In Canada, 68-year-old men discovered they had been switched at birth. One has Ukrainian roots
[ad_1]
In Canada, two 68-year-old men learned that they had been switched at birth in 1955. The truth came out after the DNA tests, and it caused an existential crisis for both men, Insider reported. Two Canadians, Richard Bove and Eddie Ambrose, had very different destinies determined by their Indian and Ukrainian upbringing. In February, their story was told by journalist Lindsay Jones for The Globe and Mail, and in August, it appeared in The New York Times. A man named Richard Beauvais believed all his life that he had half French, half Native American roots. And Eddie Ambrose was brought up in a happy family of Ukrainian Catholics. However, it turned out to be the opposite. Two Canadian men who were switched at birth to families of different ethnicities are now questioning who they really are and learning how racial heritage shapes identities. — The New York Times (@nytimes) August 3, 2023 In 1955, a small Canadian maternity hospital in the province of Manitoba mixed up babies – Eddie and Richard ended up with different parents. Businessman Richard Bove took a DNA test in 2020 after receiving it as a gift from his eldest daughter. The girl was interested in the culture of indigenous peoples and even thought of getting a corresponding tattoo. The man was puzzled when it turned out that his ancestors were Ukrainian, Polish and Ashkenazi Jews, not Indians or French. In 2022, a woman named Evelyn Stokey took a similar test and discovered that she had a half-brother, Richard Bovet. Then she realized that Bovet and her “brother” Eddie Ambrose were born on the same day, in the same hospital. Eventually, Richard and Eddie bonded and discussed a joint turn of fortune. Eddie Ambrose was not the son of Ukrainian emigrants, but a mestizo – a descendant of Europeans and indigenous people. “We both agreed that if we opened up and no one found out, we would just close the book and not tell anyone,” Bovet said in an interview with The New York Times. At the same time, the men faced an existential crisis: one mistake not only “confused” their roots, but also affected their lives and upbringing. Read also: In Alabama, a woman gave birth to twin boys, and then to rare twins. PHOTO Richard Beauvais told reporters that as a child he had first-hand experience of Canada’s cruel policy towards indigenous peoples, as he was separated from his mother as part of a project to “assimilate indigenous children into white families.” “Richard told me I probably wouldn’t have survived – it was so brutal,” added Eddie Ambrose. Instead, Ambrose had a happy and carefree childhood. The boy, who was actually of Indian origin, was brought up in Ukrainian Catholic traditions. Eddie’s named parents were children of Ukrainian emigrants, worked as farmers, had a store and a post office in the town of Rembrandt. When Eddie was born, the family already had three daughters, so he, as the only son, “became the whole world to mom and dad.” Eddie Ambrose himself recalls that his parents and three sisters loved him very much, and he describes his father as a mentor he looked up to. “Richard should have had my upbringing in a loving family. It should have been him. He should have had that love,” Eddie said. Eddie Ambrose now lives with his wife in Winnipeg, but is trying to reconnect with Métis culture through communication with his new extended family. “My life was stolen from me. It’s something I can’t get back. I lost that time. But there is time from now,” he told reporters at The Globe. Richard Bove also spoke about the feeling of loss in an interview with The New York Times. “I am 67 years old, and suddenly I became a Ukrainian. I have never been among Ukrainians. I used to tell Ukrainian jokes, but I don’t know if I really want to,” said the man about the opportunity to explore his recently discovered origins. Richard does not give up the identity of a native Canadian with which he grew up. “Just because I’m not indigenous now, in my mind I always will be,” he says. Despite all the difficulties, men say that they would not like to “go back in time” and change everything. “If I could go back to that hospital room today and change places, I wouldn’t, because I have two beautiful daughters, a beautiful wife and three granddaughters,” Richard said. Now men who were switched at birth communicate as families. In February, Richard and Eddie said they planned to celebrate their 68th birthday together in June. All photos: Alana Peterson, Nasuna Stewart-Ulin, The New York Times. Read also: Appeared out of nowhere: a woman who did not know about her pregnancy gave birth to a child on the plane on the way to Hawaii
[ad_2]
Original Source Link
