What my adoption cost me

(posted on lost daughters blog on 2012 and on this blog in 2014) (i want to share again in 2025, edited a little)

REBLOG
By Trace Hentz (author-blogger)

Someone asked me what had adoption cost me personally. What a loaded question, I shot back in my email.  I said I needed to think about it.

Obviously, first of all, I didn't ask to be adopted!

This situation was thrust on me by a damaged 22-year-old small-town Wisconsin girl who loved Chicago-clubbing and partying too much. She didn't want me after my 28-year-old father (also a big drinker) kicked her out.  He moved back to his Illinois farm-town and found a new wife.  She went to an unwed mothers home in Minnesota and signed me away to Catholic Charities. (Both had new kids right away.) (She kept two daughters.)

If my soul wanted a big test this lifetime, this was clearly the route to take. I am not miserable knowing the truth, not at all. I am better knowing the truth.

Finding out neither parent would ever look for me? That discovery cost me.

Who would tell a woman she cannot keep her own baby? Who made them think this way? Belief systems, religions, social workers, neighbors, parents, judges, priests? 

Even your own family can be so damaged, it's risky to find them.  There were times I wished I had never looked but I had to know why I was abandoned, handed off.  Taking those risks to find out the truth cost me years but I am not sorry.

Being told by my natural mother to never contact her again?  That rejection cost me about two years and added grief since I'd have to contact her again for my fathers name. (No one told me this was somewhat common to be rejected again.)

I made all the moves, made all the calls, did all the travel and took all the risks to find both my birthparents.  I put myself out there to join a family who didn't even know I existed or cared that I did.  That cost me.  The fact is they do not understand what I went through and didn't bother to ask, this cost me and confused me.  But I do know people focus on their own pain.  No one really cared about mine.

The adoption trade in babies was booming in the 1950s.  In my opinion my adoptive parents were not carefully screened.  Despite his raging alcoholism and their marital discord after two miscarriages, Catholic social workers still qualified them to be my parents.  Very young I was sexually molested by my adoptive dad.  That betrayal cost me.

I had to pretend for years I was alright when really I wasn't.  I tried to live up to their expectations and be the baby they lost.  That impossible situation cost me.

My adoptive parents didn't know adopting kids won't fix a marriage and could even make it worse!  I had to suppress my shock and disappointment in them for too long.  It took me years to find and get therapy and counseling that worked.  This delay cost me.

My lack of trust and being able to love someone cost me a marriage.

Many years later I learn my ancestry.  My father, who had the Native blood, didn't intervene to keep me.  How did that make me feel?  Betrayed.  I had no idea what to think about being "part-Indian" since there was no one in my dad's family to reconnect me to my tribal culture.  That cost me.  (Since 2024, I found even more Indigenous ancestry with the help of my niece Tracy on my dad's side.)

How can you measure cultural loss when there is no dollar amount or apology that can undo what happened? There is no easy way to get that back. Those years are lost and cannot be returned.

 

What did adoption cost me? Everything.

What did adoption give me? Strength! And the determination to urge others to seek adoption reform and end all closed adoptions permanently.

My birthmother Helen Thrall died in 2007.  She had diabetes.  This story ran in a Florida newspaper.  I am nothing like her.  And I hate football!

Cows and Plows

This story is from February (and 2024) but I felt you need to read about how Canada makes $1.72B cows-and-plows settlement with 14 Sask. First Nations

Under treaties 4, 5, 6 and 10, the Crown promised agricultural benefits to First Nations

Aishwarya Dudha · CBC News · February 24

Chief Robert Head of Peter Chapman Band, which is part of James Smith Cree Nation, said the money will be used for trusts, payments to members and infrastructure. (CBC News)

The federal government is compensating more than a dozen Saskatchewan First Nations for agricultural benefits promised in treaties signed long ago, but never provided. 

It has also reached a separate agreement with Cumberland House Cree Nation on a land claim. 

Federal Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Gary Anandasangaree said at a news conference Friday that the 14 First Nations involved in the agricultural settlement will get a combined $1.72 billion.

"We have an opportunity today as a country and as a people to make sure that we reset the relationship for the next generation," Anandasangaree said.

These are the latest examples of what's known as cows-and-plows settlements. 

The treaties made promises including hand tools such as spades, scythes and axes, as well as bigger equipment like plows, harrows and pit saws, to be shared among families. Many of these promises were never fulfilled.

"We're currently building our nation basically from the ground up, because we have long been denied our benefits under treaty," Chief Robert Head of Peter Chapman Band, which is part of James Smith Cree Nation, said. 

• Cree lawyer says cows and plows settlements don't reflect spirit of treaty clause

• Nation to Nation collaboration sees Yellowstone bison come to Canada for the 1st time

Head's First Nation will receive about $46 million. He said that the money will be used for trusts, payments to members and infrastructure.

"We weren't allowed to leave the reserves unless we had a permit or a pass. We weren't allowed to sell, you know, the produce that we grew on our reserves," Head said. 

"Residential schools, the Sixties Scoop and, you know, all the other policies … all point to genocidal policies of the Canadian government."

Head said that the compensation is justice that was long overdue, since the treaties were signed over 150 years ago. 

Tanya Aguilar-Antiman Chief of Mosquito-Grizzly Bear’s Head-Lean Man First Nation said some of the money will be put in a trust for children under 18 so that when they turn 18 they get a good head start. (CBC News)

Tanya Aguilar-Antiman Chief of Mosquito-Grizzly Bear's Head-Lean Man First Nation said that the settlement is an action-based example of reconciliation. 

"We've committed some resources to our language, and economic development is a big thing in our community right now," Aguilar-Antiman said.

Her First Nation will be getting around $114 million. She said some of the money will be put in trust for children under 18, so that when they turn 18 they get a good head start. 

The First Nations being compensated include:

• Ahtahkakoop Cree Nation.
• James Smith Cree Nation #370.
• Little Black Bear First Nation.
• Ministikwan Lake Cree Nation.
• Moosomin First Nation.
• Mosquito-Grizzly Bear's Head-Lean Man First Nation.
• Pasqua First Nation.
• Piapot First Nation.
• Pelican Lake First Nation.
• Poundmaker Cree Nation.
• Saulteaux First Nation.
• Sweetgrass First Nation.
• Waterhen Lake First Nation.
• Witchekan Lake First Nation.

Sask. First Nation agrees to $152M agricultural settlement with Ottawa

Sturgeon Lake First Nation to distribute $30K of settlement to each of 3,250 members

Dayne Patterson · CBC News · August 2, 2024

Chief Christine Longjohn, centre, and the Sturgeon Lake First Nation council have announced that community members voted to accept a $152-million settlement agreement with the federal government. (Submitted by Christine Longjohn)

Sturgeon Lake First Nation says community members have voted in favour of a $152-million settlement over the federal government's reneged agricultural promises as outlined in Treaty 6.

It is among several settlements referred to as "cows and plows" agreements between Saskatchewan First Nation communities and the federal government over the failure to fulfil treaty promises to provide agricultural assistance and tools.

According to a news release from the community, issued Wednesday, Canada did not deliver promised agricultural tools, seeds and livestock that "were crucial for the community's economic development and self-sufficiency."

"We haven't been able to do a lot of things within our community … because we haven't had the funding for that," Sturgeon Lake Chief Christine Longjohn said Thursday.

"So this is a huge step and it promises a brighter future, you know, for the generation now, but also the generations ahead."

WATCH | CBC Indigenous explains 'cows and plows': 

https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/video/1.7062876

What is ‘cows and plows’?1 year agoNews

0:15

1:35

Volume level

CBC Indigenous reporter Jennifer Francis simplifies what you need to know about this settlement. Plus, she debunks the myth that cows and plows eliminates your treaty rights.

The Cree community, located about 146 kilometres northeast of Saskatoon, has about 3,250 members. 

Longjohn said each registered member alive on the date of the ratification vote, which ran from July 22 to July 26, will receive $30,000 of the total settlement. Funds for minors will go into a trust until they are 18.

Of the remainder, $36 million is being put into a legacy trust fund, $12 million into a community development fund and the rest toward ratification costs, loan payment, legal fees and the legacy account, she said. 

"With the legacy fund, that is going to ensure there is always funds available for the community for generations to come," Longjohn said.

A news release from the community said 51 per cent of eligible members voted, with 88 per cent voting in favour.

Now that the ratification vote is complete, Longjohn said the First Nation council can sign the agreement, which will then go to Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations Gary Anandasangaree to sign on behalf of Canada.

The process of signing the agreement and delivering the money is expected to take about six months, according to the First Nation. The federal government said the compensation will be paid within 45 days of the agreement being signed.

According to data from the federal government website, more than $729 million has been paid to Saskatchewan First Nation communities in similar settlements, including certain situations where the government did not provide promised ammunition and twine.

In an email, Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada spokesperson Ryan Tyndall said each settlement is negotiated separately and considers several factors.

"We are very pleased that the First Nation's membership has approved the proposed settlement, which will help to renew our relationship with and advance reconciliation with the First Nation," the email said.

"The Government of Canada has no involvement in how a First Nation uses settlement monies. First Nations can use their settlements to invest in community priorities and initiatives as they see fit."

• Cree lawyer says cows and plows settlements don't reflect spirit of treaty clause

• Sask. First Nation, Ottawa settle on $90.9M claim for withheld agricultural benefits

READ MORE: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/1-72-billion-cows-and-plows-deal-1.7465807

The journey home: Sixties Scoop survivor discovers his Indigenous roots in the Yukon

Jay Mitchell traced his biological family to the Yukon, then moved to Whitehorse to reconnect

Cali McTavish · CBC News · March 19

Jay Mitchell by the Yukon River in Whitehorse. Mitchell has spent most of his life in Alberta and Ontario and believed he was Métis — until a DNA test helped him find his true biological family in the Yukon, and prompted him to pick up and move to the North. (Cali McTavish/CBC)

Having spent his whole life in bigger cities, Jay Mitchell says he's still getting used to the pace of life in the relatively small town of Whitehorse. 

"It's a shock. I'm so used to city life," said Mitchell. 

He's also getting used to meeting new members of his extended biological family. He says people often come up to him on the street in Whitehorse and tell him, "you're my cousin," "you're my second cousin," or "you're my nephew."

Mitchell moved to the Yukon last May after discovering errors in his Sixties Scoop adoption papers and then learning the truth about his ancestry. He spent most of his life believing he was Métis, only to have a DNA test reveal that both of his biological parents were from Yukon First Nations.

Mitchell says he misses his wife and son back home in Oshawa, Ont., but he says they'll join him soon.  He's grateful to the Kwanlin Dün First Nation in Whitehorse for embracing him and giving him a job, and a place to live, while he waits for his family. He is now a citizen of Kwanlin Dün, and works as a records keeper for the First Nation. 

Mitchell's family's move to the North is about building connections with his biological family, and finding support for Mitchell's 17-year-old son Nicholas who has autism. 

A photo of a younger Mitchell with his wife Lisa Hughes and their son, Nicholas Hughes Mitchell who is now 17 years old. (Submitted by Jay Mitchell)

"We're doing this for my son," says Mitchell, "to make sure that, you know, there's family to take care of him, if anything happens to us."

A case of mistaken identity

Mitchell, 57, was born in Edmonton and raised there by his adoptive family before they moved to Oshawa. He was 10 years old when his mother told him he had been adopted. He says it was a shock. 

"I had no idea," said Mitchell.

His mother also then showed him his birth certificate which said Mitchell was Métis. That set him on a path to discover his cultural roots. 

"I went to Métis celebrations, and I met the Ontario Métis chief in Oshawa," he recalled.

When he was in his 50s, a health issue prompted a doctor to encourage Mitchell to try to learn about his biological family's medical history. That led to another surprise for Mitchell, when a DNA test and an ancestry research service revealed that he was not in fact Métis.

He learned that his biological family were Yukon First Nations members. He soon connected with his biological half-brother Jeffrey Kalles in Whitehorse, and eventually his two half-sisters as well.

Jay Mitchell, centre, with his adoptive mother Barb Mitchell, and his son Nicholas Hughes Mitchell. (Submitted by Jay Mitchell)

Kalles describes the first time he talked on the phone with Mitchell.

"Hearing that voice, and just really realizing that's [my] big brother — it's surreal," Kalles recalled.

It was also surreal for Mitchell to learn about his biological family.

"The funny thing is that with my adopted family, I'm the baby of all the siblings — and in my biological family, I'm the oldest. It's kind of weird how that works," said Mitchell. 

Kwanlin Dün First Nation members welcome Mitchell to Whitehorse last year. Mitchell is standing at the back with a ball cap and red vest on. (Submitted by Jay Mitchell)

Putting the pieces together

Through a Freedom of Information request, Mitchell was able to get his adoption records from the Alberta government and confirm the identities of his biological parents as Yukon First Nations. 

"I don't understand why they didn't put me as First Nations. It's kind of puzzling, but a lot of people say that things were different back then, in the '60s," said Mitchell. 

The Sixties Scoop refers to the practice from the 1950s to the 1980s of removing First Nations and Inuit children from their families and communities and placing them in foster care or adopting them out to non-Indigenous families. According to Sixties Scoop class action lawsuit settlement website, many claimants described being cut off from their culture and language. 

Mitchell says when he learned about the class action lawsuit he was told he didn't qualify because of his Métis status. By the time he found out the truth about his Indigenous ancestry, the deadline to join the claim had passed.

'A lot of people were shocked ... that I existed'

After moving to Whitehorse and reuniting with biological family, Mitchell learned there were two people he would not be able to meet: his biological parents. Dennis Ladue and Joyce Jonathan had both died a few years earlier. 

"A lot of people were shocked about who I was, and that I existed," says Mitchell. 

Duran Henry is one of Mitchell's cousins. He thinks Ladue would have loved to meet Mitchell. 

Mitchell, left, with his cousin Duran Henry. (Submitted by Jay Mitchell)

"I think he would have been surprised, and then just overwhelmed by joy and love," says Henry.

He says sometimes Mitchell reminds him of Ladue.

"The way he laughs and, you know, the way we joke around — he's just a happy guy, and [Ladue] was like that."

Kalles was also adopted and also never met Joyce Jonathan, his biological mother. But he says their parents live on through the siblings. 

Jay Mitchell's biological parents Dennis Ladue and Joyce Jonathan who both died before Mitchell had a chance to meet them. (Submitted by Jay Mitchell)

"There are these idiosyncrasies — we didn't grow up together, but the way we talk and the way he looks around and stuff like that. I guess, when I talk to him and look at him, I just know, that's my brother," said Kalles. 

Mitchell says he can't wait for his family to join him in Whitehorse this summer. 

"Every day I miss my wife and son. My son and I do everything together," he said. 

Kalles says he's also excited to meet more of his extended family.  

"I'm going to retire here shortly, so I'll have a lot of time to hopefully show them around the Yukon," said Kalles.

Indigenous People To Receive Payouts for Surviving Canada Child Welfare System, but Larger Systemic Reforms Remain Stalled

By Nancy Marie Spears

Starting March 10, Indigenous people who went through Canada’s child welfare system can apply for compensation for harms caused to them.

Approximately 300,000 Indigenous children and families who went through Canada’s child welfare system can apply for compensation for harms the system caused them. 

The Canadian press reports that $23 billion in payouts under a historic class-action settlement will take six to 12 months to process. Those taken as children between 1991 and 2022 from “reserves” and the northwestern territory of Yukon are eligible to submit claims, as are their caregiving parents and grandparents.

The Assembly of First Nations is helping citizens apply through its Get Ready campaign, announced in a press release earlier.  The national advocacy organization for Indigenous communities across Canada will educate and guide First Nations claimants to avoid scams and receive the assistance they need during the application and claims processing period.

“While no amount of money can make up for the harms done by Canada’s racist child welfare system, March 10 will be a historic turning point to address these past wrongs,” National Chief Woodhouse Nepinak stated. “The $23 billion compensation settlement is an important recognition of the heroic representative plaintiffs and everyone who took part in the long process of negotiations that brought us to this point.”

---

The pending payouts stem from a 2007 class-action lawsuit over the discriminatory treatment of First Nations children and families. The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal, an independent administrative body that hears complaints about discrimination, ruled on the matter in 2016. That ruling declared that families in Yukon and in reserves — the equivalent of a reservation in the U.S. — did not receive the same level of child and family services provided to other Canadians.

Yet as the claims process moves forward, a far larger and more systemic reform sought on behalf of Indigenous children and families remains stalled. 

A $47.8 billion payment to the First Nations Child and Family Services Program was initially approved last year, following an agreement between First Nations leaders and the Canadian government. The funding package designed to address the overrepresentation of First Nations children in Canada’s child welfare system would have covered a range of services to prevent child neglect and abuse and improve outcomes for young adults leaving the system. The agreement would have secured funding for 10 years, and addressed particularly high costs to deliver services in rural communities.

But in October, before the terms were finalized, First Nations leaders voted down the $47.8 billion settlement offer, amid complaints that it lacked transparency and accountability, among other concerns. 

Cindy Blackstock, executive director of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society which has been a party to the case for years, said the deal reached last year would have been too “secretive” and unreliable.  Indigenous leaders “want to make sure the money is secure, and stops the discrimination now and forever,” Blackstock said.

Some Indigenous leaders are now seeking to renegotiate the deal, although there is an ongoing dispute over whether parties such as the Caring Society should be involved. 

---

Meanwhile, national politics in Canada may have introduced an additional unknown. 

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau — whose government presided over last year’s settlement agreement with First Nations that has since been rejected — has resigned, causing concerns over whether a new conservative government would honor future agreements. 

In December, the Assembly of First Nations revealed the results of a legal review it commissioned, warning that the $47.8 billion reform deal could be upended by a future government.

That worries Danielle Cranmer, citizen of the Acjachemen Nation and a clinical therapist and licensed social worker. She has been closely watching the child welfare lawsuits in Canada since many of her clients are from First Nations families.

“The Assembly of First Nations and other Indigenous governance bodies have every reason to scrutinize the potential ramifications of a government change,” Cranmer said. “If the current administration loses power, a new government could claim they are not bound by this agreement, further delaying or dismantling crucial child welfare reforms.”

Cranmer said ensuring long-term commitments to reforms are essential to addressing harms of the past and helping First Nations people heal. She’ll continue monitoring how the current case unfolds, in light of historic patterns. “This underscores the precarious nature of agreements made between Indigenous nations and settler governments — particularly when they hinge on political administrations that may not honor past commitments,” Cranmer said.

Blackstock, who is Gitksan First Nation and has decades of social work experience, agreed.

“That’s why it was so important to protect against a change of government by having these legal orders, instead of moving over to this final settlement agreement that didn’t hold Canada accountable and gave them such wide discretion,” she said. “Under an adverse government, that would put at risk a lot of the gains we’ve made for First Nations’ kids.”

Can anything be said with certainty about what lies ahead?

“The short answer is, we don’t know,” Blackstock said. “But what we do know is that the legal orders are binding on whatever political party is in the government.”

 

For more information on all classes under the settlement, visit www.fnchildclaims.ca.

 

Far-flung '60s Scoop siblings — one in Texas, one in New Zealand — meet Manitoba uncle

 Siblings planning trip to Manitoba next year

Stefan Richard · CBC News · March 10

A family gathering. Jonathan Hooker, Lori Brem, Lori's daughter Eva Dawn and Darryl Flett. (Submitted by Lori Brem)

Through laughter, Lori Brem tells the story of the meeting that brought her brother Jonathan Hooker, a New Zealand resident, and her Uncle Darryl Flett from northern Manitoba together for the first time. 

The three relatives met in Texas in November 2024. Brem, a resident of China Spring, Texas, and Hooker, of Mount Maunganui, New Zealand, share the same birth father and Flett is their uncle.

"To hear them all talking," Brem chuckles.

"Jonathan speaks so fast and Darryl speaks real slow. And then we have our drawl, like we say 'Y'all.' Hearing all the different accents was just so funny to me."

How do the roads between three communities on opposite sides of the world converge in Texas? 

Brem and Hooker are survivors of the Sixties Scoop, where First Nations, Métis and Inuit children were removed from their homes and placed with non-Indigenous foster or adoptive parents between 1951 and 1991, and lost their cultural identities as a result.

Brem was taken from Swan River, Man., along with her siblings. Hooker was taken from Moose Lake, Man.

Brem and Hooker's adoptions, like so many others, tore them from their families and their roots. 

Hooker was adopted by a couple from the U.K. who spent time in Canada and eventually settled on New Zealand's North Island. He said he always know he was adopted because he didn't look like his fair-skinned parents.

"It was really obvious that there was some job going on there, having black hair and dark skin," he said.

"I was really too young to realize the enormity of what had happened to me."

During the 2024 reunion, Flett sat down with Brem and Hooker to discuss the family history and the Sixties Scoop. Hooker said it was "a shock to the system" to hear how authorities would go to reserves and remove children.

KEEP READING:  https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/60s-scoop-texas-new-zealand-manitoba-1.7477466 

• In Depth
  Sixties Scoop survivors journey home to N.W.T. to reunite with family, reconcile past

• New series tells story of Sixties Scoop survivor learning about her past

 

Plaintiffs in child welfare class action reflect on work to get compensation...

Mar 7, 2025

On Monday First Nations children and their families who were caught up in the on-reserve child welfare system will be able to file for compensation.

The $23 billion settlement was signed in 2023. It settles two class action claims against the federal government.

The lawsuits were launched after the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ruled that Canada discriminated against First Nations children on reserve because it knowingly underfunded programs aimed to help them.

According to the website that holds information about the compensation, the first claims period applies to “removed child” and “removed child family classes.”

“Individuals who may be eligible for compensation under the period opening March 10, 2025 include First Nations individuals who were removed from their homes as Children between April 1, 1991, and March 31, 2022, while living on reserve or in the Yukon and placed into care funded by Indigenous Services Canada, as well as their Caregiving Parents or Caregiving Grandparents,” said a release from the Assembly of First Nations.

“The Removed Child and Removed Child Family classes are two of the nine classes under the final settlement agreement on compensation. The additional classes will have claims periods to be determined at a future date.”

Melissa Walterson and Karen Osachoff are two of the representative plaintiffs in the settlement.

They spoke to APTN National News host Dennis Ward about the agreement.

 Read more: https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqa3lOSWlGZnJmU0tVb0lZNFFNbjUyb210VE1iUXxBQ3Jtc0tuNGN3VUtIQVYwTWpxNmU5SnJSYmVUcTdjTzktdXJaZnJpb1dUMEhENmU2OFFOckZZa2FwYTc1c3dTaWVLTTZhRG82MnI3QXVFM3NnXzhrajY1ZXJxZXNicFdHUEtOOWdEaThGLTdSVFgyeEZWTWkzZw&q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.aptnnews.ca%2Fnational-news%2Fplaintiffs-in-child-welfare-class-action-reflect-on-work-to-get-compensation-to-families%2F&v=3VhfEYyRcP0

The Ohio Country Podcast

 

By Trace Hentz, blog editor

As many of you know, written history has problems. Who wrote it is the biggest problem.

I travelled to Ohio to see the mounds years ago, and was truly disappointed to see the Shawnee and other tribes were not consulted in the visitor center for the Hopewell site. The Serpent Mound was not open to the public when I went to see it.

The State of Ohio has more than 70 Indian mounds, burial sites of the Adena and Hopewell tribes--the "mound builders"--who inhabited central and southern Ohio from roughly 3,000 BCE until the 16th century.  

Many mounds were destroyed, as we'd expect.  Some did survive.

Niagara66/Wikimedia Commons/GNU FDL

Above: The Hopewell Cultural National Historic Site is actually five separate sites, all located in Ross County, not far from Chillicothe.  The sites, which include the Mound City Group and the Seip Mound, include a variety of conical and loaf-shaped burial mounds dating from the Hopewell Civilization (200 to 500 AD).  There is a visitors center with information on the Hopewells and artifacts from the mound excavations. (I went through it and was shocked, with dismal theories of who the PEOPLE were, and actually are...)

Please listen to this 12-part podcast to understand the tribes who were removed and the history THEY tell...

"We'll put the experiences of Miami, Shawnee, Wyandotte, and other American Indian people at the center of a refreshed version of the state’s complicated past and undecided future."

https://www.wyso.org/podcast/the-ohio-country

 

** Episode 2

In this episode, we start in Xenia.

Shawnee history has often been riddled with harmful stereotypes and presented inaccurately in southwest Ohio, from the outdoor "Blue Jacket" and "Tecumseh" dramas to the historical fiction books by famous local author Alan Eckert.

Episode 2 Transcript.docx

In episode two, we unpack why it is important to question things you may have taken as fact if you grew up in Ohio.

We also look at initiatives like Great Council State Park and Caesar's Ford Theatre, which make it easier to learn Ohio's history from a more accurate perspective that includes Shawnee voices.

Dispelling the Blue Jacket myth

One of the persistent myths around the Shawnee leader Blue Jacket is the belief that he was a white man originally named Marmaduke Van Swearingen. Genetic testing at Wright State University in 2006 proved that Blue Jacket was Indigenous. However, Shawnee people always knew that BlueJacket wasn’t an adopted European settler because his descendants lived in their communities. The BlueJacket last name is still common among the federally recognized Shawnee tribes today.

Where was Tecumseh born?

There is a strong consensus among Shawnee scholars that the Shawnee leader Tecumseh was born near the site of modern-day George Rodgers Clark Park in Clark County, Ohio. According to multiple sources, that's where Tecumseh himself said he was born.

Xenia Library

Letter from Duncan McArthur to historian Benjamin Drake, 1840, Xenia Library, from the Draper Manuscripts collection.

For example, Duncan McArthur, a military officer and Federalist and National Republican politician from Ohio, shares in his account of traveling with Tecumseh, Blue Jacket, and Roundhead (Wyandotte) from Greenville to Chillicothe in 1807 that when passing the remnants of the Shawnee Village Pe'qa, along the Mad River, "the Tecumseh" noted that he had been born there, northwest of the Mad River.

Local legend has led to the myth that Tecumseh was born at Oldtown, near where the newly constructed Great Council State Park sits today.  Some Kentuckians also believe that Tecumseh was born somewhere in what is now their state.  Other non-Native historians have posited that Tecumseh was born near modern-day Chillicothe, Ohio.

Land of the Devil Wind

According to The Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma and The Shawnee Tribe, the legend that the Shawnee call, or ever called, the area around modern-day Xenia, Ohio, the "land of the devil wind" is false.

Additionally, the idea of, and a word for, the judeo-Christian "devil" does not exist in the Shawnee language or traditional religion. 

When Ohio became a state in 1803, there were seven Indigenous tribes living within its borders. They were the Shawnee, Wyandot, Miami, Ottawa, Lenape or Delaware, Seneca, and Cayuga. But less than 50 years later, they were all gone. They'd been systematically removed. 

MORE ON OHIO MOUNDS:

https://www.tripsavvy.com/ohios-fascinating-indian-mounds-753018

 

 

EBCI podcast hosts tell the stories of Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women

PODCAST:  https://war-podcast.com/

Maggie Jackson, Sheyahshe Littledave, and Ahli-sha "Osh" Stephens, enrolled members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and of hosts of “We Are Resilient: A MMIW True Crime Podcast,” bringing awareness to Missing and Murdered and Indigenous Women is a year-round effort. Here, they share with MCI how they’re using their voices to bring the stories of Selena Not Afraid, Brittaney Littledave, Ashlea Aldrich, and others to their community and beyond.

Haida Nation LANDBACK

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Haida Nation President Gaagwiis Jason Alsop sign documents during a community gathering to celebrate a land title agreement, in Skidegate, B.C., on Haida Gwaii, on Monday. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press)

 

‣ In a long overdue move, the Haida Nation will finally be able to reclaim its land off the coast of British Columbia per an agreement with the Canadian government, CBC News reports:

The Big Tide Haida Title Lands Agreement affirms that the Haida have Aboriginal title over all of the islands’ lands, beds of freshwater bodies, and foreshores to the low-tide mark.

It will transition the Crown-title land to the Haida people, granting them an inherent legal right to the land.

The transfer of the underlying title would affect how courts interpret issues involving disputes.

Gaagwiis Jason Alsop, president of the Council of the Haida Nation, held up the agreement signed Monday to show the crowd.

He said the ceremony represents a move from an era of denial, occupation and resistance to one of peaceful coexistence and recognition that “this is Haida land.”

Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Gary Anandasangaree told the crowd gathered for the ceremony that it was a moment where history was being made.

Anandasangaree said in an earlier interview that the agreement will kick off a five-year transition period and will require legislation to iron out all the details about how this will apply in practice.

He said it is the first time the federal government has recognized Aboriginal title through negotiations.

source: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/haida-gwaii-aboriginal-title-federal-agreement-1.7461151

Culture is medicine for us

 Grand Ronde tribes open residential treatment facility for Native patients

(Photo: Brian Bull)

Native Americans needing help with addiction and substance abuse have an option opening this month in the town of Sheridan, Oreg.

KLCC’s Brian Bull reports on the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde’s new residential treatment facility.

“It really turned out amazing, we did a blessing ceremony on Friday.”

With dark wood decor and soothing tones of gray and green, the Main Street Recovery facility is spacious and calming.

Operations director Jennifer Worth shows where clients will sleep, meet, do chores, and get “wraparound” services.

“Having full access to counseling, group, case management, any other hands-on services that a tribal member may need.”

Worth says any Native American 18 or older can be helped here, if they are medically stable and beds are available.

“Other things we’re working on is hopefully adding a sweat lodge in the back.”

Kelly Rowe is the executive director of tribal health services for the Grand Ronde.

She says like their opioid recovery clinics in Salem and Portland, the Sheridan facility integrates Western medicine with Native practices.

“Culture is medicine for us.  Making sure that we don’t lose sight of who we are as a people, and how we want our tribal members – as well as other Natives – to feel that they’re part of something bigger and that we’re here for them.”

The recovery center will be taking a few clients next week.

Up to 18 beds are on-site, in an area adjacent to the Grand Ronde reservation.

Part of a major $6 billion opioid settlement helped fund the Main Street Recovery facility.