Zeina received her PhD in Oral History from Concordia University a few years back. I had the honour of being a witness and a participant in her project which gave voice to the children who were stolen through illegal adoption. During the years of the Lebanese war, between 1975 and 1990, more than 10,000 children were illegally adopted as part of an organized illegal child trafficking system. In Canada, between 1951 and 1984, an estimated 20,000 children were taken from their parents and given to non-Indigenous families; some of these children were sold for thousands of dollars (https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/sixties-scoop-americans-paid-thousands-indigenous-children-1.3781622)
Many of the Lebanese children were sold, trafficked and transported to other countries, many to Europe. Zeina’s birth country of Lebanon’s engagement with forced adoption and relocation resembled those in Turtle Island. Canada’s notorious “Sixties Scoop”, as well as the prison camps for Indigenous children (aka “residential schools) were created to deliberately destroy Indigenous families and communities. While aiming to “Kill the Indian in the Child” (See former education minister Duncan Campbell Scott), the government was also trying to suppress resistance, through state violence and the use of the Northwest Mounted Police/Royal Canadian Mounted Police to stop Indigenous people from claiming their rights. Many Indigenous people were institutionalized, almost from cradle to grave. In Zeina’s Ph.D. presentation, there was a sense of poignancy when the lives of these children, now adults, were being remembered. There was a sense of spiritual present through these acts of remembering… a whisper that declared “we will not forget your life and what was done to you.” Zeina’s ongoing research aligns with calls for human rights and justice for children, whether in Palestine, Canada, South Africa, or in other areas on Mother Earth. Zeina and I agree that the adults of the planet must do a better job to care for all the children, not merely our own. Childen have the right to their culture, their extended family, to the land/Mother Earth …. and to have a childhood free from systemic abuse and violence. One solution is to use state funds to support families, in ways that uphold dignity and respect, and honour the gifts of every culture and spiritual orientation.
Here is a link to one of Dr. Ismail-Allouche’s recent publications. https://daraj.media/en/illegal-adoptions-an-added-layer-of-violence-against-the-children-of-gaza/
Article: Lebanon’s Disappeared Children: The Darker Side of International Adoption
https://www.middleeasteye.net/features/lebanons-disappeared-children-darker-side-international-adoption
The Illegal Adoptions of the Lebanese War. https://www.equaltimes.org/the-illegal-adoptions-of-the?lang=en
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