Special Committee on Indigenous Women Committee on June 6th, 2013

[The Chair, Conservative, Stella Ambler]

Welcome to meeting number seven of the Special Committee on Violence Against Indigenous Women. I'd like to welcome our witnesses today and to apologize ahead of time if I mess up any pronunciations. I'd like to welcome our video conference guest first, if that works for you, Ms. Porteous.

Please begin. You have 10 minutes.

[Tracy Porteous, Executive Director, Ending Violence Association of British Columbia]

Thank you very much. My name is Tracy Porteous and I am the executive director of the Ending Violence Association of B.C.

This is a provincial non-profit NGO that works on behalf of 240 anti-violence programs in the province of B.C. What they all have in common is that they respond to sexual and domestic violence, child abuse, and criminal harassment. I have been working in the field of response to violence against women for 31 years.

I'm here not to speak for aboriginal women but more as an ally to them in what I've seen happen to aboriginal women during at least the three decades I've been working in the field. I've had the great privilege of working with many aboriginal women leaders for many years—chiefs; local, provincial, and national leaders and healers; academics; and lawyers—all in the context of ending violence against women, increasing safety, supporting families, and helping people and women move forward with their lives. I've also worked quite a lot with a lot of aboriginal women to look at policies with police and crown counsel and child protection.

There is no doubt that you are aware of the disproportionate levels of violence experienced by aboriginal women in Canada, so I will not go over any of those statistics with you today. You also probably know that in B.C. we have the most murdered and missing aboriginal women of anywhere in Canada, a profoundly troubling reality that we must move forward on.

I'm not going to take the time today to articulate the great volumes of research that have been created about what needs to be done on this subject. In fact I want to caution you about concluding these meetings with recommendations for more studies or more reports. Throughout the first decade of 2000, EVA BC—which is the short form for my organization—working in partnership with the Pacific Association of First Nation's Women, and BC Women's Hospital, held a number of meetings with aboriginal women across the province, all looking at and having discussions about the issue of violence against women, and what aboriginal women felt needed to be done.

We studied the issues very carefully over number of years and we produced two reports, the latter of which is called “Researched To Death”. I think that report alone speaks to what many of our aboriginal sisters believe today: that many governments are willing to fund studies and reports but very few are willing to stand up and fund and support the long-term infrastructural solutions to the problem at hand. In this case it's violence against aboriginal women and girls.

The three organizations concluded, based on the findings of all the reports we could put our hands on, that, alarmingly, aboriginal women experience the highest levels of violence of any women in Canada but to this day, in 2013, very little has been done.

We need programs designed by aboriginal women for aboriginal women, and we believe nothing short of those will do. In fact, across the province and in every territory in Canada right now there are networks of services that are there to respond to sexual and domestic violence. Not all jurisdictions have all the services they need, but all the provinces and territories have these services. They're mostly what I would call mainstream services; that is, services set up by non-aboriginal social services or women's groups.

While many of these services have aboriginal women on staff and many of them reach out to women on reserve, there are many women who live on reserve who can't make it to town or who choose not to go to a mainstream service who would feel more comfortable going to an appropriate culturally based service themselves.

I won't get into the history of colonization as to what might be behind that. There's also a population of aboriginal women who might want the security of going to a mainstream service, who might want to go to town for reasons of confidentiality or because of relations in the local community.

For this reason we believe that of all the things you might consider, there are two that you might consider, and one of them is to make sure the existing anti-violence services across the country have aboriginal women on staff, and that they have appropriate cross-cultural competency training so that they can provide an appropriate respectful response to aboriginal women seeking a service who have been victims of violence.

In addition to adding onto the existing services, we believe there should be a service co-connected to reserves and friendship centres that is run by aboriginal women for aboriginal women in every one of these communities. I believe, after 31 years of working in the field, this is probably one of the most significant things that could be done. This is something that's been done for the last 30 years for non-aboriginal mainstream women: the process of breaking the multi-generational cycle of violence.

Everyone needs help; nobody can do it by themselves. The roots and causes and current attachments and harmful ways that we survivors can think about ourselves all need to be unravelled. One needs a counsellor to help create the new internal foundations and the new internal world frameworks.

This is how self-esteem and empowerment are created. This is how women get to the place where they say, “I've had enough of this violence. I don't deserve what's happening to me. I'm going to make this stop. I'm not going to put up with it any more.”

As for the supports and services that have been put in place by the mainstream, while violence is still at epidemic levels, at least those mainstream women have had those supports, and aboriginal women have made it to those services.

There are many anti-violence workers doing this work. They've existed, as I said, for many years—20, 30, sometimes 35 years for many of them. If you are considering funding aboriginal women's services to exist in a collocated perspective, on reserve or in friendship centres, an enormous sisterhood can be tapped into. We don't need to have services created from scratch. There's a whole 35-year history of the provision of advocacy and empowerment services that anti-violence feminists have created.

Obviously a cultural translation would need to take place. These services aren't for aboriginal women; if you're setting up services by aboriginal women, for aboriginal women, at least some sharing of knowledge could take place. In B.C. alone we have 202 distinct first nations communities with distinct cultural practices that would need to be respected.

As well, aboriginal women, more than other mainstream women, have made it very clear for the last 25 years of us working together in B.C. that any response needs to be more holistic. It can't just be for aboriginal women. It needs to be for men and youth as well.

If we get time a little bit later, I'd like to tell you the story of the development of Canada's first and only sexual assault centre for women, called The Women of Our People, which I had the privilege of helping start on Vancouver Island many years ago.

I think the solutions we need will only come with aboriginal women being at the centre. We need to empower them, I believe, and provide them with the resources to heal their communities.

I won't take up time today talking about the need to change systems, because I'm sure that has formed the basis of a lot of your conversation. I will say, though, that racism is still an active toxin in our society. It remains as a deadly ingredient, responsible for much of the inaction that I think we're all facing right now.

I think we stand on a legacy of violence and racism left by colonization and residential schools, but that's not in the past: those attitudes exist today. I can testify, as a front-line worker and as an advocate for over three decades, that I can still see my first nations sisters being treated differently and being treated with less respect than they deserve.

Each system, therefore, also needs cultural competency training. We must attend to that.

We also need transparency from our systems. We need our systems, including the police and prosecutors, to document who they're providing responses to. I know that at least in the province of B.C. the RCMP does not make a note of who the victims or who the offenders are in terms of race, ethnicity, or cultural heritage. If we don't know who we're providing services to, we don't know who's not getting served.

The attachment and the connection and the release of statistics is something that's all been lost, at least in the province of B.C. I think we need to have that information if we're going to be developing appropriate and useful public policy.

If I have time later and you'd like to ask me about some research we're doing on women who are victims of domestic violence and who are being arrested by the police, I'd be very happy to talk to you about that. It relates to statistics, cultural heritage, and being able to figure out how people are being disproportionately provided with service.

I want to touch on a concept that we believe is possibly a great idea and best practice. The concept we have arrived at is the idea that the demographic of most anti-violence programs across the country is largely non-aboriginal. With regard to these services that I talked about a bit earlier—these mainstream, largely women's, services that are responding to sexual and domestic violence—though many of them have aboriginal women on staff, they need to have more of them on staff.

We would like to suggest that you support the development of a college and/or a university diploma course that would train violence against women workers. George Brown College has something like this in Toronto, but it doesn't exist anywhere else in Canada.

We believe that in a very short time, from the development of this diploma course—

[The Chair, Conservative, Stella Ambler]

Ms. Porteous, I'm sorry to interrupt.

Could I just ask you to wrap up as quickly as you can? The 10 minutes was up a while ago.

[Tracy Porteous]

Okay. I'll just finish up on this diploma course.

We believe that by having a diploma course and starting to see graduates, we could create within a short period of time substantially more diverse anti-violence programs. We could increase the employment opportunities for aboriginal women. We could increase the capacity of aboriginal communities to respond to violence against aboriginal women. We could attend to the crisis of recruitment of workers into social service agencies across rural parts of Canada and attend to the issue of there being very little money for post-employment training.

There is lots more I could say, but I've used up my 10 minutes, so I'll end there.

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Conservative, Stella Ambler]

Thank you very much, Ms. Porteous. We really appreciate that.

Welcome, Rolanda Manitowabi. Thank you for being here.

A few of us were at the status of women committee when you appeared there as well, so we're doubly grateful that you would come back today.

Welcome. You have 10 minutes as well.

[Rolanda Manitowabi, Executive Director, Ngwaagan Gamig Recovery Centre Inc.]

Again, my name is Rolanda Manitowabi. I'm from the Wikwemikong Unceded Indian Reserve on Manitoulin Island.

I believe this invitation stems from the MRP issues and the testimony that I gave as an individual. Still as an individual, I will share a bit about my work experience and my personal experience as related to violence against aboriginal women.

The cycle of abuse, in my experience and my perception, is insidious, and the impacts complex, and it takes much time to unravel the connections and outcomes. Personally, I have experienced abuse in childhood and in adulthood and have been working for many years towards being safe and out of fear.

I have found comfort, understanding, and validation through people who have understood and listened, such as counsellors, and in programs that I've attended, in healing ceremonies, and through helping in the field of domestic violence as well as helping to raise awareness about the impacts of residential schools, and more recently in my current work in the field of addictions.

Although physical abuse was stopped by my running away in the late 1980s, I found myself later re-emerging in the cycle again, in a relationship that was emotionally, mentally, and spiritually abusive. While trying to strengthen my understanding of cultural teachings, I was being isolated and drained emotionally and financially. My son and I were thrown out of our home in January of 2007, a home that I had financed. I found help through the women's shelter on Manitoulin Island—not on the reserve, but on the island—which provided shelter to us first and then counselling for quite a long time. Through my family members as well, I found support.

I've struggled with the impacts of that displacement as well as prior incidents of hypocrisy in cultural and societal practices. My son has much to deal with as well, but that's for him to share.

As a mother, I am angered and hurt but have come to a time of feeling much more peace, safety, and compassion. It has been a gift to have survived through troubled times to actually enjoy life. By sharing more, I hope we can help others.

I filed a civil case two years after I was thrown out of my home. It was challenging to keep a lawyer, though I did find one a few months after I filed the claim. I wanted to file a civil suit so that I could get back some of the money I had contributed to the construction of the home. For me, it was a stepping forward, for the first time for myself. The ups and downs, the stalling, and the delays were very stressful. Only a year ago, as we started the fiasco of a civil trial, I settled during court.

I look back on the events and impacts now with more understanding of this whole issue of violence. For me, it was or is so ingrained in my life that there are connections to prior impacts of abuse. We talk about the values of respect, kindness, and honouring women, but we don't show it, and I suspect that we really don't believe it. I'm learning to honour myself, and it feels good. It feels new.

Supports to help me take care of myself have been my only way of reaching deeper into my own history and trauma and into greater healing. It's kind of sad that at 48 years old I've only come to realize this. I'm grateful for the feelings of self-worth and for perhaps some things to share.

My work in addictions is in management; however, I am briefed with client progress, the review of applications, and histories of substance abuse and trauma. I'm blessed to see remarkable change through the empowerment of the programs offered. Many others I'm sure had the same effect; however, the sustainability to support that uncovered spirit for many of our women is really needed in individuals, families, and communities.

Support can include programs to build self-esteem and confidence, to increase personal safety, and to enhance understanding of the issues for police and judges. It can include programming resources, not only for shelters, PAR programs, and such for those who have been assaultive or abusive, but also for programs to educate children on what is gender-based violence, on what is healthy relationship-building, and on building role models for kindness, caring, empathy, and life skills. We need to learn to take care of our emotions and to take care of that empowerment.

That's all I have to share right now.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Stella Ambler]

Thank you, Rolanda. I appreciate that.

Ms. O'Hearn, we thank you as well for being here. We're very anxious to hear what you have to say so that you can inform our study on this very important issue.

You have 10 minutes.

[Tracy O'Hearn, Executive Director, Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada]

Thank you. It's a great pleasure being here, and my colleague Katharine Irngaut is here with me as well. She manages our violence and abuse prevention department.

It's wonderful to see friends here. Mr. Saganash, it's a great pleasure to have you here as the representative for Nunavik. You'll know exactly what we're talking about. Unnusakkut.

We bring greetings, first of all, from our president, Rebecca Kudloo. She lives in Baker Lake, and she's on her way to Norway now for a preparatory meeting for the UN World Conference on Indigenous Peoples. We bring her greetings, and she is very grateful to see what we hope will be some substantive work on the issue.

Pauktuutit has been the national representative organization of Inuit women for nearly 30 years. This is our 30th anniversary year. Since that time, violence against women, including child sexual abuse, has been and continues to be a priority.

Over the last couple of years, with more attention being paid to the issue in Canada, our board of directors has had very specific and detailed discussions about potential national initiatives. We want to tell you first about the different circumstances and priorities of Inuit women. Their culture, their language, and the geography of their communities are unique. They live largely in 53 communities across the Arctic. They're all isolated. They all fly in and fly out. There's very limited infrastructure, as we've heard someone mention before. There may or may not be a social worker, any sort of a health intervention worker, and more than 70% of these communities do not have a safe shelter for women and children. In Nunavik, for example, there are 14 northern villages, as they are called in Nunavik. There are three shelters, and they're not enough.

We've heard stories of women who have died because their requests to a social worker to be taken out of their community was denied. We've heard stories of women and children who have died as a direct result of overcrowding of shelters. This is in Iqaluit, the capital of Nunavut.

Within this context, initially our board of directors discussed a potential national task force in the context of their lives. At that point, they felt they did not want to support a national initiative but more specifically the human and financial resources that would be required when there are such critical emergency situations in the communities. However, they welcomed the creation of this committee and hope to be a key ally and key informant for you.

As was mentioned before, many socio-economic issues have to be addressed: overcrowded and inadequate housing, low educational attainment, poverty, food insecurity, high rates of unemployment, and very high rates of child sexual abuse.

One of Pauktuutit's priorities is to address the fact that violence happens along a continuum, across the lifespan. We would never diminish the significant work done by NWAC, but Inuit women's priorities are very different from the Highway of Tears, the tragedy in Vancouver. So this is extremely important to us. Within your work, the scope, and the mandate of what you're taking on, we request that our priorities be considered separately and specifically, and that any recommendations also be separate and specific.

I appreciate that we're short of time. I'm going to let Kat talk about a couple of new and emerging issues. We didn't come prepared with a formal presentation; we didn't come with pages of statistics, but they are certainly readily available. Again, another study was released only yesterday that documented the link between the childhood experiences of people who committed suicide and childhood sexual abuse. We need more evidence, but a lot is available.

I'll turn it over to Kat, and then we would welcome your questions.

Thank you.

[Katharine Irngaut, Manager, Abuse Prevention, Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Stella Ambler]

I want to let you know that you have more than five minutes, so take your time.

[Katharine Irngaut]

Thank you.

As Tracy mentioned, Inuit women face many different types and levels of violence and abuse. They may face emotional, mental, and/or physical abuse such as child sexual abuse, elder abuse, family violence, and, one of our newest emerging problems, human trafficking.

We know that sexual exploitation is present in mining and resource extraction projects around the world. We're not sure yet of what's happening in our communities.

We've heard anecdotally of 42 Inuit women who have been trafficked through Ottawa in the last four years. Trafficking routes include transit across the Arctic, across the east coast of Canada, as well as to Las Vegas and Miami. There are foreseeable problems still to come, including international issues that directly affect Inuit women.

The first is another wave of colonization, with the opening of the Northwest Passage and international influences on Arctic sovereignty. Another topic that ITK is more involved in is the EU seal ban that threatens the livelihood of all Inuit. These are major international issues that directly affect Inuit. We need to be part of that discussion.

Tracy talked also about the great work that NWAC is doing and has done.

We have our own types of organizations that are first nation, Métis, and Inuit, or population-specific. “Aboriginal” is a term of a grouping that's used quite often, but often Inuit voices get lost with that type of address, so we would prefer using the terms “first nation”, “Métis”, and “Inuit”, over “aboriginal” or “indigenous”, in the language going forward.

[Tracy O'Hearn]

We participate at many levels. We work with the provinces and territories on a subcommittee of the aboriginal affairs working group. We participated last November in the National Aboriginal Women's Summit III and collaboratively developed a number of recommendations. One in particular is that there must be the capacity for representative organizations to participate as equals. We're here. We have the expertise. We just need the capacity to participate.

We put forward a recommendation about the creation of an ombudsman to oversee law enforcement and justice workers, and to report to the public about issues and concerns related to racism and other systemic issues. There's an urgent need to raise awareness among Inuit: family violence continues to be the most significant issue in Inuit communities.

We do need research. I know in many areas there has been a tremendous amount of work done, but we need more Inuit-specific research.

As Kat was saying, human trafficking is an emerging issue that is really frightening to us.

We would be more than happy to provide a written submission. Just with the time of year and the life of a not-for-profit organization, we haven't been able to do it yet. This is absolutely a priority for us.

We very much appreciate your time. Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Stella Ambler]

Thank you.

We'll be more than happy to take that written submission when you have time to prepare it. We'll look forward to receiving that. Thank you.

Just to let you know, you might see that we have some hungry parliamentarians. While we're eating—I hope you don't mind if we do that—the clerk has also generously ordered some sandwiches in as well, so please feel free, everyone in the room, as you arrive, to take a little break as well if you'd like to have a bite to eat.

All right. We'll now begin our rounds of seven minutes with Ms. Davies.

[Libby Davies, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Thank you very much.

I'll be splitting my time with Ms. Ashton.

Thank you very much to the witnesses for coming here today. This committee has just started, so we're really just getting into the program and understanding what's going on. That said, many of us have worked in these areas and have participated in other committees, so we do have a background and a familiarity with the issues that we're looking at here.

As Tracy said at the beginning and as we've heard from many people, there have certainly been many reports and recommendations on this issue. So how do we actually get to solutions, how do we actually get to helping communities that are in distress, and how do we actually get to helping women who are facing violence in the aboriginal community?

We've had a number of witnesses from government departments. Our first couple of meetings were with government departments here in Ottawa.

One question I have for all of you, because I think you're very familiar with the scene, is how aware do you think aboriginal communities, particularly organizations that service women, are of federal programs, and how effective are they? Do you see big gaps in service?

We've been told that safety plans exist and programs against violence against women, but it's hard to actually know how effective they are. Certainly the voice of the community in that regard is very important, so if any of you have any insight on how you see those programs working, or not working, and what is effective and what isn't, I think it would be very helpful to us.

Would any of you like to comment on that? Perhaps you would keep your comments short, because my colleague, Ms. Ashton, is also going to ask a question.

[Tracy Porteous]

It's Tracy here, from Vancouver.

I certainly have a response, if I'm still on.

[Libby Davies, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Go ahead.

[Tracy Porteous]

Okay, thank you.

We have a project going on that's being coordinated by Beverley Jacobs, who used to be with NWAC a number of years ago. She is trained as a lawyer and is going around the province engaging the leadership of aboriginal communities—the governance, chief and council, band social workers, and so forth, and also friendship centre staff—training them and sharing knowledge to ensure that they know enough about domestic and sexual violence to respond to an initial disclosure. As you said, a lot of people say there are anti-violence services, but they don't exist in every small community and every reserve and every village. We want to make sure that these leaders have the confidence to know how to respond, and know what policies should be in place in case aboriginal women are not being treated properly.

What we're finding is that there is a massive disconnect, especially in remote communities, but even in communities that are not that remote. Even in the communities along the Highway of Tears that have suffered the terrible tragedies of missing and murdered women, which may be located only 45 minutes outside of Prince George, or Smithers, or Prince Rupert, there is a huge disconnect between them and the mainstream programs that exist for responding to violence against women.

There is also an amazing amount of energy and willingness to be involved in a coordinated perspective. Beverley is working with the communities on an individual basis, working through some of these issues doing training and knowledge-sharing, and then ending up with the development of a safety plan.

She is talking to communities and asking, “Okay, if you are a remote community, what are you going to do the next time a woman wants to call 911 because she's been beaten up, and the RCMP are 45 minutes away? What are you, as a community, going to do to deal with this?”

But you are absolutely right, there are a number of safety planning, risk assessment, and violence counselling response services available, but they need to be more on-the-ground and closer to aboriginal communities.

[Libby Davies, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Thank you very much.

How much time do I have left, Madam Chair?

[The Chair, Conservative, Stella Ambler]

You have two minutes and 40 seconds.

[Libby Davies, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Overall, I have seven minutes?

Okay, I will turn it over to Ms. Ashton.

[Niki Ashton, NDP, Churchill, MB]

Thank you very much, Ms. Davies.

Thank you to our colleagues. I want to particularly thank the Inuit women who have come forward with a very distinct story here.

I am a once-over neighbour of Romeo Saganash, representing Churchill, which is obviously a community a hub for many Inuit people. I was involved with a women's shelter in my hometown of Thompson, where many Inuit women actually came to seek refuge.

Clearly, this is a national epidemic of missing and murdered first nations, Métis, and Inuit women. There have been many calls for a national inquiry and I wonder what you would say to those calls, or how you view that call?

Perhaps we could start with Ms. O'Hearn.

[Tracy O'Hearn]

Thank you.

I mentioned that our board initially thought that any resources required or devoted to such an undertaking could really be better spent on an emergency basis in Inuit communities. They felt that if they had a choice, that would be their preference. More than 70% of women don't have a shelter, and women die as a direct result. But if it does goes forward, it's critically important to them that Inuit be consulted separately and specifically, that their true voices and priorities be heard, and then reflected in any resulting recommendations. A lot of work has been done. We know what's required; we just have to do it.

I'd like to, if I may, respond briefly to Ms. Davies's questions about funding. I can give you a very specific response. For nearly 30 years Pauktuutit worked with the Department of Canadian Heritage, developing projects under their aboriginal women's program. One stream looked at family violence, one stream looked at self-government, and I'm forgetting the third. For the first time in nearly 30 years we are not working with Canadian Heritage; the funding criteria have been changed. It now has a community focus.

Pauktuutit's role was to fill the gaps in the communities, because there just isn't the capacity in most communities to have organized women's groups writing proposals, incorporating, and receiving funding, and undertaking a project. That's where Pauktuutit has come in and played a significant role in developing resources—bilingual, plain language, or whatever—that have been of use to all the communities. We met with them several times and tried to find a potential solution. It simply was not possible. That's just as of this fiscal year.

[The Chair, Conservative, Stella Ambler]

Thank you.

We'll move to Mr. Rickford for seven minutes.

[Greg Rickford, Conservative, Kenora, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you to the witnesses for being here today.

I'll make a couple of quick comments about some of the content of the presentations and then probably focus some of my questions to Rolanda. Just indulge me for about a moment.

First of all, Katharine, thank you for your references to human trafficking, the Northwest Passage, and the seal hunt. I am struck by at least two of those not having occurred to me in the context of some of what we will no doubt continue to build on in this conversation. I will probably reach out in a more private meeting to get more information from that. I know that the committee would benefit from some of that information.

It has been my observation, and unfortunately my experience, having worked as a nurse in isolated and remote communities across the northern provinces, including the Arctic, that there are indeed complexities here, as you mentioned, Rolanda, which hopefully, over the course of time, this committee— which I think is the most appropriate forum to address many of these issues—will consider.

Specifically, Rolanda, to your presentation, I have seen first-hand that not only is there an existing vulnerability in many of the communities, particularly in isolated, remote communities, and that there may be some resources, including shelters—although there's a host of reasons why shelters don't go in communities.... There are political and difficult issues to work through, no matter what side of the debate we might be on, but importantly, in addition to that, it gives rise to a certain vulnerability, as you referred to, and to running away from the community.

I think that pretty consistently there is a correlation between a problem or a situation that arising from domestic violence on reserve or in a community that leads to that girl or woman leaving for a city, confronting a whole host of different new realities, and falling vulnerable prey to some very dangerous conditions.

There are two things on my mind, Rolanda. If time permits, the others can chime in on this.

First of all, with respect to the matrimonial real property regime, I believe that the most important part of that is the protection order and priority occupations, because I do believe that there has been a shortfall in raising awareness in a variety of different ways on reserve, particularly in the isolated communities, to make it clear what the law could potentially do in these exigent circumstances. That's the regime itself and what it provides. There are other things in the dissolution of the marriage, but I'm focused on those two components.

The second thing is program outreach. I believe that over the course of time, no matter how good the intentions of NWAC, Status of Women, or other programs have been, they have failed to target the awareness to the appropriate people to some degree—to some degree—and that has been with children in schools, and particularly the males in those communities, around not just respect, but actually violence itself. We have funded these de-escalation programs in cities such as Kenora, where we have managed to influence and impact and have participation from surrounding communities, but we haven't gotten to where we'd like to be or where we should be in isolated communities.

Rolanda, more pointedly, my rambling notwithstanding, can you comment on the regime itself and what is particularly of importance and benefit to you, based on your experience? Comment, then, if you could, on what benefits MRP regimes provide to raising awareness in communities, if there are any, and what additional kinds of activities we could do on reserve to raise more awareness in what I believe is a target group that we should be focusing on.

[Rolanda Manitowabi]

I'll try to do my best with that. First, I want to clarify that when I was 12 years old, I took the opportunity of going to a boarding school. So in effect I was running away from home then. I did run back home from the city after school. I just returned to my community in 1998 only to find that, of course, the violence and abuse were still there. I say that just for clarification.

I think that when I experienced being thrown out of my home with my son.... I work in the community. I know the resources. I worked at social services. I'm in the addictions field. But it was such a crisis that you don't think readily or clearly. Outreach would have been helpful. I think I had one or two people out of the entire community ask me what really happened. Again, it was like a silent crisis for years.

You can have safety plans. I think safety plans keep you physically alive. But you don't feel safe for a long time until you do the work of making sure that all precautions are taken. You then start to build on that experience of feeling safe. Nonetheless, that sense of safety still isn't there; I still feel unsafe at times because I run into certain individuals, and continue to deal with obscene gestures and remarks and those sorts of things.

They were helpful to me at the shelter. God bless them. They're so busy and so alert 24/7 in dealing with crises. I'm so glad that they were there for me when I needed them. But I knew about them. So I'm not so sure if any person going through a crisis would readily think of those things. I think the outreach is absolutely needed and some type of coordination team or something like that when situations happen. People knew that happened to me; they knew that when I was thrown out of the house and the door was locked, nobody came. I tried calling and all sorts of stuff. The police said their hands were tied.

People know what's happening but they don't know how to deal with it. It's as if we live in a community that's paralyzed, because we're in crisis and we deal with a lot of issues all the time. Sometimes things are normalized.