'Indigenous Survivors Day': a day of reflection before Canada Day

Today, the city of Thunder Bay is proclaiming June 30th as "Indigenous Survivors Day" and hosting community events. Sixties Scoop survivor Troy Abromaitis said he created Indigenous Survivors Day to honour children who were taken from their families and lands. He said Thunder Bay is the first city to make it a full-day event, and hopes other communities will follow.

Abromaitis said Canada Day represents celebrating a country that, for many Indigenous peoples, facilitated loss and separation from their families.

"By placing Indigenous Survivors Day on June 30th, we invite Canadians to reflect before they celebrate Canada Day and to remember the children who are taken and why this matters," said Abromaitis, who is a member of the Nlaka'pamux Nation from Lytton First Nation in British Columbia.

Thunder Bay is a city with painful truths to confront, he said. Choosing to lead the way in recognizing Indigenous Survivors Day is a sign of courage and growth, said Abromaitis. Other places have followed, including the provinces of British Columbia, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, and municipalities including Victoria, Edmonton, Ottawa and Niagara Falls.

"They give me hope that one day this will be a national day and a national movement," he said. 

While the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on September 30 honours the victims and survivors of residential schools, Abromaitis said there was a need to recognize survivors of other campaigns that separated Indigenous children from their families. Indigenous Survivors Day is meant to fill that gap, he said. 

"This is not just about history. It's about healing what is still happening with regards to Sixties Scoop survivors, Millennium Scoop survivors, birth alerts and the over representation of children in the child welfare system who carry invisible pain," said Abromaitis. 

The Sixties Scoop refers to the period between the 1950s and early 1990s during which thousands of Indigenous children in Canada were apprehended by child welfare agencies and placed with non-Indigenous foster or adoptive parents. Many children were subject to physical, emotional or sexual abuse while most lost connection to their cultures and languages.

The systematic removal of First Nations children from their families from 1991 on is referred to as the Millennium Scoop. The practice resulted in more Indigenous children ending up in foster care than were sent to residential schools at their peak.

The practice of birth alerts – where child welfare organizations notify hospitals when they believe a pregnant patient may be 'high risk' – led to newborns being taken from their parents for days, months or even years. The province ordered an end to birth alerts in 2022 after finding it disproportionately affected Indigenous and racialized families.  

Indigenous children made up 53.8 per cent of all children in foster care across the country, according to Statistics Canada data from the 2021 census. 

David Wilkinson-Simard, a traditional knowledge keeper and member of the City of Thunder Bay's Indigenous Advisory Council, will be leading a sacred fire and closing reflections at a community gathering at Hillcrest Park.

"This is a very new event, you know, even to Native people. And we're understanding where our place is too," he said.  Wilkinson-Simard said the organizers have put out calls to drum groups and hand drummers to come celebrate. They plan to share traditional music and the stories behind some ceremonies at the gathering.

Wilkinson-Simard, who is also a survivor of the Sixties Scoop, said Indigenous Survivors Day is a time to share stories about the ongoing challenges Indigenous people have gone through and to celebrate their survival.