Honouring Journeys: A Day of Healing and Unity

Community is at the heart of everything we do, and it’s how we best connect with those around us. 

Over the Thanksgiving weekend at the Confluence Historic Site & Parkland, we had the opportunity to come together as a community for healing and to see respective journeys honoured. 

By coming together for our third Sixties Scoop Healing Walk, the theme was “Keeping Our Circle Strong Through Our Elder’s Teachings” and it was the perfect day to spend time with Elders, dance, sing, share and hold space together for those who were involved in the Sixties Scoop. 

The Sixties scoop is a period of time in which new laws enabled child welfare authorities to take, or “scoop up,” Indigenous children from their families and communities for placement in foster homes, from which they would be adopted by white families. There are many survivors who have experienced unimaginable trauma. 

Susan Bare Shin Bone, Indigenous Engagement Program Director, has been working at Hull for nearly seven years and was instrumental in guiding the attendees throughout the Walk, as well as planning for the event. 

Susan, along with four of her siblings, was removed from her reserve in Piikani Nation and placed at a foster home. “I lived with abuses. I’ve also lived with starvation and just couldn’t figure out where I was in life.” 

Susan said the purpose of the walk is so “we heal together, and that we mentor each other through this journey, because if you have a common ground of where you came from through government systems, it allows you to understand you’re not alone and that you move in a community atmosphere.” 

The family-friendly event welcomed everyone to attend. Many came together, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous, for healing and to support survivors’ journeys. 

“Sixties Scoop still exists today through child welfare,” says Susan. “And these events help raise awareness for everybody to show we do have a population that is affected by government systems through their policies and the Indian Act.” 

We’d like to thank our sponsors of the third Sixties Scoop Healing Walk who, with their generous support, helped make the day possible: Calgary Foundation, the Confluence Historic Site & Parkland, Shepherd Originals, and the National Sixties Scoop Healing Foundation of Canada. 

Media were present throughout the Walk, too. To see the CBC Calgary video, click here, and for the Calgary Herald story, click here.