Articles
“Moe’s apology was also meant to be an encouraging change of course from his first months in the role, which have been marred by poor relations with Indigenous people, in particular his refusal to meet with child welfare advocates who spent six months camped at the legislature asking for a simple meeting.
On January 7, the apology was delivered at the Saskatchewan legislature. The day started out with a beautiful pipe ceremony to which all MLAs were invited. I was honoured to sit with legislative colleagues, Sixties Scoop survivors, elders and community members, and to participate in a smudge and a pipe ceremony.
This moment of reflection and sharing was the most meaningful of the day, and included opportunities for government and opposition leaders to express their prayers and apologies, and to listen to survivors and community leaders. All the stranger, then, that Moe was nowhere to be seen. This was a pivotal moment for humility, for a demonstration of commitment to the relationship, and he stayed away.
It got worse: the apology itself was not held in the people’s assembly, but in the rotunda outside. The symbolism of an important moment for First Nations and Métis people being relegated to the lobby was not lost on those in attendance.
When Moe did eventually show up, he gave a speech with some important moments of sympathy and regret. Overall, though, the apology was a lacklustre effort because: it didn’t do enough to acknowledge wrongdoing; it included justifications of the intent behind the program; much of it was taken up by a campaign-like recitation of current government spending in the area of child welfare.
And that’s where the real problem lies: the implication that the problem is all in the past, that the government Moe leads is making things better. That’s simply not the case.”
– HuffPost, Premier Scott Moe’s Almost-Apology For The Sixties Scoop Fails Us All.
Download
Download the 18″x24″ poster (.pdf), Indian Country 52 #4 – Sixties Scoop Apology.
Close Ups
Indian Country 52
Indian Country 52 is a weekly project by David Bernie that uses the medium of posters that promote issues and stories in Indian Country. Follow the series: Indian Country 52
Creative Commons License
This work by David Bernie is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. You may download, share, and post the images under the condition that the works are attributed to the artist.
