Jayli Wolf: Child of the Government
Jayli Wolf was born in Creston, British Columbia on November 23, 1991. Though her ethnicity was originally unclear, she discovered that she was First Nations at age eight.
Her father was taken in the devastating Sixties Scoop; The Sixties Scoop was a period between 1950 and 1990 in which the government took indigenous children from their families and placed them in the foster system. It is estimated that 20,000 children were taken from indigenous families and adopted out to white families. Jayli’s true identity was hidden for years, as the authorities covered up her father’s indigenous ethnicity in his adoption papers. Thankfully, he was later able to find his family in the Saulteau community near Chetwynd.
Wolf is bisexual and a former Jehovah’s Witness, but she left the religion after meeting her current husband. In 2012, she moved to Toronto to pursue a music career inspired by her family’s story.
Child of the Government
Song: Child of the Government
Released: March 29, 2021
Artist” Jayli Wolf
Jayli Wolf debuted her career as a solo artist with the song “Child of the Government”. This song made CBC Music’s top 10 Canadian songs of 2021, and its music video was awarded Best Music Video at the Venice Short Film Awards. Following this first success, Jayli released her debut solo EP Wild Whisper — another hit nominating her for Contemporary Indigenous Artist of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2022.
The song “Child of the Government” describes her father’s adoption story and sheds light on her intergenerational trauma. The song has a fitting haunting tone. Jayli’s vocal delivery communicates the seriousness of her lyrics with a deep, clear rasp. The lyrics themselves are striking:
“Grandma was young when the baby came and She was locked up in a white room raining The nuns held the key while they made her sign her name They took my daddy away… Mixed up the bloodline, lost to his people Broken and cursed, wrapped him in evil Smile for the priest now, God save the banknote This is a song about a child of the government”
These lyrics describe the evils of the Sixties Scoop. Women were forced to “sign” away their children to the “government”. Her father was “lost to his people” and stripped of his identity. The music video also aids in the delivery of her story. In the video, we see black and white clips of mothers crying as their babies are torn from their arms. The nuns that take the babies are then seen lying while filling out adoption papers. When the paper asks if the child has “Indian status” the nun checks the “no” box. Later in the video, we see white families abusing their adopted indigenous children.
At the end of the music video, a black screen appears with writing explaining the Sixties Scoop and its disastrous effects. Overall, the song and the video spread awareness of the Sixties Scoop and mourn the loss of indigenous cultural identity.
Link to Listen to the Song
Works Cited:
“6 Indigenous Artists You Need to Know in 2021 | CBC Music.” CBCnews, CBC/Radio Canada, 18 June 2021, www.cbc.ca/music/6-indigenous-artists-you-need-to-know-in-2021-1.6067395.
Boitano, DJ. “The Song and Story of Jayli Wolf, ‘Child of the Government.’” The Zone @ 91-3, 4 Apr. 2021, www.thezone.fm/2021/04/04/the-song-and-story-of-jayli-wolf-child-of-the-government/.
“Jayli Wolf.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 18 Jan. 2024, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jayli_Wolf.
This is one of my favorite posts because of the history behind this artist. I love how you included Jayli’s background, especially the devastating story of her father and the Sixties Scoop. Indigenous trauma is so prevalent and real, in all indigenous communities around the world, and it’s so powerful how Jayli reclaimed her and her father’s identity through music. This music video affected me profoundly. I love how she communicated that the nun did not mark the child as having Indian status, and it would be interesting to do more research as to why she did that. My guess is they were trying to colonize and Christianize these children, just like they did in the United States. They needed to strip them of their indigenous identity to fully indoctrinate them. Overall, this is my favorite post I have looked at. Thanks for sharing!
I found this song to be incredibly beautiful, but haunting. One thing I find especially interesting is that some artists chose to utilize their native language as a way to honor their culture and preserve their language, while others artists utilize English to broadcast their messages to a broader audience. The artist I chose, John Angaiak, utilized both English and Yup’ik in his language, but it failed to gain widespread popularity. Thus, I find this example really enriching because it demonstrates an example of success. This song was able to rise in popularity throughout Canada which allowed the broader message about the Sixties Scoop to be spread. Jayli Wolf managed to use her catchy yet eerie song to educate the broader public of the serious trauma that her father faced.