Skip to Main Content

Indigenous & First Nations Studies: Sixties Scoop & Millennium Scoop

Library and online resources for researching Indigenous and First Nations topics.

Books

Cover Art

Half Bads in White Regalia: A Memoir (2022)

Capturing the chaos and wonder of childhood and garnished with a slang all its own, Half-Bads in White Regalia is a memoir that unspools a tangled family history with warmth, humour, and deep generosity.

Cover Art

Braided Learning: Illuminating Indigenous Presence Through Art and Story (2022)

Braided Learning draws on Indigenous knowledge and world views to explain perspectives that are often missing from the national narrative. This generous work is an invaluable resource for Canadians trying to make sense of a difficult past, decode unjust conditions in the present, and work toward a more equitable future.

Cover Art

Intimate Integration: A History of the Sixties Scoop and the Colonization of Indigenous Kinship (2020)

Privileging Indigenous voices and experiences, Intimate Integration documents the rise and fall of North American transracial adoption projects, including the Adopt Indian and Métis Project and the Indian Adoption Project. The author argues that the integration of adopted Indian and Métis children mirrored the new direction in post-war Indian policy and welfare services. She illustrates how the removal of Indigenous children from Indigenous families and communities took on increasing political and social urgency, contributing to what we now call the "Sixties Scoop."

Cover Art

Fighting for a Hand to Hold (2020)

Launched by healthcare providers in January 2018, the #aHand2Hold campaign confronted the Quebec government's practice of separating children from their families during medical evacuation airlifts, which disproportionately affected remote and northern Indigenous communities. Pediatric emergency physician Samir Shaheen-Hussain's captivating narrative of this successful campaign, which garnered unprecedented public attention and media coverage, seeks to answer lingering questions about why such a cruel practice remained in place for so long. 

Cover Art

Ohpikiihaakan-Ohpihmeh (Raised Somewhere Else) (2018)

 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. 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. 

eBooks

Cover Art

Finding Izzy (2021)

A teen wakes up in a hospital with no memory. There is nothing to indicate who she might be-no identification and no distinguishing marks on her body, not even a freckle. She is brought to a foster home where she wades through relationships all the while trying to figure out her identity. Her skin colour and features indicate she is Indigenous, possibly Cree. But how did she arrive alone and naked in a Vancouver metro station? As she begins to piece together the puzzle with the help of two new friends, she discovers she is no ordinary girl-and her life has no ordinary purpose.

Cover Art

Imagining Child Welfare in the Spirit of Reconciliation (2018)

Drawing on the expertise of Indigenous scholars and researchers, including voices from the front lines in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta, this book examines child welfare practices in kinship care, FASD, homelessness, aging out of the system, and transitions for rural youth leaving care. Issues in the volume include renewing and decolonizing child welfare work, anti-oppressive practices, the historical legacy of the Sixties Scoop, and the needs of marginalized and vulnerable children.

Indigenous Writes: A Guide to First Nations, Métis & Inuit Issues in Canada (2016)

Thirty-one essays discussing various issues related to the Indigenous experience in Canada from the time of first contact to the present.

Cover Art

Our Son a Stranger: Adoption Breakdown and its Effects on Parents (2002)

Marie Adams describes five white couples whose adoptions of native children failed to meet their expectations. Using her own experiences as background, she casts a critical eye on the 'Sixties Scoop' when governments actively encouraged the adoption of native children by non-native parents - an estimated 95 per cent of such adoptions failed - and discusses why the special issues raised by all trans-racial adoptions need to be carefully considered.

YouTube: Video Resources

Search the Library Catalogue

Search using keywords. You'll find books, DVDs and online resources like e-books and streaming video.

Search VCC Library
 

To find resources on this topic, we suggest you first try typing into the search box the following terms:

  • Sixties scoop
  • Millennium scoop
  • Interracial adoption -- Canada
  • Child welfare -- Canada

If you are having trouble finding any resources using these search words, you can try using more outdated terminology or you can ask us to search for you. For example, two subject terms used frequently in our Library catalogue are Native Peoples Canada and Indians of North America. These terms are commonly used in academic libraries, even though they don't accurately reflect the current language used to describe Indigenous people in Canada today. This terminology is disrespectful and hurtful. We sincerely apologize for any pain this may cause. We are currently working towards changing this aspect of the library system. Unfortunately these changes can take time and we appreciate your patience and understanding.  The good news is that our newer resources are all using the more representative and respectful subject term Indigenous Peoples.

 

Resources

Curio: Video Resources

Content by Vancouver Community College Library is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License