Thread by @IndigenousXca

Good evening folks. My name is Lew Jobs and I'll be hosting this week. I'm Inuvialuit originally from Tuktoyaktuk NWT. I'm a #60sScoop survivor. The name I was given at birth was Allen Craig Gruben. I was taken at birth and given to a white family at 3 weeks of age.

I'll start with a bit about myself. I was born in the Hamlet of Tuktoyaktuk in 1967. I was taken at birth and put in a receiving home. At 3 weeks of age, I was placed in a foster home in Ft. McPherson. This placement ended up as my permanent home.

The family I was placed with were teachers. He was German, she was American. He was just out of university and started his career in the NWT. They were told that I needed a home. That I was not wanted. They were told this by the social workers.

That was a lie. I was wanted by my bio family. My Mom never wanted to give me up. In fact, the day after I was taken, she found an Inuvialuit home I could have grown up in. When she asked to get me back, she was told that it was too late. I was already gone.

I was removed because she was a single Mom. That us the only reason. She didn't drink, she didn't have a substance abuse problem. She was a single parent. I was her 3rd child. I have an older sister and brother. They were lucky enough to be allowed to stay in the family.

Both are successful in their own lives. My sister is a nurse. She is living in the States. She moved their after she married. My brother stayed in Tuk. He is a very skilled traditional hunter. He grew up on the land. Both speak their traditional language.

This picture is of 5 generations of my bio family. My Nanuk (Grandmother), my Mom, my brother, his daughter, and her son.

My Nanuk is 99. I'm really hoping to make it home for her 100 year celebration.

That's a bit of history from my bio Mom's side of the family.

My bio Dad was Vince Steen. He was a politician for part of his life. He started out as a hunter/trapper. He then took up heavy equipment operating after the fur market crashed.

I don't know a whole lot about him.

What I do know is that he was an excellent hunter and trapper. He was mayor of Tuk. He was an elected MLA and served 2 terms in the NWT Gov't.

He died from cancer 10 years ago.

I have 3 sisters and 2 brothers from that side of my family. All grew up at home in the Arctic.

So that's a bit about my Inuvialuit family.

I'm #60sScoop so there is the other side to my story. The family that raised me.

As I said, he was German. He immigrated to Canada during WWII. He escaped from Nazi Germany and made his way to relatives in Canada.

He was 16 when he entered Canada. His Mom was killed during a bombing raid. I suppose he was one of the lucky ones. Hard to believe that surviving a war and bombs and ending up alone at 16 is "lucky".

His home in Canada was in Alberta. Just West of Red Deer. On a farm.

He decided that farming was not his thing and went to university and became a teacher. He taught for 38 years.

So, soon after graduating from the U of A, he accepted a teaching position in Ft. McPherson, NWT.

That is the beginning of my #60sScoop journey.

Earliest picture of myself I could find. This is shortly after I was adopted.

He and his wife couldn't have children if their own. They decided to become foster parents. That's how we met. I was taken from a woman who loved me and given to a white family because Gov't at the time deemed it in my best interest.

To the Gov't it was perfect. They could place me in a white home and he was a teacher. He could educate this poor little Eskimo. Properly colonize him. Teach him the "proper" way of life.

I may sound a bit bitter. I should clarify one thing. I'm not upset with the people who raised me. While it was not a perfect home, I was cared for. I was never neglected or abused.

I'm pissed off at a Gov't who thought that I was better off with a white family.

That somehow they would love me more. That they would give me things my Inuvialuit family couldn't. Lies.

The Gov't lied to the people who adopted me too. Told them I was in need of a family.

After my adoption, my new family took me to Edmonton so my new Dad could finish his Masters degree in education. My life in the South had begun.

Shortly after finishing his degree, we were off to Germany to visit his family. It was time to show off the new baby.

This is where the "Loss of Culture and language" part of the class action takes place.

My first language was English. My second was German. I was dressed in cute lederhosen. I've never spoken my Indigenous Language. I never knew I was Inuvialuit until I was in my 20s.

I'm really tired of reading how Indigenous women lost their children to the Gov't because they were drunks or drug addicts.

We, #60sScoop , were taken as a greater movement to colonize the Indigenous people of Canada. It started with #ResidentialSchools and it still happens.

There is no other reason. We were part of the "Indian problem ". This was a way for them to solve it.

My Mom was a healthy, educated woman. Strong, vibrant. She loves her children.

When I read that people think she deserved to have me removed, my blood boils.

My Mom survived #ResidentialSchools. Raised my siblings. Went on to work for the Yukon Gov't. She did not deserve to lose me. She is still a great Mom. She is now a great Nanuk.

Ok...little rant over.

So, after Germany, my first experience in school. I was 5. I went to the school my adopted Dad taught at. A Catholic public school in Grimshaw, Alberta.

My first racial prejudice experience.

Called "Chinky Chinaman".

I'm sorry if I offend anyone.

I'm telling a story. This is part of it.

Apparently, no one knew I was Inuvialuit. At least not in that school. My parents never told anyone. To my grade one peers, I looked Chinese. Hence, the racial slurs.

There were no other Indigenous children in that school. It was 1972. Canada was playing the USSR in hockey. #ResidentialSchools were still very much alive and thriving. I was the only Indigenous child in that school.

Shortly after I started school, I was about to lose my second Mom. Divorce time.

I was to stay with the man who adopted me.

Irony here? I was taken from a single parent. There was never a time that was even considered when he was a single parent.

Soon after the divorce is finalized, we move to a Northern Alberta reserve. He got a job teaching there.

It was here that at the age of 8 that I was sexually abused by an older boy. I'm not angry with the person who did this. I am sad. Someone did this to him first.

He saw nothing wrong with what he did.
To this day, my adopted Dad has no idea this happened. I see no reason to tell him now. I've moved forward. The damage no longer defines who I am.

After this school, a move to Mennonite colony in Northern Alberta.

This school was full of bullys. They hated outsiders. And I was an Indigenous outsider. Again, I was the only Indigenous child in that school. And there were over 1000 kids there.

From there, back to Southern Alberta. We moved alot. He also married his second wife. A fine German woman.

This woman was where abuse in the home started. She hated me. I was dark. I was not German. I was a problem to get rid of.

I'm going to fast forward to age 14. By this time in my life , I've lost 2 mothers. I've been abused. I've been rejected because of who I am.

I discover alcohol.
This magical substance makes the pain go away. Makes me confident. Makes me less awkward. It fills a void

On my personal account, @llewellynjobs , I mention "friend of Bill" in my bio. For those who don't know, that means I'm a recovering alcoholic. Bill W. is a founder of AA, hence "friend of Bill".

I'm clean and sober now. June 13th will be 11 years for me.

So, I drink from the age of 14 to 40. At the age of 16, I drop out of school. I end up in and out of jail for various crimes, all done while intoxicated.

I don't share this for pity or praise for "turning life around".

I'm sharing to make a point.

This was supposed to be in my best interest. What's best for me. At least that's what the Gov't told my Mom.

I moved so many times. I lost 2 mothers along the way. Gained another one who hated me. Found alcohol. Later it was drugs and alcohol.

All my siblings stayed at home in Tuk. All grew up together.

Pretty sure they had the better childhood experience.

#60sScoop was not a very good idea. Just my opinion

This thread is a quick look at my developing years.

I touched on a few events in my life. By all accounts, and what I've heard in the last 16 months as a board member of the Sixties Scoop Indigenous Society of Alberta, I am luckier than most.

There was no forced labour in my life. There was no abuse so vile that I still have a hard time believing that people could do that to children. There was no starvation.
All stories I heard in my time listening to impact statements for the official apology from the Gov't of AB

Im going to sign off for the night.

Tomorrow I will talk about the work I was involved with with the Gov't of Alberta. What it took to get to the apology.

Good night.