The Circles on Indigenous Worldviews series is part of IofC Canada’s commitment to promote learning and understanding between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples, and to give voice to those who say, ‘The truth has to be told’.
On November 22, 2022, our guest speaker for this series was Kimberley Joy, who spoke about her personal experience with Residential Schools and being adopted as part of the 'Sixties Scoop'. Click HERE to watch the recording of this presentation.
Kim began life on Oneida of the Thames, part of the Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy in Southern Ontario. Kim told us that “At birth my Mom and I had a 50/50 chance of survival. The preacher approached my Dad and asked, ‘If there is a choice which one would you rather save? My Dad’s response was ‘Save them both!’” When you hear Kim tell her story, one cannot help but believe she was born with a special purpose in life.
After attending Kindergarten and Residential School until the age of 12 years, Kim was put in the program called The Sixties Scoop. Wikipedia describes the ‘Sixties Scoop’ as large-scale removal or ‘scooping’ of Indigenous children from their homes, communities and families of birth through the 1960s, and their subsequent adoption into predominantly non-Indigenous, middle-class families across the United States and Canada. This experience left many adoptees with a lost sense of cultural identity. The physical and emotional separation from their birth families continues to affect adult adoptees and Indigenous communities to this day”.