‘Listen to the families’: Lorraine Barrie urges politicians to meet Tinker Experiment survivors
Making Rights Real’s interim director, Lorraine Barrie, gave powerful evidence this week to Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) on the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee — urging them to help secure long‑overdue justice for families affected by the Tinker Experiment.
Lorraine was one of several speakers invited to the final session of the committee’s human‑rights evidence hearings, joining representatives from the Scottish Human Rights Commission, Together, Engender, and the Human Rights Consortium Scotland.
She opened by grounding the discussion in Making Rights Real’s grassroots work with Scottish Gypsy Traveller communities — including women in the Highlands facing barriers to healthcare, unpaid carers fighting for recognition, and families dealing with poor housing conditions and obstacles to accessing justice. Lorraine also highlighted the organisation’s work supporting people who have experienced hate crimes, stressing the importance of reporting incidents as hate crimes and calling on media outlets to moderate online comments more responsibly when covering Traveller issues.
But the heart of her evidence focused on the Tinker Experiment. Lorraine reminded MSPs that although the First Minister issued a formal apology in June 2025, families are still waiting for meaningful progress on reparations and redress. She submitted a report to the committee outlining the lack of movement since the apology and invited MSPs to meet directly with affected families to hear their experiences first‑hand.
The Tinker Experiment emerged from a patchwork of policies and practices used by some Scottish local authorities in the mid‑20th century. Over time, these approaches hardened into a more organised programme aimed at forcing Gypsy Traveller families to abandon their traditional way of life. Children were separated from parents, families were closely monitored, and many people experienced lasting trauma. The Scottish Government’s apology in 2025 acknowledged the profound harm caused, but families have repeatedly said that an apology alone is not enough.
Many families want a formal process for redress, recognition of the intergenerational impact, and a commitment to ensuring such state‑sanctioned discrimination can never happen again. Lorraine’s evidence to the committee reflects those demands and the urgency felt within the community.
Clips of Lorraine’s evidence are available on Making Rights Real website and can be viewed here.
The full video of the committee meeting can be accessed on the Scottish Parliament TV website by clicking here.
By Mike Doherty for Travellers Times
(Lead photograph: Scottish Travellers/Nawken (Stewart clan) on the move in Sutherland, 1958. By Sandy Paton, courtesy of the Robert Dawson collection.)