is there a link online on aptn so I can watch it? I tried looking and couldn’t find it?
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» Calling all our superheroes – Briarpatch Magazine
Success, sacrifice, and Indigenous education -
» Truth and Reconciliation: What Joe Canadian needs to know
MONTREAL - The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada opened hearings Wednesday in Montreal at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel that will run through Saturday — and there are a number of reasons you should be there.
The commission was created after the $1.9-billion residential-schools settlement in 2007 between the government of Canada (along with partner Roman Catholic, Anglican, Presbyterian and Methodist churches) and the Assembly of First Nations.
Frank disclosure of the atrocities committed at church-run, government-backed residential schools have finally started to come out into the open since the settlement. An apology by all federal political parties, including Prime Minister Stephen Harper in the House of Commons in 2008, was seen as a step forward.
But for Native people, many of whom see the apology as shallow, free of any real remorse or substance, there is still so much work and educating to be done.
How do you fix the devastating impact of sexual abuse suffered by an innocent child of 6 years of age, whose only “sin” was being Mohawk?
How do you reverse the lasting effects of being beaten as a child for speaking your own Native tongue?
How do you give back the confidence stolen from these children after years of browbeating, intimidation and threats at the hands of nuns and other clerical figures who were in charge?
You can’t.
This truth and reconciliation commission, which is holding hearings across Canada, aims to put very real and horrific stories of abuse out there to the public, so Joe Canadian can see that what happened at residential schools had and continues to have a grave impact on Aboriginal people.
Residential schools lasted for more than 100 years. The last one closed in 1996, and they were spread across the country.
An estimated 150,000 Aboriginal children attended residential school, and there were 11 schools right here in Quebec.
Aboriginal children came home and could not converse with their parents after years of being forbidden to speak their mother tongue, and being forced to learn English as a way to “civilize” them.
Siblings were split apart in this province, with brothers unable to speak to each other in any language.
Intergenerational trauma, passed down from those students to generations that never set foot in residential school, is a sad reality in our communities. And it rears its ugly head in many forms, including lateral violence, self-loathing and abuse.
The commission hearings allow non-Natives a rare glimpse into our realities, and answer some lingering questions. Things like: How come most Native people do not speak their own language? What happened at residential schools? And, most importantly to non-Natives: How does this affect me?
Residential schools affect everyone in Canada, regardless of race, mother tongue or political creed.
Children were taken, sometimes forcibly, to schools that were promoted as great venues for civilized learning.
These schools turned out to be anything but — a litany of sexual, physical and mental abuse has been documented.
Imagine being sent to a foreign country and required to never speak English or French again. The punishment for disobeying? A severe beating. Until, left with a choice to live or die, you finally stop speaking your language.
Many brave children stood up for themselves, however, and paid for it with their lives.
Others died from malnourishment, tuberculosis and other diseases.
A number of children lie in unmarked graves that are only now being uncovered.
Rape was a regular occurrence. And what would happen to the rapists? Nothing. No one believed a 6-year-old “uncivilized Indian.”
This is part of Canada’s history.
It’s part of your history.
Why do we remember war veterans who fought overseas many years ago? Because they fought for freedom, and because we are taught to remember the tyranny they fought against.
These residential-school survivors and their stories need to be remembered by everyone in Canada, so that something like this never happens again.
Residential-school survivors are heroes; they fought a fight the magnitude of which few can grasp, but one that should never be forgotten.
The average Quebecer needs to know what these schools did to our people. And they need to know the detrimental effects they continue to have on our people.
They need to know the full history of Canada, not just the parts of it that the modern-day education system presents non-Natives for study.
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» Aboriginal Language Gets Official Status in Nunavut, Canada
As of April 1, Inuktitut became an official language of Nunavut, putting it on par with English and French in the territory.
“This level of statutory protection for an aboriginal language is unprecedented in Canada,” said the Government of Nunavut’s Department of Culture and Heritage in an April 2 news release.
The passage of the Official Languages Act has been five years in the making. This act takes the place of the Northwest Territories Official Languages Act, which recognized only English and French as official languages. The older act did give “a lesser set of rights to seven aboriginal languages, including Inuktitut,” according to Uqausivut, a comprehensive language plan. But, as the plan points out, “This does not reflect the realities of Nunavut, where a majority of people speak neither English nor French as their first language, but a single Aboriginal language.”
To help support public agencies in becoming compliant with the new act, the Department of Culture and Heritage will provide $5 million for Inuit language initiatives.
“I am proud that Inuit in Nunavut now have a clear statement of their inherent right to the use of the Inuit language in full equality with English and French,” said James Arreak, Minister of Languages, in the press release.
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» Canada’s First Indigenous Woman to... (complied by Sally Simpson)
To make a suggestion for the list email Simpson at sally.simpson@rogers.com.
1. Become a registered nurse: Charlotte Edith Anderson Monture, Mohawk, 1914. It was illegal for Indigenous people to attend post-secondary education in Canada, so she studied in the United States then joined the U.S. Army serving in France for World War One.
2. Officially serve in the Canadian Armed Forces: Private Mary Greyeyes, Cree, 1943. She was posted overseas during the Second World War, working as a cook.
3. Publish the first novel: Sanaaq in the Inuit language, Mitiarjuj Nappaaluk, Inuit, 1951.
4. Become an elected chief of a First Nation (Curve Lake): Elsie Knott, Ojibwa, 1954.
5. Become a professional wood carver: Ellen Neel, Kwakwaka’wakw, 1954.
6. Be featured on a Canadian stamp: (first author & first women other than the Queen), Pauline Johnson, Mohawk, 1961.
7. Challenge the Royal Commission on gender discrimination and win back her Indian status: Mary Two-Axe Earley, Mohawk, 1967. This ruling is connected to the UN holding Canada in breach of human rights in 1981 (see Lovelace, below) and would later become Bill C-31 in 1985.
8. Become Olympians: in cross-country skiing, Sharon & Shirley Firth, Gwich’in, 1972. They were also the first Canadian women to compete in four straight Olympics.
9. Host Radio-Canada: (CBC’s French station), Myra Cree, Mohawk, 1973.
10. Become President of NWAC (Native Women’s Association of Canada): Bertha Clark-Jones, Métis, 1974.
11. Become a commercial airline pilot: (Land, Sea & Block Airspace), Dr. Alis Kennedy, Métis, 1976.
12. Become a lawyer: Marion Ironquill Meadmore, Ojibwa-Cree, 1977. The first Canadian-European was Clara Brett Martin in 1897.
13. Become a medical doctor: Dr. Elizabeth Steinhauer, Cree, 1980. The first Canadian-European was Emily Stowe in 1880.
14. Succeed in having the United Nations declare Canada in breach of human rights, as indigenous women’s Indian status was revoked if she married a nonindigenous man: Sandra Lovelace, Maliseet, 1981.
15. Earn a Masters in Library Science: Phyllis Lerat, Cowessess, 1981.
16. Earn a PhD in Biological Psychiatry: Until she earned her doctorate, she kept her Indigenous status a secret, Dr. Lillian Dyck, Cree, 1981
17. Be appointed an ex-officio member (non-parliamentarian) of a House of Commons Committee: Roberta Jamieson, Mohawk, 1982.
18. Win an Oscar: for the song Up Where We Belong, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Cree, 1983.
19. Be ordained by the United Church of Canada: Christina Baker, Cree, 1983.
20. Be named an Officer of the Order of Canada, Alanis Obomsawin Abenaki, 1983.
21. Produce a professional play: Flight, with the first all Indigenous cast, Maria Campbell, Métis, 1985. She also wrote the famous novel Half-Breed in 1973.
22. Become a full university professor: Dr. Olive Dickason, University of Alberta. She also wrote the first Canadian Indigenous history book written by an Indigenous person, Métis, 1985.
23. Become a Chartered Accountant: Charlene Taylor, also first to be the Director at the Office of the Auditor General of Canada, Heiltsuk, 1986.
24. Become a Member of Federal Parliament: Ethel Blondin-Andrew (Liberal) Dene, 1988. In 1993 she was the first appointed to privy council when named Minister of State for Youth and Training. The first Canadian-European was Agnes MacPhail in 1921.
25. Launch Canada’s first Indigenous commercial fishery: Wendy Grant-John, Musqueam, 1990.
26. Be appointed a Provincial Court Judge: The Honourable Justice Terry Vyse, Mohawk, 1991.
27. Be elected Premier of a Canadian Territory: Nellie Cournoyea, Inuit 1991.
28. Earn a Masters in Civil Engineering: Karen Decontie, Algonquin, 1991.
29. Become a chief executive of a steel company: Hilda Broomfield-Letemplier, Inuit, 1991.
30. Become a Journeyperson in Carpentry: Deborah Nelson, Nuxalk, 1992
31. Receive a Rudy Martin Award: actress Tantoo Cardinal, Cree, 1993.
32. Be appointed a Superior High Court Judge: The Honourable Madam Justice Rose Toodick Boyko, Tsek’Ehne, 1994.
33. Be appointed Ambassador for Circumpolar Affairs (first person in Canada): Mary May Simon, Inuit, 1994.
34. Publish a national native weekly newspaper (Turtle Island News): Lynda Powless. In 2006 she was listed as Top 100 Most Powerful Woman in Canada, Mohawk, 1994.
35. Become a Canadian Senator: Thelma Chalifoux, Métis, 1997.
36. Become a psychiatrist: Dr. Cornelia Wieman, Ojibwa, 1998.
37. Become the World Champion Hoop Dancer, in the adult female and male combined division (first female in the world): Lisa Odjig, Odawa-Ojibwa, 2000.
38. Earn a PhD in Aboriginal Economy: Dr. Wanda Wuttunee, Cree, 2000.
39. Become a dual Justice of the Peace (Federal & Provincial, first person in Canada): Her Worship Norma General-Lickers, Mohawk, 2000.
40. Win a gold medal at the World Junior Level Wrestling: Tara Rose Hedican, Ojibwa, 2002.
41. Achieve the rank of full university professor based on traditional knowledge: Professor Shirley Ida Williams(Trent), Ojibwa-Odawa, 2003.
42. Become a NDP Member of Provincial Parliament: Joan Beatty, Ojibwa, 2003
43. Become a RCMP Superintendent: Shirley Cuillierrier, Mohawk, 2004.
44. Participate in an International Cycling Expedition (Canada, Russia, Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Botswana, Namibia & South Africa): Miranda Huron, Algonquin, 2005.
45. File the first class action suit against the Federal Government for more than 70,000 Residential School Survivors: Nora Bernard, Mi’kmaq, 2005.
46. Become an Archaeologist: Brandy George, Chippewas, 2006.
47. Become a Senior Assisant Deputy Minister of Aboriginal Affairs (formerly INAC): Gina McDougall-Wilson, Algonquin, 2008.
48. Conduct the first study of female chiefs: Dr. Cora Voyageur, Athabasca-Chipewyan, 2008.
49. Become a Conservative Member of Federal Parliament: Leona Aglukkaq, Inuit, 2008.
50. Become a veterinarian dentist (first person in the world): Dr. Candace Grier-Lowe, Cree, 2009.
51. Have a solo exhibit at the National Art Gallery of Canada: Daphne Odjig, Ojibwa, 2009.
52. Anchor a national news television broadcast: Carol Morin, Cree-Chipewyan, 2009.
53. Become a deaf medical doctor: Dr. Jessica Dunkley, Métis, 2010.
54. Earn an Indigenous Environmental Studies bachelor’s degree: Teyotsihstokwáthe Dakota, Brant, Mohawk, 2010.
55. Earn a PhD in Criminology: Dr. Lisa Monchalin, Algonquin-Huron-Métis, 2011.
56. Be appointed a Supreme Court Justice of a Territory: Supreme Court Justice Shannon Smallwood, Dene, 2012.
57. Become a Catholic Saint (the first Indigenous person in the world): Kateri Tekakwitha, Mohawk, 2012.
58. Become Canadian Red Cross National Director, Aboriginal & Northern Affairs, Disaster Management: Melanie Goodchild, Ojibwa, 2013.
59. Earn a Masters in Infrastructure Protection and International Security: Teresa Nadon, Algonquin, 2013.
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» Allegations of Police Abuse of Native Women Have Rocked Canada
“Dismissive.” “Out of touch.” “A travesty for the victims.”
With these forceful words, one of the world’s leading human rights organizations fired back at Canada’s national police force and the federal government for their response to the group’s report alleging gang-rape, sexual assaults and other abuses of Native women by those charged with protecting them.
The long-standing controversy over police treatment of female aboriginal victims of violence has taken yet another turn with a new report by Human Rights Watch, which alleges widespread abuse of indigenous women in British Columbia by members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Human Rights Watch hoped that the February 13 release of Those Who Take Us Awaywould spur the Mounties and Prime Minister Stephen Harper to start a national inquiry into the problem of murdered and missing aboriginal women across Canada—a toll that many say tops 600 victims—but instead, Harper merely demanded that the alleged victims of police abuse come forward or be identified. “If Human Rights Watch, the Liberal Party or anyone else is aware of serious allegations involving criminal activity, they should give that information to the appropriate police so that they can investigate it,” Harper told the House of Commons a day after the release. “Just get on and do it.”
But after 50 interviews conducted in 10 northern British Columbia communities—including one woman who claimed that four police officers gang-raped her and then threatened to kill her if she told anyone—Human Rights Watch says many of these women live in a “constant state of insecurity”—terrified for their safety, and in some cases their lives, if they speak out publicly.
“I was also deeply troubled by the allegations we heard, and by the level of fear that we witnessed,” Meghan Rhoad, Human Rights Watch’s lead researcher on the report, says. “Women who were abused by officers were unlikely to come to the police to report such acts. The women have very real fears of retaliation, and we still feel really strongly that it’s incumbent on the government to provide a safe, civilian-led body to investigate these complaints in a way that’s effective, and also protects the safety of the women.”
Police Chief Superintendent Janice Armstrong responded to the report swiftly, pledging to investigate the allegations. “In a written response to a series of questions posed by Human Rights Watch in fall 2012, the RCMP emphasized the seriousness of allegations of police misconduct and that these allegations must be brought forward for proper investigation,” Armstrong said in a statement. “It is impossible to deal with such public and serious complaints when we have no method to determine who the victims or the accused are.”
The Mounted Police said it has no intention of launching a large-scale inquiry into the accusations, deferring the matter to the recently formed British Columbia Independent Investigations Office, which responds to misconduct charges. But Human Rights Watch points out that sexual assaults are outside the mandate of that office.
Demanding that the complainants step forward seemed far removed from on-the-ground realities and was “the wrong tone to be taking, to the victims especially” if Canadian authorities expect women to feel safe reporting police misconduct, Rhoad says. “Going into organizational defense mode is a travesty for the victims,” she explains. “That shows just how out of touch some parts of the government are with these issues. It’s the responsibility of government to create safe, independent avenues for people to come forward to make complaints. It’s not on the victims to come forward in the absence of those.”
The 90-page report is the result of 87 interviews with 50 indigenous women and girls between the ages of 15 and 60 in at least 10 British Columbia aboriginal communities. The report’s findings include allegations that one woman, identified as “Gabriella P.,” was gang-raped by four officers last year and then allegedly threatened with death if she reported the assault. “I feel so dirty,” the tearful woman told the rights watch interviewer. “They threatened that if I told anybody they would take me out to the mountains and kill me and make it look like an accident.”
Two 12-year-old girls say they were Tasered, another says she was attacked by a police dog and other youth report being pepper-sprayed. A woman in Prince George, British Columbia alleged she was arrested and taken to a basement by officers who stripped, drugged and sodomized her, then threatened to murder or “disappear” her family members. Another women alleged she awoke in a cell and her pants and underwear had been removed. “I just went home and cried,” the woman said, according to the report. “Why did this happen to me? Why didn’t they just leave me on the street?”
The report further tarnished Canada’s reputation, which was already besmirched by the more than 600 cases of missing or murdered indigenous women and the recently concluded Missing Women Commission of Inquiry that criticized the police for “colossal failure” in pursuing investigations on the matter.
For one of the country’s leading missing-women advocates, the report hit home very personally. Gladys Radek, from the Gitxsan and Wet’suwet’en nations in British Columbia, co-founded the group Walk4Justice after her niece, Tamara Chipman, disappeared along northern British Columbia’s Highway 16 in 2005—a roadway dubbed the Highway of Tears because so many women have disappeared in the area.
Walk4Justice organizes memorial marches every year to bring attention to the many unsolved cases. Radek became involved early on in Human Rights Watch’s research in British Columbia, and she expressed anger and disbelief at the police claims of surprise at the allegations and demands that the complainants reveal themselves. Radek says she has first-hand knowledge of how credible such reports are—she says an officer raped her, but she has not come forward because she is terrified of retaliation.
“That makes me sick,” she said about the force’s response to the report. “According to my books and the voices of the families, it’s very clear the [Mounties] could have something to do with the amount of missing and murdered women. Quite frankly, any one of the victims—myself included—who have been raped by police are not going to turn around and go to the police for fear of losing our lives.”The Royal Canadian Mounted Police did not respond to ICTMN’s request for comment on Radek’s allegations, nor did the Department of Justice. Advocates expressed outrage after police spokeswoman Sergeant Julie Gagnon questioned whether 600 indigenous women are missing or murdered. In an e-mail to the CBC on February 16, she said only 64 incidents out of 118 reports are listed in the force’s database.
The 600 or more figure stems from five years of research conducted by the now-defunct Sisters in Spirit initiative, linked to the Native Women’s Association of Canada. It had a list of 582 missing women and girls from 2005 to 2010, when the Conservative government eliminated its funding for the project. If that figure was correct, it is reasonable to assume the number today is at least 600, although the Native Women’s Association believes the actual tally is significantly higher—perhaps in the thousands.
As recently as last May the federal Department of Justice seemingly stood behind that research, and said that it was working to “improve the response” of the law enforcement and justice systems to better meet the needs of aboriginal women and their families. “The government is also working with stakeholders to develop collaborative responses, such as improving support for police investigations,” Department of Justice spokeswoman Carole Saindon said via e-mail at the time. “It has funded [Native Women’s Association’s] work with regard to missing and murdered aboriginal women since 2005, and we have confidence in their work on this issue.” Sharon McIvor, a lawyer with the Canadian Feminist Alliance for International Action, helped Human Rights Watch launch its report and was in a delegation that took the missing-women issue to the Organization of American States’s Inter-American Commission on Human Rights last summer. “What this report does is adds to what’s already known,” McIvor said in a statement. “We know that police don’t respond [in an appropriate way] when indigenous women and girls are missing or murdered. What this does is it adds to the list of perpetrators. Every one of the stories in the report should not have happened.”
Rhoad says she was inspired by the courage of the women and girls who shared their stories with Human Rights Watch, many visibly frightened to even be seen with an international researcher. Even more women declined to speak with, she says, despite wanting to tell their stories of police abuse.
“This is an opportunity for the government to take these concerns seriously, and show that abuses of this nature are not tolerated in Canada,” Rhoad says. “We are not the only organization that has raised these concerns. The eyes of the world are on Canada on these issues. This is really a make-or-break moment—to [establish] how seriously the government will take the safety of women and girls.”
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» Abandoned Indian School Graves Will Be Protected
The abandoned gravesite has not been in use for over 100 years, but the memories of what it stands for remain. Officials with the City of Regina say the cemetery that holds remains from the former Regina Indian Industrial School will be protected, even as a city expansion includes the site, CBCNews reports.
Committee member Don Black told CBC on February 11 that previous attempts to protect the site have been uncovered.
“They wanted the federal government to take some responsibility for cleaning up the site, maintaining it, honouring the lives of the kids that were in there,” Black said. “That was from 1922. We have no record of the response, but looking out at it there wasn’t much of a response.”
The CBC reports that 22 graves are believed to be on the site, including three for children of the first principal, Rev. J. A. McLeod, their stone marker was found on the site.
City officials said they will consult with First Nations and other levels of government as to how to proceed. A report on possible options is expected by the end of this year.
The Regina Indian Industrial School was one of many efforts to encourage assimilation of First Nations people—it operated between 1891 and 1910 as such before it was converted to a jail.
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» Canadian Parliament Unanimously Approves Launch of Missing and Murdered Women Committee
Human rights and indigenous groups in Canada are celebrating after Parliament voted unanimously on February 27 to launch a special committee on missing and murdered Native women.
Many groups hope that the committee—approved 278–0, in a rare show of partisan unity—is merely the first step in establishing a long-sought national public inquiry into what advocates say is more than 600 disappearances across the country.
Opposition Member of Parliament (MP) Carolyn Bennett (Liberal) originally submitted the motion on February 14 as hundreds of women rallied for action on the disappearances just steps away, on Parliament Hill, and with similar events held nationwide.
The newly created committee’s mandate will be to “conduct hearings on the critical matter of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls in Canada, and to propose solutions to address the root causes of violence against Indigenous women across the country,” according to the motion.
In filing the motion, which would see the committee report back on February 14, 2014, Bennett told Parliamentarians the time has come to set aside party differences in order to address a festering injustice. The call came not only as aboriginal women rallied for a national inquiry, but also as global One Billion Rising events pushed for an end to violence against women worldwide.
“Unfortunately, it is here at home that we have to deal with this systemic violence against indigenous women and girls in Canada,” Bennett told the House of Commons. “It is important that the rallies today make it clear that this is not just about appalling unfairness and injustice. It is about missing daughters, mothers, aunties, cousins, nieces, real people who have now left a real hole in the hearts of their families and their friends. They want justice. They want prevention. They want the violence to stop. They know it needs a systemic solution.”
The ruling Conservative Party indicated its support from the outset, with the Minister of Justice’s Parliamentary Secretary declaring missing and murdered aboriginal woman to be “a very serious concern” of the government.
“This House should recognize, and I believe our government has recognized on many occasions, that aboriginal women and girls in Canada today still, unfortunately, face a significantly greater risk of violence and of suffering more serious and severe violence than other Canadians,” MP Kerry-Lynne Findlay told the House of Commons on February 14. “A disturbingly high number of aboriginal women and girls have also gone missing or been murdered in Canada. We have all heard the expressions of pain and suffering from family members who do not have answers for what has happened. This is something no Canadian should believe is someone else’s problem. The government has a responsibility to provide justice for the victims and for their families, and I believe our government has taken this responsibility very seriously, with important action. We must all speak out against this unacceptable violence toward sisters, mothers, daughters, aunts and nieces. Their lives matter, and their deaths must not be ignored.”
The first public reaction to approval of a missing women’s committee came on February 28 from the Canadian Human Rights Commission, which welcomed the news.
“The Canadian Human Rights Commission is deeply concerned about the disproportionate number of aboriginal women and girls in Canada who are victims of violence and systemic discrimination,” Acting Chief Commissioner David Langtry said in a statement. “It is vital that society address this issue. If called on, the Canadian Human Rights Commission would welcome the opportunity to assist Parliamentarians in this important effort.”
Likewise, the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) urged politicians to collaborate on what National Chief Shawn A-in-chut Atleo called a “critical issue.” Atleo said in a statement that he hopes indigenous people’s voices are included in the committee’s work and that a core priority of the body’s deliberations must be to ensure that “our peoples are safe wherever they live.”
And though a committee falls short of AFN and other groups’ demand for a National Public Commission of Inquiry with powers to conduct a full-scale judicial investigation, Atleo and other advocates described it as a very positive step forward.
“We have no idea if and when the current government will agree to a public inquiry process,” said Claudette Dumont-Smith, executive director of the Native Women’s Association of Canada, toThe Globe and Mail. “So at least having a Parliamentary committee in place, and hopefully starting soon, will keep this issue alive in the minds of Canadians and among politicians.”
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Letters to Canada
On February 25, 2013, the Canadian Government appears before the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal to answer allegations that it is discriminating against First Nations children by providing flawed and inequitable child welfare services on reserve. Children and young people from across Canada prepared this video so that the Tribunal could understand why this case is important to all children in Canada but the Canadian Government opposed it. This is the children’s video that the Government of Canada did not want the Tribunal to see..
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» Aboriginal men take stand against violence toward women, children
Violence against women and children was never part of traditional First Nations culture and it is time for aboriginal men to reclaim their path as spiritual warriors, an annual gathering was told in Victoria Friday.
The Moose Hide Campaign, organized by the B.C Association of Aboriginal Friendship Centres, culminated with a gathering of First Nations men on the legislature steps where participants pledged to speak out against all forms of violence.
Pointing to the small patch of moose hide on his lapel, Songhees artist Butch Dick said, “We are wearing this little patch to say, we, as men, will spread the word among our communities that violence against women and children must stop.”
First Nations men and non-aboriginal supporters across the country, including some police departments in Ontario, wear the patches of moose, deer or bear hide to signify their commitment to honour, respect and protect women and children in their lives.
Although aboriginal women are not the only ones to suffer domestic violence, they do face disproportionately greater violence, said Aboriginal Relations Minister Ida Chong.
“This is an issue that affects all of us, each and every day of our lives,” she said.
Aboriginal communities and families need to heal, said organizer Paul Lacerte, after speakers at the conference talked about feelings of dislocation caused by residential schools, poverty and addictions.
“When I wear this [patch] it’s a commitment that I will never use my fists against women and children in my life,” he said.
“If we see and hear violence is taking place, we have made a commitment to speak up.”
That includes speaking up about missing and murdered aboriginal women across Canada, said Scott Fraser, Alberni-Pacific Rim MLA and aboriginal relations critic for the NDP.
“It’s a provincial problem. It’s a national problem and there needs to be an inquiry. That has been resisted by government and I don’t know why,” he said.
The conference was witnessed by women, several of whom spoke about growing up in violent homes.
Dealing with violence is not just about stopping the beatings, it is about showing children how partners can respect each other and how men can show affection and kindness, said Karen Joseph.
“We all need to be OK with love and not let fear lead us to this place,” she said.
