A traveling exhibit made it’s way to the Bob Harkins Branch of the Prince George Public Library.
The exhibit, called Bi-Giwen, talks about the Sixties Scoop, told from 12 different perspectives of individuals who have gone through it in their lifetimes.
“We do know a lot of residential school history, and a lot of those facts have come out with the 215 and so on over the last year,” said Sandra Relling, President of the Sixties Scoop Indigenous Society of Alberta.
“What we’re not talking about yet is the Sixties Scoop, and that happened after the residential schools started closing down, child welfare agencies went in and literally started scooping kids up out of their communities and placing them in non-Indigenous homes, not only across Canada, but across North America and globally.”
The exhibit was created through the Legacy of Hope Foundation, a national Indigenous charitable organization with the mandate of educating and creating awareness of the Residential School System.
The Prince George Public Library is the third stop for the exhibit, as they’ve already visited Cranbrook and Kelowna.
“Prince George has absolutely blown us away, with the welcoming, the interest, and people just wanting to learn more, and that really gives me hope that change is possible, and healing is possible, and reconciliation is well on it’s way,” Relling said.
“I’m really grateful that so many people turned out to view the exhibit today, and ask questions to learn a little bit more about what we’ve gone through as Sixties Scoop survivors.”
The exhibit will then head to Kamloops on June 4th, Victoria on June 15th, and will have a three-day run in Vancouver from June 18th-20th.
“The main thing is to have knowledge and understanding of history, and history has many aspects,” said Mike Gagel, PG Public Library Board Chair.
“There’s a lot of materials in the library about what’s called ‘settler history’, but there’s another history as well, and it should be shared histories.”
Gagel added they have a dedicated local history collection in the library, which includes Indigenous history as well.
The exhibit will be open until 5:00 p.m. today. (Wednesday)