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My adoptive parents tried to erase my Indigenous identity. They failed. [cbc.ca]

 

By Kim Wheeler,CBC.CA Radio, The Doc Project,  

My name is Kim Wheeler but some know me as Kim Ziervogel. Others will remember me as Kim Bell, and to a small group of people I will always be Ruby Linda Bruyere. But the name game doesn't stop there.  

Why would someone have so many different names? Are they all aliases? Are they hiding from their past? From the law?

In my case, it's none of these. I'm a Sixties Scoop survivor and those names were given to me through birth, adoption and two marriages.

I've always known I am First Nations. I've also known I am Mohawk. It wasn't until I was 26 — when I first met my maternal birth siblings — that I learned I am also Anishinaabe. I also learned I wasn't a Bruyere, I'm actually a Beaulieu. My birth mother married into the Bruyere family, took her husband's name and that is why I was given the Bruyere name at birth. I have no blood connection to the Bruyere family. 

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  • Screen Shot 2020-06-22 at 2.59.23 PM: Kim Wheeler as a baby. This photo was to be used for prospective adoptive parents. [Photo submitted by Kim Wheeler]

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