Woman welcomed home in custom adoption

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A woman adopted out of her band as a child has officially been welcomed home.

One of the highlights of Aundeck Omni Kaning's powwow included a custom adoption ceremony. On June 7, community members welcomed former Sudbury resident Patricia McCauley back into the fold after many years of struggling to regain her status.

McCauley was adopted out of the community as a child.

"She was born here and is entitled to be registered, but Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) was making the process too long. People suffer enough from adoption and living in non-Native homes," band councillor Patsy Corbiere said. "She spent all those years not knowing her family lived here because she couldn't gain access to her records. There is a lot of trouble gaining disclosure of information."

For McCauley, the weekend ceremony was highly emotional. In preparation for the custom adoption ceremony she made her own jewelry, and a cousin gave her a beautiful dress.

"We also went to the woods to find just the right tree to gather birchbark," she said. "And we were up until 1:30 a.m. making three bowls for the occasion."

"There are so many problems getting registered; I agreed to support her and sponsor her," Corbiere said. "We now officially accept her as a band member."

"She's come home in the full sense," Chief Patrick Madahbee agreed. "She has been recognized as a community member.

"We are determining who our own citizens are and not relying on the government to tell us who is Anishinabek," he said. "The Indian Act is designed to eliminate people from our membership list. Through legislation they are attempting to assimilate us and that's not going to happen. The community is taking ownership in saying who is part of our community."

"It was my pleasure to perform the ceremony," health worker Joe Laford said. "Patricia has joined her family again; she knows the importance of family and now she is more fulfilled and happier than ever before."

Past adoption practices led to loss of cultural connection for many First Nation children. Uprooted from their families and placed in non-Native foster homes, they experienced "loneliness, sadness and hopelessness," Laford said.

"Now after many years of being lost, Patricia has a sense of direction, a sense of identity, and sponsors to help her with a lifetime of learning."

The adoption was preceded by many heartbreaking years of searching for her roots. "I started looking for my father in the late '70s, but I was just banging my head against a brick wall," McCauley said.

She encountered many roadblocks in gathering information from the Children's Aid Society and INAC.

"There is very little support out there," she said. "And it is phenomenally expensive to do the research. It is enough to make you want to quit."

Her search for documents to prove her heritage took her to libraries, hospitals, churches and universities.

A breakthrough came in 1998, when she contacted the Ojibways of Sucker Creek band office. By chance, she discovered her cousin Elsie Esquimaux-Milette.

Although she had identified her First Nations lineage, the restoration of status was denied to McCauley.

"INAC was very cool to requests for files," she said. "It was very devastating. They gave me impossible tasks to perform; they were trying to deter me with excessive paperwork. It was ridiculous.

" I was afraid I would never get my heritage. I wanted it more than anything.

"When I came to the island and lived in Native culture, it all seemed so natural to me. Each year I came and I stayed longer and longer," she said.

McCauley is thrilled to be accepted back into Aundeck-Omni-Kaning at age 50. The mother of five admits she had to learn patience through the long battle with bureaucracy.

She acknowledges that her adoptive parents gave her stability when she was a withdrawn five-year-old deserted by her mother.

But the non-Native guardians parented by instilling fear and enforcing very strict discipline, she sid.

"The first adoption I had as a small child was forced on me. I had no say on who, where, what. I was shipped out to a new life.

"No mention was made of my past or who I really was. My adopted parents groomed me to be clones of them in their society, with their rules and their religion."

"This adoption will finally and truly give me back my roots so I can be with my family and be who I truly am ... a Native woman," she said.