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A Manitoba-produced web series has been created to shed light on the sixties scoop, where thousands of Indigenous children were taken from their families and placed in non-Indigenous homes.
Now the stories told by the Winnipeg survivor-turned-director appear to be offering a way for people to reconnect with their culture and identity.
Sixties Scoop survivor and longtime Manitoba journalist Colleen Rajotte has spent much of her life telling stories about loss and resilience. Now she’s sharing in a new way, through Amanda’s Choice, a six-part web series inspired by her experiences after finding her birth family.
Rajotte said, “I had this idea in my mind that why don’t I make a web series about the scoop of the sixties, incorporating things that I have gone through, my friends have gone through, so I sketched it on a napkin and here we are.”
The series follows three urban Native women navigating identity, family and everyday life as they reconnect, mixing humor and heartbreak through stories drawn from real moments.
“Sometimes it was difficult because it brought up memories and past experiences, but knowing I could share these stories in a different way was very relieving.”
An episode titled “Interview,” was inspired by Rajotte’s own experience in his twenties, asking painful questions during a documentary taping and feeling those emotions return.
“Some of the questions were very deep, involved and emotional, and I suffered a reaction of anxiety,” Rajotte said.
Rajotte says Amanda’s choices go beyond entertainment; It’s a reminder that the legacy of sixties scoop is still shaping life today.
“It’s a different way to entertain people, but remind them that Sixties Scoop is very real and needs to be addressed,” she explained.
“The scoop of the sixties has not generally received the same amount of public attention as the residential school survivors have received, and we need to remind people that 30,000 of our children were removed.”
Amanda’s Choice premieres November 12, with a new episode daily youtube And Facebook,