roads between three communities on opposite sides of the world converge in Texas? 

Brem and Hooker are survivors of the Sixties Scoop, where First Nations, Métis and Inuit children were removed from their homes and placed with non-Indigenous foster or adoptive parents between 1951 and 1991, and lost their cultural identities as a result.

Brem was taken from Swan River, Man., along with her siblings. Hooker was taken from Moose Lake, Man.

Brem and Hooker's adoptions, like so many others, tore them from their families and their roots. 

Hooker was adopted by a couple from the U.K. who spent time in Canada and eventually settled on New Zealand's North Island. He said he always know he was adopted because he didn't look like his fair-skinned parents.

"It was really obvious that there was some job going on there, having black hair and dark skin," he said.

"I was really too young to realize the enormity of what had happened to me."

During the 2024 reunion, Flett sat down with Brem and Hooker to discuss the family history and the Sixties Scoop. Hooker said it was "a shock to the system" to hear how authorities would go to reserves and remove children.

Brem said she learned her story when she spoke to her birth mother.

"I was just blown away that she came home from work one day and we were just gone," Brem said.

"They took my brother and I, Randy, and we were actually adopted together. I had a younger brother who was an infant and I to this day don't know what happened to him or where he was adopted to."

When Brem found her birth mother's name, she turned to the phone book.

"I looked up the first two names of my birth mother and just called those random numbers to see if I could get a hold of her by any chance," she said.

After getting no answer, Brem tried the first number again the following day.

"She answered and I said 'Hi, is this so-and-so? This is Brenda Lori,' which was my name back then and she said 'Oh my god I've been searching for you forever' and I just broke down and started crying."

DNA reveals link

Brem and Hooker had no idea one another even existed. After being gifted a DNA kit by his mother-in-law, Hooker connected with Brem and after finding his father's birth name, eventually to Facebook to find others.

"I had no idea about Jonathan until the DNA came back and matched us," Brem said.

Having only a name to go off of, both Brem and Hooker went to their birth mothers and confirmed they did, in fact, share a birth father. This discovery led them to their Uncle Darryl in Manitoba and eventually to Texas for a family reunion last November.

The meeting proved to be emotional for all involved.

"I was raised in a white family and my younger brother could pass as Caucasian but I could not and so I always felt like a misfit in that aspect," Brem said.

"But to see a face that resembled mine somewhere, it was just, I can't even explain it."

Sixties Scoop survivor and advocate Colleen Rajotte advises survivors to be surrounded in support during the reconnection process.

"When you drive up and actually see the house where you would have grown up had you not been taken away, it kind of hits you like a lightning bolt," she said.

"It's a lot to absorb and a lot to take in."

After spending time together in Texas, Brem and her family, along with Hooker and his family, are planning a trip to Manitoba with the help of Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak. Rajotte and Hooker hope to team up to document his journey in a documentary film.

The family hopes to get together again in Manitoba in 2026.