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.