Birth of a Family
This documentary film premiered in 2017. The topic is the Canadian government program known as the Sixties Scoop and the consequences of this program.
The popular name of this program is highly misleading. It started before the 1960s, and it continued long after the 1960s. It began in 1951, and continued until 1990.
What was happening when this program was active?
Young children were removed from their indigenous families after which they were placed with white foster families or they were adopted by white families.
This program targeted toddlers and infants. The Canadian authorities wanted to catch the children while they were young.
The Canadian authorities did not want children who were 10 years old, or more, because these children would have a clear memory of the time with the indigenous families.
The purpose was to erase the indigenous memory. The Canadian authorities wanted the children to grow up in a white family and to have only white memories.
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This film covers the history of the government program and its consequences by focusing on one specific case: one family whose members were victims of the Sixties Scoop.
Mary Jane Adam was an indigenous woman who was born in Canada in 1934.
As a child, she was a victim of the residential school system which was active for more than a century: from 1883 to 1996.
As an adult, she gave birth to four children: three girls and one boy, but she never saw them grow up, because they were taken from her, one by one, shortly after they were born:
** Betty Ann (the oldest) was taken in 1961
** Esther was also taken in 1961
** Rosalie (Rose) was taken in 1963
** Ben (the youngest) was taken in 1965
The four siblings were never together while they were children, because they were taken one by one shortly after they were born.
The four siblings were placed in four different locations.
Mary Jane did not know where her children were placed.
Each of the four siblings did not know anything about the other three, because they had never been together as children.
Betty Ann and Rose met each other briefly in 1973 or 1974, during a gathering7 of numerous children.
A social worker told Betty Ann that Rose was her sister. At that time, Betty Ann was 14 or 15, while Rose was 11 or 12. They talked, but after this brief meeting they lost contact with each other.
In 1978, when Betty Ann was 19, she worked for a dentist. In this job she had access to hospital records.
When she found her own file, she learned that her mother Mary Jane was the mother of four children. She only knew the names. There was no address. There was no telephone number.
During the following years she tried to locate her mother. She located Mary Jane in 1985. She sent a letter to her. Mary Jane replied. They exchanged letters for a while. In 1990, she met Mary Jane. Mother and daughter were face to face for the first time since 1961.
When Betty Ann met her mother, Mary Jane could confirm that she was the mother of four children.
Betty Ann was the only one of the four siblings who met the mother after the moment when they were taken from her in the 1960s.
Mary Jane died in 2006. Two years later, in 2008, the Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper gave a public speech in which he made an official apology for sending children of indigenous families to residential schools.
Inspired by the official apology, Betty Ann managed to track down Rose and reconnect with her. She also resumed her search for the two remaining siblings: Esther and Ben. And this time she was successful. Ben was located in 2012, while Esther was located in 2014.
Now all four siblings were in contact with each other. They planned a family union to be held in 2015.
The plan said:
# 1. Fly to Calgary
# 2. Rent a car and drive to Banff, which is a famous holiday resort
# 3. Stay together in a rented house for one week
Before the family union, Betty Ann told one of her colleagues about the plan: the four siblings would be together for the first time in their lives.
The colleague said to her:
“This moment will be very important for you. How are you going to document it?”
Betty Ann said:
“Maybe I will write a book about it one day.”
The colleague said:
“No! You must make a video of this historical moment.”
Betty Ann agreed. But who could do this? And who would do this? After a while, she found the answer: Tasha Hubbard was the perfect choice. Why?
Because she is an indigenous filmmaker and because she was also a victim of the Sixties Scoop. She knew exactly how important this moment would be for the four siblings.
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When the film begins, we see Betty Ann in Calgary airport. She is waiting for the other three siblings to arrive. One by one they arrive and greet each other. When all four are together, they get in the car and drive to Banff.
They move into the rented house where they will stay together for one week. Tasha Hubbard follows them around. In the house and when they are exploring the sights in Banff.
Sometimes we see all four together, sometimes we see only two, and occasionally only one person is talking directly to the camera.
They talk about the past and the present. They try to explain how they feel about the past and how they feel about the present.
The family union in Banff is an emotional time. All four siblings are together for the first time in their lives.
They are happy and sad at the same time.
They are happy to be together now, but they are sad that they had to wait fifty years for this moment. They are happy that all four siblings were placed with a nice family, but they are sad that they were taken away from their indigenous family.
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What do reviewers say about this film?
Here are two answers:
** 73 percent = IMDb
** 80 percent = Letterboxd
As you can see, the ratings are quite good. In my opinion, they are not good enough. The topic is important. The story about the tragic consequences of the Sixties Scoop deserves to be told. In this film, it is done very well.
I want to go all the way to the top with this product. I think it deserves a rating of five stars (100 percent).
REFERENCES
The following reviews are positive but do not offer a specific rating
Pat Mullen,
"Birth of a Family - Review,"
POV Magazine
27 April 2017
Derek Jacobs
"Birth of a Family - Review,"
Cinema Axis
02 May 2017
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Four indigenous siblings are together
for the first time in their lives
in Banff, in September 2015.
From the left: Esther, Rose, Betty Ann, and Ben
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