Join the Missing Witches Reparations Fundraiser by supporting The Sixties Scoop Network!
For Part 3 of our MWRF series, Amy sits down with Sixties Scoop survivor and co-founder of The Sixties Scoop Network, Elaine Kicknosway, to talk about the continuing impact of the large-scale removal or “scooping” of Indigenous children from their homes, communities and families of birth, and their subsequent placement into predominantly non-Indigenous, middle-class families across the United States and Canada. Elaine says, "I want to believe we can all come home, even our missing and murdered sisters, I want to believe we can all come home."
Stick around til the end of the episode to hear Elaine sing!!!
Listen now, transcript below:
Elaine Kicknosway (Qwe/she/her) is a Traditional helper - Swampy Cree through her biological mother from Amisk Lake and her biological father’s side is from Buffalo Narrows Sk. She is a Sixties Scoop Survivor and returned home in 1996.
Elaine is Wolf Clan and is a member of Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation in Northern Saskatchewan. She has been long time community advocate in the areas of child welfare, MMIW2SG, healthy families, and Indigenous Wellness that include spaces for the LGBTQ2S+. She is a carrier of ceremonial teaching.
Elaine is an Indigenous land based focusing therapist & trauma Counsellor, a Blanket exercise facilitator and trainer, Indigenous full spectrum birth to death Doula , Traditional dancer, singer, drummer and is the Cofounder of The Sixties Scoop Network.
Find Elaine on Instagram @Creegrl
Bi-Giwen: Coming Home, Truth Telling From the Sixties Scoop
Join the Missing Witches Reparations Fundraiser by supporting The Sixties Scoop Network!
Here's a quick rundown of how our fundraiser works:
1. Make a donation of $10 or more to your local Native Women’s Shelter or Indigenous Support Org or DONATE to The Native Women’s Shelter of Montreal.
2. Take a screenshot of your receipt and email it to [email protected] with the subject line: REPARATION
3. Be entered to win one of over TWENTY fabulous prizes (click HERE for the full 2025 list) donated by luminaries of the Witch community. For every $10, you’ll get one entry into the draw for these prizes. So if you donate $50, you’ll get five entries, and so on.
4. Automatically receive coupon codes for a discount from TWO of our favourite Witchy Businesses: HAUS WITCH in Salem, and Michelle Pajak-Reynolds Jewelry!!!
TRANSCRIPT
Amy: [00:00:00] Join the Missing Witches Reparations fundraiser by making a donation to the sixties Scoop [email protected]. Hello, and welcome to another episode of The Missing Witches podcast.
I am Amy, and I wanna start with a reminder that this episode is a part of our fifth annual Missing Witches reparations fundraiser. We recognize that witches and new age practitioners have it too often benefited from an extractive relationship with indigenous people, their culture, their knowledge, and of course the land.
So every year we at missing Witches and our coven and extended witch community spend the month of May raising money for indigenous led support organizations, [00:01:00] especially the native women's shelter of Montreal. Risa and I pay forward our profits for the month of May to the native women's shelter of Montreal, and we gather together with magical friends to spotlight indigenous voices through conversations.
Like this one. Of course, we are also inviting you to join in on this reparations movement. So here's a quick rundown of how our fundraiser works. Make a donation of $10 or more to your local native women's shelter or indigenous support organization, or donate to the native women's shelter of Montreal.
Take a screenshot of your receipt and email it to missing [email protected] with the subject line reparation. Be entered to win one of more than 20 fabulous prizes. You can check out the full list on our website donated by luminaries of our witch community, people like Jinx, monsoon, Amanda Yates Garcia.[00:02:00]
And for every $10 you'll get one entry. So $50 is five entries, a hundred dollars is 10 entries, and so on. As soon as you make your donation and send us your receipt, you'll automatically receive coupon codes for discounts from two of our favorite witchy businesses. So there is only winning. There is no losing when we join a reparations movement.
And today, I'm so thrilled to be joined by the co-founder of the sixties Scoop Network and a carrier of ceremonial teachings. Elaine K. Hi, Elaine. Thank you so much for sitting down with me today, ou. It's so nice to meet you and see you. Yes. It's so wonderful to be in this space with you. This is your first time on The Missing Witches Podcast, so maybe you could start by introducing yourself to our listeners.
Who are you [00:03:00] today? We believe you're under no obligation to be who you were five minutes ago.
Elaine: my name is Elaine. I am Wolf Clan pe. I come from a very small crew, swampy Creek communityh, and I'm a member of the Peter Ballentine Free Nation. And I am a a mother. I am a stepmother, step grandmother. Great grandmother. I am, uh, an helper. I am a partner to my loving partner for the past, uh, 26 years.
Um, and I took his name, so that's where the SWE comes in. I am, um. A trauma informed, uh, [00:04:00] land-based focusing therapist. I'm also a full spectrum doula and now I'm on my way to get my menopause certification for doula menopause. 'cause I think that's an area that, um, body, the older bodies need to, um, have more conversation.
'cause there's a lot of conversation about. The beginning of life. But when we get into our olding or older parts of our life where our eggs aren't as plentiful and our estrogen lowers, um, I find that that, uh, conversation that a lot of people clinical start silence and, um, the importance of like where our bodies are sovereign.
So it's really understanding our, um, inherent right to our body. I'm also, um, a co-founder with, uh, my amazing, uh, colleague, uh, Colleen [00:05:00] Cardinal. And I'm, I'm so grateful for her and her, um, guidance and wisdom and her leadership, uh, the, she encourages me so, so much. And, uh, sometimes, uh, it feels like, uh, you know, uh.
We have a plan, but we don't have a plan.
Amy: I can relate. It's,
Elaine: yeah, and uh, and we have an idea and we haven't, sometimes a little expectation, but then it just kind of explodes into something that you never knew that would happen. And I'm really grateful for that journey along the way for the past, um, 13, 14 years that we've been, uh, created with the, um, with the 60 scoop, but also within our friendship and.
I view, whereas, uh, as a very, uh, confidant and, uh, one, uh, one that's, um, been there to carry, carry the, what they say, the, the [00:06:00] carry the road with, you know, the good path with. And, um, what else? I'm on. I work at Min Wash and Lodge as the traditional healer. I just recently went back to work after surviving ca, breast cancer last year, and now in remission.
I'm a sister, sister of my biological side. I have 15 siblings. There's, uh, nine of us. Then on my dad's side is, he's from Buffalo Narrows and my mom's side is from am. So I'm very grateful. I just spent some time with my, uh, older sisters, so it was really nice to be in their presence
Amy: and
Elaine: just kind of, 'cause I'm the baby, the baby girl.
So I, I kind of got that, uh, you know, that gentle taken care of as, as their, also my original mother. I was really grateful to be a more [00:07:00] present again. And then, uh, I'm, I'm one that has returned from the sixties scoop. 'cause I was apprehended when I was in, I was, uh, 1969. I was apprehended. And, um, I returned home in 1996.
So 27 years later we walked home. Um, we, I like to bike. I like to walk. I like to feed birds. I love fishing. Like I don't, I don't even need to eat the fish. I just love the, the silent and, and just kinda just be with the birds. I, I feed the birds, like I have bird feeders outside every day. I love the sound of, of the nature.
Um, any time that I can, as best as I can help. I have a truck, so I, you know, [00:08:00] help where I can. Um, but I also understand that there's limit, you know, uh, as we get older. And, um, things for help is really important. So, a small bit about me, um, language, um, learners still, I'm originally a Cree speaker when I was little, according to my, uh, my siblings.
So there's always that language revival in me. Um, I'm a singer. I'm a run drum singer. Um, I so a hand drummer and singer. Um, well, there's a lot of, uh, I'm not a sewer though. I don't sew. Um, I don't tend to cook a lot. I like barbecuing. I don't view that as cooking. I like barbecuing. There's a variety. You can't do it all.
No, and I don't want to like, [00:09:00] but that's a small bit of, of, uh, what I do.
Amy: It's so, so much of what you just said, like revolves around the theme of mutual care, whether it's Colleen, shout out Colleen for being a good partner. Um, your friends, your family, also your bird beaters. I know I have several bird beaters and it definitely is like a mutually beneficial relationship.
I feed them and then they feed my soul with their presence, and I think we can do that with humans too, right? Yeah.
Elaine: Yeah. It has to be reciprocal. It to be
Amy: reciprocal. And I think we, we've, we've lost that in the 24th century. There's so much wording and fear that we've forgotten that, you know, generosity comes back to us.
You know, it's almost like that that idea has been brainwashed out of a,
Elaine: yeah, I'm, I'm really, I'm relearning how to run [00:10:00] and my, my husband just bought an electric bike, so kind of like, oh. Is biking again, you know? Yeah. Okay. To try new things again. You used to love. You can love it again, just in a different,
Amy: yeah.
I spoke to Patty Raic recently. I'm the author of Bad Indians Book Club, and she had an X-Files poster behind her with A-A-U-F-O and it said, I want to believe, and I was talking to her and I was looking at the poster and I just kept thinking about. What a fruitful question this could be. So, I, I wanna ask you, Elaine, what do you want to believe we can cast reality aside for the moment?
What do you wanna believe?
Elaine: I want to believe that
Amy: we all
Elaine: come home.
There's been generations, generations on [00:11:00] this land, across these territories, across these treaties, across these, across the nation. Of purposeful, purposeful funded, federally funded partnerships that took indigenous children away, that took indi, um, Inuit children and Metis children away. Whether it was through schooling, whether it was through the federal hospital, whether it was through the federal, uh, relocation.
I believe, I want to believe that we'll all get to come home and, and that includes our missing and murdered, you know, um, because that, um, with this still concept of separation, this still concept of it doesn't matter or this concept of why are we still [00:12:00] talking about this because it matters. And I wanna believe that somebody is caring.
Um, 'cause we care. We care for our loved ones. We, we search pharmacy, we search for. Uh, and it shouldn't be shocking when this country, um, discovers bodies at residential schools or the, the tuber tuberculosis centers. Where they were relocated and centered, you know, where we were sent when we, even to the foster care system, they don't talk about our loss, the child childhood loss or deaths in child welfare and where they bury us sometimes under different names.
'cause I want to believe that we all get to come home. That's such an important, um, place of, of our. Of where our umbilical, where it comes from. [00:13:00] We get to come home, from home to the rightful place of our land, to our, our sin language and our songs, to our, I want to believe that we all come home, that that's our daily prayer that I, that I put out there.
I want, I want all of us to come home. Advocacy maybe that sometimes, you know, wishful thinking that, that, that place of, of um, understanding that some, some of us as survivors did go home and we have a relationship with our biological family, but not all of us did. You know, and even the veteran. Didn't even get to come home.
They're buried over in foreign lands, but they're visited now. They're visited by our, and that's a good thing. Yeah. [00:14:00]
Amy: And you are living proof that this is not ancient history by any means. This is living history. I, I, I think the last residential school in Canada was closed in the 1990s. Which, yeah. Um, which was really not that long ago.
Elaine: Yeah. And the Inuit one closed in 1997. The Indian one closed in 1996. So the Inuit one closed in 1997. We have to remember, those was different con precisions. Not all the group homes, not all the, uh, old books. Yeah. Yeah. Like you have, um, like my younger brothers went to Prince Albert residential school. So it's like if you were born at a certain time before 1997, if you were Inuk or Indian is, that's what the government called us back then.
[00:15:00] 1996, all the way, right? So think of, um. Well, it's 2025. So think of, um, a 30 5-year-old. That young 40-year-old. They're that young, right? And they're living amongst us as they see they're living amongst us and, and still carrying the apart Fart the fart, um, right on the home. It was still a distinction of your land, your community language, your family, and having to live amongst hierarchy that sometimes completely silenced voices
Amy: and certainly just because, go ahead
Elaine: and some, um.
You know, 'cause you'll sometimes history will say, oh, but there, there [00:16:00] was that one student that spoke about such a good experience and people will float. But I always remind people it wasn't just a kid. Like, how did your family benefit? What did your family, 'cause if it wasn't, it wasn't just the kids who was the teacher.
Who was the RCT? Who was the priest? Who was the nun in your family? Why aren't you showing us your pictures and why aren't you you reciprocating them? 'cause you show our pictures every September 30th or whenever you talk about the RC or reconciliation. Well, you could reverse that and look back into your own family.
Say Yes, my family helped build the school. Yes, my family benefited, my family was teaching there. My family, you know, it, [00:17:00] they're reciprocal. And sometimes in that truth, the truth comes to that place of healing because that family that worked there is, is silencing and feeling shame. What would happen if you voted yourself?
Like, what are we gonna do? Okay, we believe you. Um, you know, everybody is, a majority of them may have passed away, but then we can say, and they came forward and they recognized maybe their harm that that family legacy happened. This is how they're reciprocating it. This is how they're undoing that with community within the mission, within, um, livelihood and monetary.
How are you giving back [00:18:00] community? Because you benefited and everybody just said, oh, it was just a job. No, it wasn't a job. It was part of a genocide.
Amy: Yes. Even though those residential schools are closed and Canada is ta, you know, talking a big game about reconciliation, the impact of that is continual.
The impact of, I wish there was another term because 60 scoop almost sounds like cute. You know what I mean? Oh, it was the sixties scoop. It was like a dance we used to do or something like that. Like, mm. This was the kidnapping of children away from their homes. How, how did you eventually return home? How did that happen?
Elaine: You know, you have to consider, um, like we didn't [00:19:00] like, because I was raised in foster care first, and then I was raised. Through this agency called an Adopt an Indian and Metis child, the AIM program in Saskatchewan, and their dart was in 1967, so their height of scooping children was in 1969. That's when I was scooped and it was literally black cars running after us as kit.
Using a vehicle to run out and we were literally scooped and then, um, placed in these alarms or halls or these concepts that we were orphaned, giving the outside narration that there was something wrong with these kids. We need to [00:20:00] save these kids to save the Indian. Same concept of what was the narration at residential school?
Um, save the Indian or save the Man fill the Indian comes from the Carlisle School that was adapted up here, you know? And so the same narration, save the, save the. You know, force them, build the Indian, build their language, just take them all away, you know? And we have to consider, back then nobody was talking about police record checks.
Amy: Mm-hmm.
Elaine: So some of us were adopted into farming homes and put into, um, pretty dangerous situations, you know, expecting us to be these, uh, humans, uh, uh, adulting.[00:21:00]
A age and, um, then, um, exploited, human trafficked, um, abused, um, uh, put on display book. This is my Indian child, you know, and you just kind of stand there and you're like, where you, because you didn't know you were the Indian. But you know that there's a difference depending on the age you were apprehended.
Like I was a toddler, but I already knew the feel of my mother or the feel of my siblings, the smell of my hair or the, the tea and the carnation milk that I drank, the moose meat. And you know, the community remembrance. Your body remembers those different fields of safety. You also remember the [00:22:00] trauma too, and the terrorizing that happened at these different middle ages, and you don't even know, and nobody's explaining anything.
No one's talking about mental health for little people back then, you know, it was just like we're saving them. And this and the commercializing that was placed on a two. We were in catalog, we were commercials, we were in newspapers, we were in, uh. Daily child, uh, whether it was on TV or in newspapers and the different agencies that came from, uh, not just adopt an Indian and Metis, the AIM program, the different other agencies that were systematically pinballing all of my kids will, and not always ensuring or following up with these families or.
Making friendships with these families so that it was given the interpretation [00:23:00] that, um, that your child welfare worker was friends of the family. You had to play nice with your child welfare worker and that just made no sense. That's like being a child of war. 'cause you're in a system of war that you don't even know.
And that isolation too. You're, you're at our house now. You live here, you eat this food, you speak this language. You worship this God, you worship this God because you had to be saved. And, you know, people, people, uh, even myself, um, I've had to adapt how I've spoken because there used to be a time of loyalty and I can't, like, that, that wasn't, that was my experience, but that wasn't my experience.
You and this, this place of, of, uh, luckily I was running away from the, from the time I got into that house, I started running away [00:24:00] from that home when I was four years old and then six and then uh, eight running just somewhere, somewhere else. 'cause this wasn't making any sense to me. And then being raised in another country for a few years and then being brought over to Ontario and just.
The way I vape over here was, uh, I became a really good drug addict.
Amy: Mm-hmm.
Elaine: In my younger years I was very good alcoholic. 'cause I thought, well, hey, I can't see it that way anymore, so I'll just take myself out. It was easier that way and there was other people that wanted to do that too. So then you build a community and you're like, I belong somewhere.
It would be escapees. Yeah. Right. And we, we think that this is something normal. Right. But that's pretty dangerous too. 'cause you get yourself into some [00:25:00] really, uh, not so great situations and you're thinking, oh, this must be part of this living, you know, or trying to escape and yeah. Then you realize you don't really wanna do that anymore.
And by the time I've always been my. Late twenties. I was trying to harm reduce from when I was about 24 to about 28 harm reduction. And thank God people, we didn't talk about harm reduction back then and, uh, uc and saved my life, you know, because people were like, you know, what would happen if you just kind of feel back?
And I was like, what? I was like, I, I'd gone to college. It got became an early childhood and I was like, like, is this my life? Like, um, am I supposed to do this for the rest of my life or what else can I do? This isn't always working anymore. I'm, I'm [00:26:00] losing jobs too, and I'm, I'm an adult 'cause I've been, you know, adulting out here, out here.
'cause I left that house finally when I was 17, you know. And I was, uh, put down this different pathway of, you know, like what would happen if you went to college and what would happen if you went to school every day and what would happen. And, and I kind of don't carry that forward. What would happen if I got another certificate?
What would happen if I did go to school? What else can I do? And not that growing into, you know, places of, you know, like, you're right. That's what happened. But how are you living with what also you can grow into? So the 60 scoop isn't just my, my, uh, path. It's like 40,000 [00:27:00] to 60,000. I think those are conservative estimates too, right?
Yeah, because they didn't, they didn't number us. Right. We were trapped. We were super trapped. You know, like I always, you know, and, and people are like, oh, I, I don't know my paperwork. Well, you can ask for it. Go to your child welfare. Uh, give your date, give your names. You know, it, it, it's hard to do 'cause it's like, this is me.
And, and that's why under the 60 Scoop network we have, uh, a DNA, uh, detectives. So if you check on our website. Um, your DNA detective, there's also a mapping exercise you can do there that you can put your name. Like where were you born? What was your original name? Like you, it's your, um, your lifeline that you wanna go.
You know, mine, I put mine pretty minimum, [00:28:00] you know, simple. Um, it goes from, you know, Saskatche or Prince Albert Lin. Prince Albert Saskatoon. Botswana, daca, Ontario, and I've stayed in Ontario, so,
Amy: you know,
Elaine: so it's, it's kind of like my own ing like yep, that's where I was and that was the age. And, and I reunited in 1996.
And I'm still in that conversation of how, how am I still consistently engaging with my own family and I'm still learning, you know? Even after 30 years and even even opening the child welfare files together as siblings, like what would happen? Holy heck. There's a lot to learn.
Amy: Um, listeners, I wanna remind you that, um, you can join our reparations fundraiser and possibly win a prize by donating to the sixties Scoop [00:29:00] Network.
So, Elaine, I wanna know like, how did you conjure the fortitude to not only, you know, um, get sober, get clean, go to school, get all of your certificates, but then. You found this 60 scoop network, how did you conjure that strength to take your pain and turn it into something that was gonna benefit other people?
Elaine: You know, there were other survivors here, like a lot were brought Ottawa, like a lot of survivors, 60 Scoop specific or Ottawa. So, um, there used to be a beautiful, uh, young lady. She passed away. Um, Leslie Parlay ba. When I say B, it means that they were living here one, but their memory stays. And then there's um, another nice lady, her name's Beverly and, um, Colleen and myself, and we met for lunch [00:30:00] and I was kind of ticked off because Eric Robinson has, had, had a, had a round table.
Amy: Oh
Elaine: year. Was that, I think it was. And, um, had a round table of 60 scoop survivors and, uh, kind of doing a, a, a report on, on the 60 scoop survivors. And I was kind of, um, little ticked. It was 2016 and, um, he, no, it was 2014 and he, he did, um. He, he was doing a report to acknowledge the suffering of the, and he brought together, um, some survivors and I was like, well, who did he bring together?
Like, how come he doesn't know? Uh, he was born in Manitoba. Paul volumes [00:31:00] from Alberta. Know, uh, ban was from Saskatchewan and, and the release from Ontario right there. We, and I was like, you know, one of those like, how come we didn't even know? So that's that conversation of Canada. Really good at taking out, but it's not good at bringing back.
So what would happen if there was a better communication this. That was federally funded because you've federally funded all these systems to extract. But what would happen if you dropped down communicate, and, and, and I know it has to start somewhere. People are like, it has to start. I know. But isolation again, that feeling of isolation.
That feeling of, [00:32:00] of helplessness that bring behind it the valid rate. That kind of pop popped in my head like, how dare he blah, blah, blah, blah. And I'm, I'm, that's not, I said nothing to do with him. It's the fact that there was a conversation and we felt left out. I felt left out. So Leslie and, um, a few of them said, well, why don't we do our own gathering?
And I was like, okay. Like how do we do that? I'd never done anything like that. And Colleen is such a wonderful organizer with Beverly and, and Leslie and there was a few others on the committee and, and we made a, like a ad hoc committee. We had no money. And so we did karaoke. Mm-hmm. Karaoke and fundraisers.
And, you know, a lot of the [00:33:00] times the non-indigenous were the ones that stepped forward with the, with the prizes, with the um, with the rides, with the, um, uh, what else do you need? And different unions and grassroots unions came forward and it was really, it was a really, um, eye opening for me. And some of them were from, um.
The way that they had already supported MMIW and t um, basis, and they were like, okay, we can do this part too. And that was new for me. And that was like my husband. 'cause I was like, oh no, I don't like my social skills of like, now I gotta talk to new people and 'cause I'm an introvert, like by usual. Right.
And, uh, and calling is great at, at. Like, kind of like my husband. Like they're really great at going out there and, and, and uh, like having no problem. Like a crisis [00:34:00] is happening, no problem. We got this. You know? And so I've had to really work on my anxiety and my social guilt. I hear ya. But it's, it was all, it all worked out.
It all worked out. And we, we brought in a sacred fire. We, we started in ceremony. We brought different things. There was different learning curves that we, you know, but, you know, all these survivors showed up and, and we didn't even know that they'd come on their own dime. We were like, if you can make it here, these are the dates, these are the times, and, um, this is what we can offer.
And they all just came. And as they were all leaving after the four day event, they were like, okay, see you next year. And we're like, next year. And that was the. The starting of, of the gatherings, these national international gathering, because it went to survivors that were raised in France, New Zealand, [00:35:00] Australia.
Like it went everywhere. And you said you,
Amy: you were, you were taken to Botswana at one point you said.
Elaine: I was raised by a, a white family that, uh, also worked for, uh, an agency that, uh, worked overseas. Mm-hmm. So, you know, when I was trying to explain that to my biological mom, my, my, my adoptive parent had, um, made a photo album.
I brought a photo album. She looked at me, uh, sitting on a ostrich and she's like, what are you doing? And what is that? I said, oh, that's when we, we lived in Botswana. And she's like, where's that? And I said, Africa. And she's like, I didn't tell them that you would do that. So it was like really painful for her, really short of her that she didn't know that her little girl had gone so far.[00:36:00]
Heart. You feel that generational love for your children. And if you're a parent, or even if you love children, even if you're connected to a child and you don't know where that they are, there's such heart that just can come up any time. And, uh, then you find out a little bit of the truth and you're like, I didn't know that.
So it's a lot of it. So imagine how many this nation, across this land that, uh, still exists today,
Amy: you said, um, in, in this first gathering, there was an element of, of ceremony. Can you talk about, um, the healing nature of ceremony? Ceremony can, can help people to heal themselves and, and the [00:37:00] people with whom they're gathering
Elaine: well, you know, sometimes that's that first time of seeing, uh, first Nations or an indigenous, you know, or, um, nature ceremony is distinctiveness.
But one thing that does bring us together, even in different other nations. Excuse me, is, um, fire,
Amy: fire,
Elaine: fire. Fire is life. There's a, there's an element to a fire. There's a, there's a living element in a fire, and when you hear the crackling, it's a medicine talking. So sometimes when we're sitting by the fire and sometimes survivors just sat by the fire the whole time, they didn't wanna be inside, and that was fine.
There was no. Expectation of youth. That's really important. So it was trying to be as, as what we knew back then of what was trauma informed. We were trying to [00:38:00] be as, as flexible as, as, as, uh, as a space to, to give faith for us. Does that, that wasn't, that didn't happen very often. It space for survivors, specifically a 60 scoop survivor.
Because sometimes you're raised with, sometimes you're raised with our siblings, sometimes you're raised in isolation. Sometimes we were adopted and recurrent and then adopted again, and then returned. Sometimes we were raised only in group homes, sometimes we're raised in, um, this space of orphanage. So, so there's a lot of isolation and trying to.
Outside world and then bringing survivors all together by saying we might understand a little, we might not, but we all have a shared experience called child welfare, [00:39:00] the beginning of this different place called the school. And we, uh, we brought in, um. As best as we could of who we knew back then. Some different facilitators.
And we used the leadership in this territory. Uh, and we went to her, we offered, offered her tobacco and uh, we asked for a name. And, uh, not many of us are our speaker as we've lost our fault 'cause they say, and she's a beautiful speaker and, and, uh, they named us. Coming home. And it was so, you know, and, and of course we were, you know, trying to move forward real quick, real fast thinking.
And we were calling it Be Gay for a while. And so we're just like navigating, it's be, gee, [00:40:00] you know, from home and, um. It was just really incredible. 'cause we didn't know, and people, some people came from Vancouver, some people came from close. Like I just thought it was gonna be like just Ottawa peoples Ottawa survivors.
But I didn't realize how far of a catch in this social media learning back then to now. It just kind of spread and, and I was like. Uh, I guess, you know, and, and they had organized, you know, an intake and who was coming, who wasn't. And, and we were just like, if you can make it here, we'll try and set you up.
And that's where the non-indigenous step forward. And we'll bill it people, we'll, we'll drive them, we'll help with food. And, you know, I remember going to the grocery store and, um. And, and helping, you know, uh, the cook that had been hired and, and needing to start. So I had to leave them at she [00:41:00] store and, and they were all mad when they, you know, but the reality is, you know, I wanted to be there on time, you know, and it, and it's hard to coordinate everything to be there at the same time too.
And, and sometimes, you know, like if you look at the first picture of, of the, the survivors. You know, like we've lost some of them now. They're not here now. So it was like, we did that, we did that and there was, there was, there was people that wanted to come so that that place of, you know, like wanting to be there for them and with them and understanding whatever the circumstances, sometimes they weren't all there.
That's that, that. You know, we, we didn't find everybody yet. There's lots of time.
Amy: You've got lots and lots of time. I imagine you're going to be doing this [00:42:00] for many, many years to come.
Elaine: I sometimes wonder, 'cause I like, are we still relevant things of relevancy, you know? I, I, because you gotta say, you know, like sometimes the funding, like we, we run on, on hardly any funding, right?
Like we got a nice grant at one point and we got a curriculum. So I always say, hire us as your curriculum, if you'll look at that. And, uh, does, uh, does jig, I probably said that wrong. Um, it's a trauma informed training. So there's uh, five or six different trainings that we deliver. You know, how to be an ally, um, philosophy of trauma, um, 60 scoop impact, um, when you're working, what is in your bundle when you're working with 60 scoop survivors?
Uh, talking circles, 60 Scoop 1 0 1. You know, like there's a whole bunch that's, sorry. I always say you hire us, hire survivors [00:43:00] or survivors. Or survivors for non survivors that don't know. 'cause that that place where people are trying to say, oh, we're culturally competent, but are you on 60 scoop? Like, how?
How trauma informed are you? So I always say, go to our webpage, look at it. Hire us. It's really important that you hear from survivors survivor. Love that they,
Amy: yeah. Again, listeners. Um, if you make a donation to the 60 Scoop network, obviously that will count toward, um, the prize draw. But it's not just, uh, about donation.
It's about investing in a potential future that we can share together. It. If I would prefer, if you think of it as an investment as opposed to a donation. Um, Elaine, if you're comfortable closing your eyes, please do so, but I want to invite you [00:44:00] to sort of describe that possible future, um, using like your vision, your imagination, the ancestors that live within you.
Can you describe what a re indigenized world would look like?
Elaine: And you know how people talk about land back more than just land back and language back community.
All the love would come back and see. When we talk about trauma, we talk about love, right? There would [00:45:00] be no, um, harm. There would be no more harm. I worked in abuse for my whole life.
None of that would be about with,
it would never happen generationally, medically, their history. Who, why
Homewise, you know,
trauma informed wellness. You know, we would all have that, um, knowledge that, um, if one got hurt, we would understand we're all, and the water would be clean and there would be no extract, [00:46:00] and then no idea that, um, this conversation of that. We separate to them would be even older people, like, you know, um,
like if we say, you know, we all belong in the circle, then we include our two spirit and trans relatives. You know, even questioning we have every right to. Being such good ways to bring our ceremony and our right inherent rights back inherent right of messaging back.
I try to live in a way that doesn't do harm and it's hard because there's, there's a lot of different things and that's why I don't like being on [00:47:00] media. And then, then that feeling of there's my son picked it, fomo.
Amy: Fear.
Elaine: Fear of missing out. But I'm like, you know what? If I'm supposed to see it, I see it.
If I don't, I don't really want to. 'cause there's a lot of harm, harmful words that are happening that are harmful for my relatives. Oh, right. I WhatsApp videos and listen to our songs. I, I, I wish, I wish I could have, um, recorded, uh, the voices of my loved ones to listen to. So I, that's my next step is to ask my siblings, record your voice from me singing a song or even just staying stating a praise me.
Because we all need prayers. We all need help. Um. But the bigger picture is that we would all [00:48:00] be feeling a sense of home.
Come home to yourself.
Amy: Thank you so much for that vision. I, I don't wanna put you on the spot, but would you consider singing a couple of lines for us that can be recorded here today?
Hmm.
Elaine: That one is the most Indian Word song that I've ever sang.
Gonna snap me. Got.[00:49:00]
Talk with you.
Amy: Thank you so much, Elaine. I really appreciate that you singing for us and taking the time to sit down with me again. Can you remind our listeners how they can support the sixties scoop network and your work
Elaine: generally? Well, uh, look us up. We're at 60 scoop network.org and we're at sixties scoop network.org.
You can, um, listen to our upcoming, uh, podcast. We're, we're getting into [00:50:00] podcasting. We have a donate in kind. Services. We provide legal options for 60 scoop survivors, the different media and news, the DNA genetic, the uh,
uh, trauma informed training, um, the mapping, the resources in the community event. So, um, that's that important place of, of, of, um, ensuring that you follow through and then follow through again. And then check it again, and then make it a part of your daily habit of, um, how am I, um, uh, hoping in this community, on this land that I live on that be benefiting.
Amy: Thank you so much, Elaine listeners, again, that's the sixties scoop network. Of course, all of these links and also to find Elaine on social [00:51:00] media, even though she's busy watching cat videos, we can still follow her to keep up with what Elaine is doing. Again, thank you so much for sitting down with me.
Listeners, make your donation. Send us a screenshot of your receipt. You'll be entered to win fabulous prizes. You'll automatically get discount codes to a couple of our favorite witchy businesses, and you'll have the knowledge that you are investing in. This Indigenized future that we are envisioning here today.
Thank you again so much, Elaine Kle. It's been a joy to be in circle with you. I can't wait to have another conversation in the future.
Elaine: You're welcome. Thank you so much, ed,
Amy: and
be a witch. Join the [00:52:00] Missing Witches Reparations fundraiser by making a donation to the sixties Scoop [email protected].
