After more than 50 years, a First Nations man who was taken from his family and sent to New Zealand as a boy has returned to Canada for the first time.
Brent Mitchell holds one of the files he was able to obtain from child welfare authorities in Manitoba. He just returned to Canada for the first time since being sent to foster care in New Zealand in 1963. Photo: Supplied: CBC - Waubgeshig Rice
Thousands of First Nations children were forcibly taken and placed in non-indigenous care between 1965 and 1984, some of them were allegedly "sold" to US families.
Brent Mitchell was taken into care by child welfare authorities in Winnipeg when he was just one, in what became known as the 'Sixties Scoop'.
After moving through seven foster homes, he was sent to an eighth foster family in New Zealand in 1963 when he was five years old.
He arrived in Ottawa late last week for a special gathering of Sixties Scoop survivors, and said it was a dream coming home.
"I've been privileged to meet nine others this weekend and sit down and share our stories with one another -- and we all shared a laugh and shed a few tears."
But, he says, his childhood in New Zealand was a nightmare.
"It's taken me a long, long time to come to grips with all that. I had a lot of anger towards my foster parents, the New Zealand government, the Canadian government," he said.
"The foster parents had their own son. I could never understand why he wasn't getting the beatings I was getting."
Brent said as he got older, the abuse became worse.
"You got the belt, you got the stick, whatever was available at the time. By the time I was 13, I just refused to cry. I just shut myself off from the rest of the world," he said.
"There was a paedophile who became involved and I got caught up in that as well, which didn't help."
All Brent Mitchell knows about his birth family is what's in his file. All six of his siblings were adopted out to different families. Photo: Supplied: CBC - Waubgeshig Rice
Brent has been trying for a number of years now to find out about his ancestry and explore his heritage.
His daughter discovered the Legacy of Hope website, which aimed to bring together victims of the Sixties Scoop, but Brent said he hasn't had a lot of success yet in finding members of his family.
"They're searching with some of the organisations over here, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to get some information back fairly smartly."
Brent will return to New Zealand following his visit to Canada, but he said the government can't give him what he wants.
"Can they give me back my childhood and all that I lost with that? No they can't. There's no price you can put on that," he said.
"They've got to keep the kids safe, no matter what."
