Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I want to speak on a terrible time in Canadian history and part of our national history that we must acknowledge, and I'm doing so today because of a recent court ruling that found in favour of those Indigenous peoples who were victimized by what is known now as the Sixties Scoop.

Mr. Speaker, the Sixties Scoop was wrong, a by-product of the ignorance of colonization, and those affected deserve to be compensated, and I'm pleased to see that the courts have ruled on the right side of history.

Mr. Speaker, the Sixties Scoop placed Indigenous children in non-Indigenous homes from 1965 to 1984 under terms of federal-provincial agreements. Some were sent from their traditional territory and families to places as far off as Europe or the southern United States. Some were purchased for up to $30,000 while others were given away callously as so-called freebies, and some were placed in the foster system, going from group to group, group home to group home, always alone and never knowing that they had those who loved them and wanted them awaiting them in their traditional homes. They were forced to give them up to a heartless and misguided policy.

Canadians can never apologize enough for the unnecessary pain caused by the Sixties Scoop, nor should we ever stop apologizing, but we can begin to take ownership of the wrongs committed on behalf of all of us by our government of the day and continue the process of reconciliation with Indigenous people affected by this and the legacy of colonization across the country. Courts will compensate them financially through this new ruling, that is clear, but we can do more.

We can assure that cultural identity will never again be stolen by misguided policies of colonial thinking. Through our education system, we can ensure that our teachers tell the truth of our history, even those parts that are difficult to hear. We can assist our social workers tasked with helping those dealing with the trauma from our own history and our own misguided policies, but we cannot begin to do this, Mr. Speaker, without ensuring that these initiatives for reconciliation are properly resourced and supported by this government. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.