Special Committee on Violence Against Indigenous Women Committee on Nov. 28th, 2013

[Chief John W. Syrette]

We have Walk a Mile in Her Shoes in Kettle Point, which is one of my communities.

[Susan Truppe, Conservative, London North Centre, ON]

Okay. I knew I read that somewhere.

I know that at Status of Women Canada we try to engage men and boys in that. We have the BC Lions out west who are trying to engage men and boys in order to raise awareness about violence against women and girls.

To either one of you, how do your organizations work to educate men and boys in your community?

[Chief John Domm]

There's a program called I Am a Kind Man that I've seen in a number of communities across the province of Ontario. It really goes towards educating, raising awareness, and emphasizing, supporting, and validating positive behaviours and actions.

To my knowledge, we've had it in Rama, and I've seen it in other communities across Ontario. I'm not sure if it's national or not.

[Susan Truppe, Conservative, London North Centre, ON]

Thank you very much.

I'll pass it over to my colleague.

[Bob Dechert, Conservative, Mississauga—Erindale, ON]

Thank you.

Thanks, gentlemen. I'll speak quickly because we're running short of time.

What percentage of missing persons cases on reserves are resolved? Do you have any concept of that?

[Chief John W. Syrette]

No, sorry.

[Bob Dechert, Conservative, Mississauga—Erindale, ON]

Do you have any idea of how it would compare with the general population, or if it's changing over time?

[Chief John W. Syrette]

I don't have any evidence for that, sorry.

[Bob Dechert, Conservative, Mississauga—Erindale, ON]

All right.

Our government has been consulting with victims across Canada. Obviously, there are women on reserves across Canada who are victims. Their families are also victims. Often what victims tell us when we have these consultations is that the police don't give them enough information about what's happening with their case. Whatever the offence is that's been committed against them, they give a statement to the police, then the police take control of it and don't keep people informed about what they are doing to investigate. They might tell them that the person has been charged and then they don't hear anything more until trial. They might be called as a witness. Maybe there is just one witness, and then they don't hear anything more about the whole trial process.

What types of procedures do your first nations police organizations use to keep the families of the victims involved? If it's a missing person case or a case of violence against women, how do you follow up with them and how do you keep them involved in the process?

[Chief John Domm]

I don't think we're inconsistent with any other police service in Ontario, quite frankly. I follow the provincial legislation and regulations, the adequacy standards in that respect.

One of the challenges with keeping families well informed, or as informed as they may want to be, is that you never quite know why one candidate is missing or being reported as missing. Sometimes missing people are actually fleeing from their abusers, so we need to be very cautious of all the possibilities that surround these cases—

[Bob Dechert, Conservative, Mississauga—Erindale, ON]

I'm sorry to interrupt. What if it's a case of violence against women and they know who the perpetrator is? How do you work with the victims and keep them involved in the process? Do you think there is a need to do that? Have any victims or their families expressed that to you?

[Chief John Domm]

Absolutely. Certainly when a charge is laid they are informed. If the individual, the assailant, is held for bail hearing, they are informed. If the accused is released from jail, there are systems and processes in place to inform the victims of crime and advise them of the conditions with the assailant and the terms, and then they are coached. In some cases, we may even do safety plans with that victim to ensure she is well aware of what to look for, what to be cautious of, what to do if there are any breaches or potential breaches by her assailant.

The scale is quite large in terms of the range of activities you may undertake with that particular victim, but we definitely try to work very closely with our victims of crime to try to keep them well informed at all stages of the process.

[Bob Dechert, Conservative, Mississauga—Erindale, ON]

Has the process been improving in recent years?

[The Chair, Conservative, Stella Ambler]

A very short answer, please.

[Chief John Domm]

There is a lot of good work going on in partnership with the courts and the police to aid and support victims of crime.

[The Chair, Conservative, Stella Ambler]

Thank you so much.

Our one hour is done, regrettably, and we'd like to say thank you to Chief Domm and Chief Syrette for spending your Thursday evening with us and enlightening us as to the work you do for this very important issue.

Thank you to all of our committee members for your participation, and to our observers.

I declare the meeting adjourned.