Drew Hayden Taylor and the Sixties Scoop

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In an Affidavit to the Family Court in 1990 in a case regarding cross-cultural adoption, Dr. Leo Steiner, a former director of the Aboriginal Community Crisis Team said, “A child who is conflicted about his identity is severely handicapped. He may have developed functional skills, but he is also subject to a gnawing, chronic self-questioning…” (Lloyd Dolha 2009). For many years, Aboriginal parents have had to live in complete fear that their children could be taken from their homes and be placed into Middle-Class-Euro-Canadian families at any particular time. The Sixties Scoop changed the dynamics of many families and the effect this unfortunate incident has on both the child taken and the parents lasts forever. In Only Drunks and Children Tell the Truth, Drew Hayden Taylor takes the reader on a journey to understand Janice’s story; his outlook on the sixties scoop and the effect this trauma causes on the adopted child is visible within his play. Drew Hayden Taylor highlights the negative effects of the Sixties Scoop of how these children taken not only lose their native language and culture, they also have feelings of guilt and grief, and eventually have a cultural identity crisis.
Marcus Garvey once said, “A [person] without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots” (Brainy Quote 1). In cross-cultural adoption, many of the children growing up in White families or any other race different from theirs almost always never learn about their cultural background and native language. They grow up without an understanding or connection to their native culture. In Only Drunks and Children tell the Truth, Drew Hayden Taylor focuses on Janice, a woman who knows nothing about her indigenous lan...

... middle of paper ...

...scar left by the Sixties Scoop on the victims, and how it affects them as a person.

Works Cited

Athan, Lisa. "Adoption Issues." Adoption Issues. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Mar. 2014
Ballback, Jane. "Adoptee View: What Can a Tiny Baby Know." Adoption Voices. N.p.,
13 Nov. 2012. Web. 03 Mar. 2014.
"Culture Quotes." BrainyQuote. Xplore, n.d. Web. 05 Mar. 2014.
Dolha, Lloyd. "The Sixties Scoop: How Canada's "Best Intentions" Proved Catastrophic."
First Nations Drum Newspaper. N.p., 24 Mar. 2009. Web. 04 Mar. 2014.
"Institutional Links." Aboriginal Children: The Healing Power of Cultural Identity.
N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Mar. 2014.
Patricelli, Kathryn. "Long-Term Issues for the Adopted Child." - Adoption. N.p., n.d.
Web. 05 Mar. 2014.
Taylor, Drew Hayden. Only Drunks and Children Tell the Truth. Burnaby, B.C.:
Talon, 1998. Print.

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