Evidence of meeting #3 for Special Committee on Indigenous Women in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was aboriginal.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Carolyn Bennett Liberal St. Paul's, ON
Is there a process within government to talk across government departments to deal with this?
Senior Counsel, Family, Children and Youth Section, Department of Justice
The process across government is more at the officials level, because what the officials are doing is finding that it's quite logical that we're overlapping and we're leaving gaps. Everyone is aware of that issue and is working to resolve it.
I think the one thing I would advise this committee, if I dared to, is that after many years the one conclusion I think most federal officials, and provincial and territorial officials, have come to is that it is not possible to impose solutions. This seems obvious in retrospect, does it not? They concluded that the important thing to do is to move community by community, asking communities to set their own priorities.
I think my colleagues from Public Safety will be able to expand on this next week. One of the reasons that the October 2010 announcement placed so much emphasis on the community safety planning process, which is being run by Public Safety, is exactly that: the community safety planning process goes into communities; it creates capacity. Of course you can't have—it's one thing we've always found—the same two people in every community having to manage four or five different departments at different levels of government. So they work on community capacity; they work on community meetings; they work on a community deciding what their priorities are. The idea is to go back to funders and ask for what they need, instead of what they're getting.
Liberal
Carolyn Bennett Liberal St. Paul's, ON
It seems that the women and families on the ground have some instincts about what's happening, and I think they feel they've not been listened to. How could we do that better? Maybe that's not for you, but it's for our committee to have a look at how the hunches and the instincts that exist within communities could lead us to some solutions. Is that what you're saying when you say go into the communities and listen?
Senior Counsel, Family, Children and Youth Section, Department of Justice
With respect, I understand the frustration. I think we all feel that frustration of being the sole voice, but I would say that it has been one of the most powerful aspects, as I mentioned in my opening remarks, and one of the reasons why we have certain studies that we rely on more than others. It's because they actually have the voices of the people who are living the violence. Their suggestions, their lives, their experiences are extremely valuable in trying to craft solutions. Those suggestions are not lost.
The Oppal committee just came out with the report called “Voices of the Families”. There are other similar reports, and I would encourage the committee as much as possible to collect those, solicit those.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Stella Ambler
Thank you, Ms. Hitch. That's great.
We'll go to Ms. Truppe next.
Conservative
Susan Truppe Conservative London North Centre, ON
Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you, Ms. Hitch, for being here today for this important issue.
I have a couple of questions in regard to some of the things you said, and maybe you can enlighten us.
You mentioned that NWAC was given $5 million from Status of Women Canada for Sisters in Spirit, and I think there was another $25 million over five years after that. What does Sisters in Spirit do?
Senior Counsel, Family, Children and Youth Section, Department of Justice
The Sisters in Spirit initiative continues to this day. There's a little bit of confusion, I think, in that the Government of Canada funded it for five years, but it belongs to, and always has belonged to, the Native Women's Association of Canada. Sisters in Spirit, of course, continues to this day. The research that was funded by the government was the initial research to look at the root causes of some of the violence; it was also to collect information specifically on the cases of missing and murdered aboriginal women.
The NWAC was particularly invaluable in that, because there were, and remain, a lot of concerns in individual communities about cases of missing and murdered aboriginal women. The RCMP emphasized at all times...and I understand there are concerns, and certainly the Human Rights Watch report has mentioned some of those. I believe there's also frustration from the aboriginal policing side that many of these cases have never been reported. NWAC went out to do some of that original research. They came back with their numbers, and their numbers were the base for the government response in 2010. Their research was invaluable.
Conservative
Susan Truppe Conservative London North Centre, ON
Thank you.
You mentioned when you were speaking that there were a lot of initiatives that have happened, and are still happening, and there was a lot of federal funding that was provided. With all of these initiatives that you're aware of, is there one that worked better than another, or that is working better than another? Do you have a favourite?
Senior Counsel, Family, Children and Youth Section, Department of Justice
Again, it's really difficult to answer that question because the root causes are so varied. It's impossible to compare housing, shelters, economic development. Some of the large initiatives that have to be undertaken...even the family violence programming, which I'm sure my colleagues at Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada will expand on.
The one thing, again, that I suppose we would emphasize is that the community has the best mechanisms and the best ideas for change. This is why the Government of Canada worked with the Aboriginal Research Institute to gather the promising practices in the compendium.
There are significant problems with evaluation in the area of aboriginal programming. In many instances the programs are small; they're in small communities. To do an evaluation without identifying individuals is almost impossible. So there have been barriers to declaring something to be a best practice, because to be a best practice, it has to be fully evaluated. At this time, only two major programs in Canada have been fully evaluated, the Hollow Water program and the Rankin Inlet spousal abuse counselling program. The idea of promising practices comes out of a response to that frustration, that there are a lot of very interesting and very qualitatively successful programs in communities that can be built on and possibly adapted for other communities facing similar problems. The compendium is an attempt to bring together the first 140 of those programs, so communities have somewhere to start.
Conservative
Susan Truppe Conservative London North Centre, ON
Thank you.
You also mentioned that a lot of the studies were looking for, and showing, root causes. I think one of the colleagues opposite mentioned that, and you said there were some answers from the federal government for some root causes. I was wondering if you could give some examples.
Senior Counsel, Family, Children and Youth Section, Department of Justice
Certainly.
When the announcement went out in October 2010 that the government was adopting a seven-step strategy in response to the NWAC research results, the government felt it was extremely important to situate the $25 million over five years, which was for specific initiatives within law enforcement and the justice system. Against the background of what else was happening across the Government of Canada, it immediately looked like that was all.
Backgrounder B sets out some of those root causes—the concerns with housing and living conditions, poverty, unemployment and dependence on social assistance, literacy skills and education, physical and mental health, interactions with law enforcement and justice systems that were outside that seven-step strategy, and the ongoing legacy of residential schools, among others—and what had been done by the Government of Canada to that point in those areas.
Since then there have been a number of additional announcements in subsequent budgets, including additional funding for, as I said, the Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada family violence prevention program on reserves, but there have been others, in terms of education and economic development.
Conservative
Conservative
Susan Truppe Conservative London North Centre, ON
Okay.
You mentioned lateral and collateral violence. Could you explain the difference between the two?
Senior Counsel, Family, Children and Youth Section, Department of Justice
Yes.
I'm sure a number of other witnesses will be appearing before you who can explain it better than I can. These concepts are repeated in many studies, including, I would say, one of my favourites—forgive me—the Four Worlds Center for Development Learning report on aboriginal family violence, which was done for the Aboriginal Healing Foundation.
What they're talking about in most of these studies is that although there are similarities to violence against women between mainstream society and aboriginal communities, there are also some unique features. One of those is that the pattern of violence is not about one individual couple or household within a larger structure, but often it's throughout large parts of a community. The concept of lateral violence, which is mentioned, is a concept that is explored in other contexts, such as workplace harassment and other issues. In the instance of aboriginal violence, it's understood as being part of a psychological need of individuals who perceive they have no control to attempt to exercise power and domination over others within their group and generally over people with whom they have a relationship.
Conservative
NDP
Niki Ashton NDP Churchill, MB
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Ms. Hitch, I found your brief very interesting, and certainly the chronological look at major developments in this area.
I'm from Manitoba. I remember the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry. At our schools we learned about the murder and the tragedy surrounding Helen Betty Osborne. I also know about the repeated calls from people in my province and across the country for a national inquiry.
I'm wondering why that recurring call was absent from that briefing?
Senior Counsel, Family, Children and Youth Section, Department of Justice
I apologize, but that is a question that is better directed to my minister and his colleagues.
In general terms, I can say that to date Minister Nicholson has indicated that responding to missing and murdered aboriginal women is a pressing concern. During the debate for setting up this very committee, the then parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Justice indicated the government's hope that the committee will identify further practical solutions for the future.
NDP
Niki Ashton NDP Churchill, MB
Sure. I appreciate that. I certainly think we all look forward to having the chance to ask the minister that directly.
In addition, the latest FPT meeting produced a call from all provinces, with the exception of British Columbia, which is now in a provincial election, where ministers unanimously called on the federal government to call a national inquiry. That happened last Wednesday, and I think that's a very important point to add to that chronological briefing, because there is that official position that's now been taken by the provinces.
In terms of this file, I'm wondering which department is taking the lead.
Senior Counsel, Family, Children and Youth Section, Department of Justice
My apologies, but it really depends. I suppose my opening remarks went back and forth between violence against aboriginal women and the missing and murdered aboriginal women.
I would say that generally what's happening is that the departments are very well aware of the fact that no one department has the full mandate on this issue and that there's a need for everyone to work together. There are about six to seven departments that have been working quite closely on both issues for some time.
With regard to missing and murdered aboriginal women, the Department of Justice has the technical lead, although clearly not the substantive band-aid over the entire issue.
NDP
Niki Ashton NDP Churchill, MB
Okay.
A technical lead is encouraging, but families want to see action. The meeting of six higher officials behind closed doors certainly doesn't give the public signal from the federal government that someone is taking the lead and that it is of the utmost priority at that political level.
We raised the subject of Sisters in Spirit. What does Sisters in Spirit do now, since they've lost their funding?
Senior Counsel, Family, Children and Youth Section, Department of Justice
I should just track back for one second and apologize. To reiterate, the Government of Canada has said on many occasions, both Minister Nicholson and Minister Toews, that this is a priority for the federal government. So I do believe that the political statement—