During the 60s Scoop, over 20,000 Indigenous children in Canada were
removed from their biological families, lands and culture and trafficked
across provinces, borders and overseas to be raised in non-Indigenous
households.
Ohpikiihaakan-ohpihmeh delves into the personal and provocative
narrative of Colleen Cardinal's journey growing up in a non- Indigenous
household as a 60s Scoop adoptee. Cardinal speaks frankly and intimately
about instances of violence and abuse throughout her life, but this book
is not a story of tragedy. It is a story of empowerment, reclamation
and, ultimately, personal reconciliation. It is a form of Indigenous
resistance through truth-telling, a story that informs the narrative on
missing and murdered Indigenous women, colonial violence, racism and the
Indigenous child welfare system.