SENATORS’ STATEMENTS — Forced Adoptions

Honourable senators, I rise today to recognize the courage of mothers who, for far too long, have carried a grief that was made invisible. It is estimated that between 300,000 and 450,000 children were placed for adoption in Canada under circumstances now understood to be forced adoption. That is a staggering number. Behind that number are mothers, children and families whose lives were forever changed.

Across Canada, in the decades following the Second World War, many young, unwed women were pressured, shamed, isolated and separated from their babies. Many were told to forget. Many were told to move on. Many were denied the simple dignity of being treated as mothers.

However, a mother never forgets her child. Today, I want to pay tribute to these women, to their pain, but more importantly to their courage: the courage to survive a forced separation, the courage to break their silence after decades, and the ability to turn a personal wound into a collective struggle for truth, recognition and dignity.

I also want to recognize the remarkable work of Valerie Andrews of Origins Canada and of all the mothers, adoptees, families and allies who refused to let this history be erased. Through their determination, they carried a difficult truth forward at the cost of great personal vulnerability.

Among those allies is our former colleague the Honourable Art Eggleton, back with us in the gallery today, who chaired the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology during the study that led to the report entitled The Shame is Ours: Forced Adoptions of the Babies of Unmarried Mothers in Post-war Canada. That report helped bring to light deeply moving testimony and a reality our country ignored for too long.

These people are not asking for pity. They are asking for their stories to be heard and for their suffering to be acknowledged. They are asking that we finally understand that what happened to them was not a matter of personal shame but a social injustice.

Honourable senators, today I want to honour these mothers and adoptees, those who spoke out, those who are still searching, those who are no longer with us and those who continue to carry this pain with extraordinary strength. They were told to be silent, but today we say, “We hear you. We honour your strength and courage.”

Thank you.