At 65, these two men discover they were switched at birth: 'I feel like my identity has been stolen'

It's a story you can scarcely believe. TwoCanadians, Richard Beauvais and Eddy Ambrose, learned at the age of 65 that they had been switched at birth. It's a story they agreed to tell in the columns of the New York Times as part of a feature on 'the importance of socio-ethnic origins in life courses'.

They found out through a DNA test

In 2021, Richard Beauvais decided to take a DNA test to find out more about his origins, for a tattoo project. But just when he thought he was 'half French, half Indian', his world fell apart when he received the results. At the same time, Eddy Ambrose also ordered a similar test.

After contacting the DNA testing website, the two men talked and shared their life stories with each other. They discovered that they had been switched at birth, 65 years ago, in a hospital in the Canadian province of Manitoba.

The New York Times reports on the two men's very different upbringing.

For 65 years, each led the other's life. For Richard Beauvais, a difficult childhood made all the more traumatic by Canada's brutal policies toward native peoples. For Eddy Ambrose, a happy, carefree upbringing, steeped in his family's Ukrainian Catholic culture.

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The two men had very different childhoods

Richard Beauvais's childhood was marked by the death of his father when he was 3, and of his grandparents when he was 9. He then fell victim to the 'Sixties Scoop'. He was one of the Aboriginal children taken from their parents to be adopted by white families.

For his part, Eddy Ambrose grew up in a particularly loving family, with both parents the children of Ukrainian immigrants.

Richard Beauvais reacted to the news:

I'm 67 years old and all of a sudden I'm Ukrainian.

I feel like my identity has been stolen. My whole past is gone. All I have now is the door to my future, which I have to find.

Eddy Ambrose also said he wishes his brother had the same upbringing as him.

Richard should have had my upbringing, in a loving family.

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This article has been translated from Oh!MyMag FR.

Sources used:

New York Times: Switched at Birth, Two Canadians Discover Their Roots at 67

CBC