Lakehead University’s Office of Aboriginal Initiatives invites you to join us on Thursday, Nov. 14 at 11:30 am at The Study Coffee House for Bi-Giwen: Reclaiming our Culture through Healing. A 60’s Scoop Survivor Movement.
During the 60s Scoop, over 20,000 Indigenous children in Canada were removed from their biological families, lands and culture – and trafficked across provinces, borders and overseas to be raised in non-Indigenous households.
The book Ohpikiihaakan-ohpihmeh delves into the personal and provocative narrative of Colleen Cardinal’s journey growing up in a non-Indigenous household as a 60s Scoop adoptee. Cardinal speaks frankly and intimately about instances of violence and abuse throughout her life, but this book is not a story of tragedy.
It is a story of empowerment, reclamation and, ultimately, personal reconciliation. It is a form of Indigenous resistance through truth-telling, a story that informs the narrative on missing and murdered Indigenous women, colonial violence, racism and the Indigenous child welfare system.
About the Author
Colleen Cardinal is Nehiyaw Iskwew from Onihcikiskowapowin Saddle Lake First Nation in Alberta, daughter of a residential school survivor, 60s scoop adoptee and MMIWG family member and social justice activist organizer. She is co-founder of the National Indigenous Survivors of Child Welfare Network and has successfully organized two national Indigenous Adoptee Gatherings in 2014 and 2015. Colleen is the proud mother of four grown children and enjoys spending her free time with her grandchildren.
