Status of Women committee  Yes. I think the biggest issue here for aboriginal women has to do with the access to justice, and the court challenges program provided access to justice, however limited, to aboriginal women and girls. On the issue of justice itself, we're dealing, in my opinion, with a legal

Status of Women committee  Thank you for the opportunity. Yes, I believe that everyone suffers. We've been addressing equality issues, as an organization, for 33 years. The reason the Native Women's Association of Canada exists in the first place is because of the inequality within our own communities. We

Status of Women committee  Thank you. I'm going to introduce myself in my language. It's my usual introduction. [Witness speaks in Mohawk] I said, “greetings of peace to you”, in my Mohawk language. I'm Mohawk Bear Clan, from the Six Nations Grand River Territory, Haudenosaunee Confederacy. My Mohawk Be

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  My dream is that we will develop a process that addresses everyone's interests, because that's what our culture is about. We have a process in our community called the Great Law, and the Great Law addresses all of these things. If we were to follow all of these things the way the

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I don't know if it will make any difference, really. I would agree with what Gary Merasty has said—and that's what I had said in my presentation—in the sense that even if you do change the black letter of the law, that doesn't necessarily mean that's going to make any effective

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I'd actually like to respond to your comments about the poster child. With respect to NWAC, we're working very closely with Minister Prentice with respect to the whole organization, the national aboriginal organization of the Native Women's Association of Canada, and the fact th

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I think it's the same issue with respect to MRP, because if we had had consultations with the federal government before any decisions were made or legislation was drafted.... And if there is legislation drafted, we're still wanting to ensure that consultations occur, whether we a

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes. I still have some of my presentation left.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Good afternoon. Thanks for the opportunity to come back. I think where I left off was talking about the responses to the consultation issues. In the committee's report on Canadian human rights, they recommended an immediate repeal with a transitional period of 18 to 30 months, a

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I can be. We have a plan, and part of it, again, is about consultation. I'll go through just some of the summary of what I've been saying. First of all, we have to build on previous research with a goal of ensuring the recognition of indigenous legal traditions and exploring t

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  With respect to the Native Women's Association, I'm not sure how many are aware of the organization itself. It is an aggregate of 13 provincial–territorial member associations, and the goals are to empower aboriginal women by engaging in national advocacy measures aimed at legisl

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  [Witness speaks in her native language] Greetings of peace to all of you this morning. I introduced myself in my language. I'm Mohawk, from the Six Nations of the Grand River Territory, Haudenosaunee Confederacy. I'm of the Bear Clan, and my real name is Gowehgyuseh, which mean

Status of Women committee  That's okay. I just want to again thank you for the opportunity to be able to present today. I wasn't thinking that I was going to be presenting as much as I did. With respect to all of these issues that we're talking about, there's what I said earlier about levels of poverty.

Status of Women committee  I think the specific cuts are going to have a major impact on aboriginal women specifically. All of those are very empowering issues and strategies, not only for aboriginal women but for aboriginal people in general. We can talk about the issues, the education system, and positi

Status of Women committee  Health and housing are actually very specific issues that we were supposed to address after Kelowna. Housing, with respect to a national housing strategy, was something we also addressed in our position paper on matrimonial real property. The issue of poverty and housing was a c