Status of Women committee  With regard to the housing, that should have been one of the first things that was brought up in this meeting today. Housing is so hard for women. That's probably a big portion of the problem of why it's so hard to get into the women's shelter, because it's not just women who are being abused who are in there; it's people who have no place to go, people who have no housing, so they're taking up space.

Status of Women committee  Poverty is a major issue with everything. Part of it is why are people so impoverished? Whenever we talk about poverty we need to go back and look at when Canada was first colonized. We have no rights to our resources and our minerals. I live on a first nations community, and when we try to get programs and some economic development there are always those barriers: you have to do this and you have to do that.

Status of Women committee  Yes. I just had a healing circle last night and that was a major thing: there are women who will not come forward. They have the security of that healing circle to be able to say those things confidentially. I asked them if I could mention this if something should come up. That's exactly what's needed: they do need that support there and it's not there for them.

Status of Women committee  Well, there are a lot of women I'm working with. One lady in particular said she was walking down the street after she left her partner, and her partner saw her walking on the street and attacked her. A neighbour saw what was happening and called her into his place of residence.

Status of Women committee  It is. I think it's because they do want to protect the best interests of the child. I think that's important, but you can't do so by walking over the woman's rights. That further victimizes that child as well, because then the children don't want to come forward. They don't want to be pulled from their home.

Status of Women committee  Thank you. I am also employed by the mental health...and I do work with the program, Choices for Men. I'm a co-facilitator for the Eve program, which is kind of a mirror.... Where the men go into the program, the women get the exact same program. I have also worked with probation services for the past four years, which work with the men who are charged with domestic violence.

Status of Women committee  Yes, we're actually trying to put together a child apprehension program. Usually when a woman's child is apprehended, it is kind of like going to the doctor and being told you have cancer. When your doctor tells you that you have cancer and then goes on to tell you what your treatment is going to be, you walk out of that office and all you remember him saying is that you have cancer.

Status of Women committee  Going back, could I talk a little bit about the police service? I believe that's part of the prevention portion.

Status of Women committee  In my experience with the police service in Prince Albert, I've done a number of things. When I worked for the grand council I used to do the memorial walk; we honoured our brothers and sisters who were missing and murdered. Through that, I got to know the police service very well.

Status of Women committee  Thank you so much. The one thing I have a really hard time with when I'm working with the women is they come in, they tell their story, and they talk about how they reported domestic violence. When they begin to report domestic violence it goes on a police record and the crisis centre is called.

Status of Women committee  That is a really good point to bring up. That's one of the things, when I'm working in my programs, I'm looking at for dollars for programs so that I can develop some of the programs. Some of the things I can see that would really help families, the kinds of programs.... When I was at the grand council I developed a program called “Honouring our Traditions: Shaping Healthy Behaviours”.

Status of Women committee  I'm fine. I just get a little choked up when I talk about that part, but I'm okay. Thank you. I appreciate that. I want to address some major concerns that I have in working with women on a daily basis in Prince Albert. When women come into my office and are prepared that day to leave a situation and I can't find any shelter space, this has to be one of my major concerns.

Status of Women committee  Thank you so much. I appreciate the opportunity to come here and speak on the issues today. I want to reiterate that some of the issues at the core of the violence against women are colonization and having generations of people going through the residential schools. You can imagine the turmoil and the upheaval of families.