John Beaucage is the former Grand Chief of the Union of Ontario Indians, and was recently commissioned by the Ontario Ministry of Children and Family Services to draft a report on the situation of aboriginal children being taken away from their families and put into foster care and other institutions.

The report was released in June 2011, and his findings were shocking to many.

Among his findings, Beaucage found that aboriginal children are nearly 8 times more likely than other Canadian children to be separated from their families and put into institutions. He is calling this phenomenon the "millenium scoop", which refers to the shameful period in Canadian history when native children were forcefully taken en masse from their families and often adopted by non-aboriginal families. It was a clear assimilation program carried out by the Canadian government, and fell within the legacy of the residential schools.

In this phone interview with CKUT radio, Beaucage talks about his findings, why he has called this the "millenium scoop", and some of the solutions he is proposing.

* The full version of Beaucage's report can be found at:
http://www.children.gov.on.ca/htdocs/English/topics/aboriginal/reports/c...

Produced for CKUT radio by Aaron Lakoff. http://aaron.resist.ca