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A Study of Aboriginal Transracial Adoption in Saskatchewan, 1944-1984

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A Study of Aboriginal Transracial Adoption in Saskatchewan, 1944-1984 Intimate Integration: A Study of Aboriginal Transracial Adoption in Saskatchewan, 1944-1984 A Thesis Submitted to the College of Graduate Studies and Research In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy In the Department of History University of Saskatchewan Saskatoon By Allyson Stevenson Copyright Allyson Stevenson, April 2015. All rights reserved. Permission to Use In presenting this dissertation in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a PhD from the University of Saskatchewan, I agree that the Libraries of this University may make it freely available for inspection. I further agree that permission for copying of this dissertation in any manner, in whole or in part, for scholarly purposes may be granted by the professor or professors who supervised my dissertation work or, in their absence, by the Head of the Department History. It is understood that any copying or publication or use of this dissertation or parts thereof for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. It is also understood that due recognition shall be given to me and to the University of Saskatchewan in any scholarly use which may be made of any material in my thesis/dissertation. Requests for permission to copy or to make other uses of materials in this dissertation in whole or part should be addressed to: Head of the Department of History University of Saskatchewan Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7N 5A2 Canada OR Dean College of Graduate Studies and Research University of Saskatchewan 107 Administration Place Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7N 5A2 Canada i ABSTRACT The term intimacy brings to mind a type of familiarity between people that surpasses mere affection. Intimacy suggests a deeply personal relationship based on shared experiences, love, and the pursuit of common goals. The intimate lives of families, shared in the domestic sphere, are often thought to be beyond the reach of the state. By contrast, this dissertation demonstrates that intimacy has been the focus of the state through Indian Act legislation and child welfare programs that have uniquely intersected through the lives of First Nations and Métis women and children. Aboriginal transracial adoption provides a particularly vivid example of state sanctioned intimacy. Programs such as the Adopt Indian and Métis program, later known as AIM, REACH and the American version, the Indian Adoption Program, (IAP), created intimate bonds between white families and Aboriginal children. Transracial adoption represents a revolution in integration. The period of integration that took shape after the Second World War manifested in increased interventions of social welfare workers who encountered Aboriginal women and children in various domains. Race, gender, and space are interrogated through exploring Aboriginal women’s responses to the opportunities provided by increased access to child welfare programs, as well the limitations and serious handicaps that came as a consequence of their particular gendered and racialized location. In Saskatchewan, the CCF government under the direction of Tommy Douglas sought to utilize “technologies of helping”, a secular therapeutic social welfare approach to the problem of Métis marginalization and poverty through the Department of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation to effect Métis integration. Initially envisioned as series of government supported colonies to which Métis were relocated, the Métis policy eventually evolved to focus primarily on Métis children, and tangentially on Métis women. The Adopt Indian and Métis program, coming on the heels of failed relocation policies, increasing urban migration, and the compulsory enfranchisement of Indian women who married non-Indian partners, sought to present transracial adoption of Aboriginal children into non-Aboriginal homes as a potential solution to the breakdown of Indian and Métis families. The television advertisements and newspaper articles alerted the Saskatchewan public to the need for their assistance to love and care for needy children. This dissertation foregrounds concepts of Aboriginal kinship to illuminate the responses of First Nations and Métis leaders and activists to transracial adoption. Often characterized as “cultural genocide”, statistics reveal that there were in fact fewer adoptions than other forms of state based child caring provided to Aboriginal children. These concepts of kinship have been useful to provide a connection between calls for Aboriginal control of child welfare, sovereignty, and transracial adoption that emerged in the US and Canada in the latter half of the twentieth century. The tensions between conceptual and political goals and gendered manifestations of colonization have yet to be reconciled. ii Utilizing feminist ethnohistorical methodology along with oral histories from activists and Aboriginal peoples, this study proposes that the child welfare system provided both opportunities and oppression. Following the 1951 Indian Act revisions provincial law became applicable on reserve, and child welfare services were provided to Indian people who moved to urban areas. The Adoption Act supplanted former departmentally sanctioned Indian custom adoptions. Indigenous political leaders and activists have sought different methods to restore colonized kinship systems. These legal kinship systems express not only a uniquely Aboriginal identity, but serve to embed Indigenous children into their respective Indigenous political entities, simultaneously reaching backwards and forwards through time. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS As anyone who has undertaken a substantial project can attest, the support of a wide range of people is essential to enable the project to be seen through to completion. In my case, I have drawn upon the strength of many when my own seemed to be wavering. I am grateful for the encouragement and direction that my supervisor Dr. Valerie Korinek has provided from the outset. I credit her with furnishing me with a strong foundation in a new field of inquiry, enriching my scholarly and personal perspective immensely. My committee, who has changed over the course of my dissertation, has also deepened experience and offered me essential direction along the way. Dr. Jim Miller has been a steady presence throughout my academic life at the University of Saskatchewan and first stimulated my interest in the area of Native Newcomer relations. As my MA supervisor, and member of my committee from the beginning, I can say he has had an important influence on the outcome of the project. Thanks to Brenda Macdougall who was an early committee member from the Department of Native Studies for alerting me to the Adopt Indian and Métis media collection at the Saskatchewan Archives Board. Thanks to Pricilla Settee who replaced Brenda, for coming on board, and to Katie Labelle, who replaced Gary Zellar. I would also like to thank Dr. Geoff Cunfer and Cheryl Troupe and the HGIS lab for the preparation of the maps used in this dissertation. I have always been blessed with support of the Department of History since arriving at the University of Saskatchewan in 1996. Dr. Jim Handy and Dr. Martha Smith- Norris provided key supports along the way. I am especially thankful for the Department’s financial support of my PhD via the Department of History Graduate scholarship, and provision of travel funds for conducting research in Ottawa at Library and Archives Canada and Minneapolis at the University of Minnesota Social History Welfare History Archives. In addition, I was grateful for the support of the Gabriel Dumont Institute Graduate Scholarship for honouring me with the Gabriel Dumont Institute Graduate Scholarship in 2012 and 2013. The Centennial Aboriginal Scholarship also provided an important financial resource as I completed my dissertation. Through researching in the area of First Nations and Métis adoption history I gained new networks of friends and colleagues that has greatly enriched my life personally and professionally. While struggling to complete my ethics proposal, I had good fortune to seek the assistance of Tara Turner and Cheryl Troupe at the Métis Nation-Saskatchewan. Through this connection, I not only found two superb Métis researchers, but also found support to carry out my oral history research. I am deeply indebted to them for their assistance. While the majority of my time writing and research has been conducted away from the university, I also appreciated the kindness and friendship of my fellow graduate students at conferences and working together as Department teaching assistants. iv My local community of northeast Saskatchewan has also been essential source of assistance. I am grateful for the Marguerite Riel Center for providing me with a location to conduct interviews and the staff for their willingness to assist. Thanks especially to my oral informants who took time to sit and speak with me about transracial adoption and the child welfare system. I am profoundly honoured that you have shared your experiences, many of which were difficult. Finally, to my family Tyler, Jasmine, Anson, Isabelle and Chloe who were always there and always loving. My mother-in-law and father-in-law often wondered, I am sure, what I was thinking and doing, but continued to offer support nonetheless. I can say that I would not have been able to do this without your assistance. My trips for research and conferences took me away for weeks at a time but you were always there when I came home. While many of the families and children I have studied
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