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

Cali McTavish · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 19, 2025 9:24 AM EDT | Last Updated: 4 hours ago

Having spent his full beingness successful bigger cities, Jay Mitchell says he's inactive getting utilized to the gait of beingness successful the comparatively tiny municipality of Whitehorse. 

"It's a shock. I'm truthful utilized to metropolis life," said Mitchell. 

He's besides getting utilized to gathering caller members of his extended biologic family. He says radical often travel up to him connected the thoroughfare successful Whitehorse and archer him, "you're my cousin," "you're my 2nd cousin," oregon "you're my nephew."

Mitchell moved to the Yukon past May aft discovering errors successful his Sixties Scoop adoption papers and past learning the information astir his ancestry. He spent astir of his beingness believing helium was Métis, lone to person a DNA trial uncover that some of his biological parents were from Yukon First Nations.

Mitchell says helium misses his woman and lad backmost location successful Oshawa, Ont., but helium says they'll articulation him soon. He's grateful to the Kwanlin Dün First Nation successful Whitehorse for embracing him and giving him a job, and a spot to live, portion helium waits for his family. He is present a national of Kwanlin Dün, and works arsenic a records keeper for the First Nation. 

Mitchell's family's determination to the North is astir gathering connections with his biologic family, and finding enactment for Mitchell's 17-year-old son Nicholas who has autism. 

"We're doing this for my son," says Mitchell, "to marque definite that, you know, there's household to take care of him, if thing happens to us."

A lawsuit of mistaken identity

Mitchell, 57, was calved successful Edmonton and raised there by his adoptive household earlier they moved to Oshawa. He was 10 years aged erstwhile his parent told him helium had been adopted. He says it was a shock. 

"I had nary idea," said Mitchell.

His parent besides past showed him his commencement certificate which said Mitchell was Métis. That acceptable him connected a way to observe his taste roots. 

"I went to Métis celebrations, and I met the Ontario Métis main successful Oshawa," helium recalled.

When helium was in his 50s, a health issue prompted a doc to encourage Mitchell to effort to larn astir his biologic family's aesculapian history. That led to different astonishment for Mitchell, when a DNA test and an ancestry probe service revealed that helium was not successful fact Métis.

He learned that his biologic household were Yukon First Nations members. He soon connected with his biologic half-brother Jeffrey Kalles in Whitehorse, and yet his 2 half-sisters arsenic well.

Kalles describes the archetypal clip he talked connected the telephone with Mitchell.

"Hearing that voice, and conscionable truly realizing that's [my] large member — it's surreal," Kalles recalled.

It was besides surreal for Mitchell to larn astir his biologic family.

"The comic happening is that with my adopted family, I'm the babe of each the siblings — and successful my biologic family, I'm the oldest. It's benignant of weird however that works," said Mitchell. 

Putting the pieces together

Through a Freedom of Information request, Mitchell was capable to get his adoption records from the Alberta authorities and corroborate the identities of his biologic parents arsenic Yukon First Nations. 

"I don't recognize wherefore they didn't enactment maine arsenic First Nations. It's benignant of puzzling, but a batch of radical accidental that things were antithetic backmost then, successful 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 attraction oregon adopting them out to non-Indigenous families. According to Sixties Scoop people enactment suit colony website, galore claimants described being chopped disconnected from their civilization and language. 

Mitchell says erstwhile helium learned astir the people enactment suit helium was told helium didn't suffice due to the fact that of his Métis status. By the clip helium recovered retired the information astir his Indigenous ancestry, the deadline to articulation the assertion had passed.

'A batch of radical were shocked ... that I existed'

After moving to Whitehorse and reuniting with biologic family, Mitchell learned determination were 2 radical helium would not beryllium capable to meet: his biologic parents. Dennis Ladue and Joyce Jonathan had some died a fewer years earlier. 

"A batch of radical were shocked astir who I was, and that I existed," says Mitchell. 

Duran Henry is 1 of Mitchell's cousins. He thinks Ladue would person loved to conscionable Mitchell. 

"I deliberation helium would person been surprised, and past conscionable overwhelmed by joyousness and love," says Henry.

He says sometimes Mitchell reminds him of Ladue.

"The mode helium laughs and, you know, the mode we gag astir — he's conscionable a blessed guy, and [Ladue] was similar that."

Kalles was besides adopted and besides ne'er met Joyce Jonathan, his biological mother. But helium says their parents unrecorded connected done the siblings. 

"There are these idiosyncrasies — we didn't turn up together, but the mode we speech and the mode helium looks astir and worldly similar that. I guess, erstwhile I speech to him and look astatine him, I conscionable know, that's my brother," said Kalles. 

Mitchell says helium can't hold for his household to articulation him successful Whitehorse this summer. 

"Every time I miss my woman and son. My lad and I bash everything together," helium said. 

Kalles says he's besides excited to conscionable much of his extended family.  

"I'm going to discontinue present shortly, truthful I'll person a batch of clip to hopefully amusement them astir the Yukon," said Kalles.