Dr. Brittany Penner, a Métis doctor, took a while to accept herself as a survivor of the Sixties Scoop. Born in 1989 to a Métis mother who willingly put her up for adoption, Penner’s experience deviates from the typical narrative of Indigenous children being taken from their families and placed with non-Indigenous families. Despite this difference, her upbringing by Caucasian parents led to a disconnection from her Indigenous heritage.
Now a family physician and soon-to-be mother, Penner is embracing her Indigenous identity and acknowledging her status as a Sixties Scoop survivor, a label that her birth and adoptive parents resist. In a recent interview on CBC Radio’s “As It Happens,” she shared her journey and discussed her new book, “Children Like Us: A Métis Woman’s Memoir of Family, Identity, and Walking Herself Home.”
Raised by a Mennonite family in Steinbach, Manitoba, Penner grew up alongside numerous foster siblings and cousins, all Indigenous like herself. Despite the sense of normalcy within her upbringing, there was an underlying notion that Indigenous children were not meant to be raised by their birth families due to perceived cultural deficiencies.
Penner vividly recalls her adoptive mother explaining her adoption using Barbie dolls, a simplistic story that contrasted with the complexity of her identity struggles. Throughout her childhood, there were moments of joy playing with her foster siblings, but also a constant fear of separation as she witnessed others come and go.
In her teenage years, Penner embarked on a quest to uncover her roots, which culminated during medical school when she learned her birth mother’s name. Meeting her birth mother, Crystal, brought a mix of emotions, including excitement and grief for the lost years and missed connections.
Penner’s story, while not a traditional Sixties Scoop narrative, is intertwined with Canada’s history of Indigenous family separations. She aims to break the cycle with her own daughter on the way, hoping to create a different legacy for the next generation. Her memoir, “Children Like Us,” published by Penguin Random House, delves into her personal journey and reflections on gratitude and breaking free from societal expectations.
As a family physician and educator at the University of Manitoba, Penner’s story sheds light on the lasting impacts of Indigenous family separations and the ongoing quest for healing and reconciliation.