I'd like to reiterate what Ms. Tucker said. Yes, absolutely, there needs to be sustainability in funding for resources and services, especially front line services, but we also have to start to make a shift in consciousness of society to recognize and to revalue aboriginal women and honour the rights of aboriginal women and the history, the tradition, the role of aboriginal women as mothers, as caregivers, as educators.
In doing so, the Native Women's Association of Canada is working toward educating not just aboriginal communities but also the police about the history of colonization, the impact of violence, and the experiences of violence on aboriginal women. How else are police going to better understand how to respond to calls of violence in communities and to work better with communities?
We're also starting to establish a working relationship in reviewing curriculum with the Ministry of Education in Ontario and we would like to do so for more educators across Canada, to talk about the issue of violence against aboriginal women in schools as part of the educational curriculum at the secondary school level so there is a better understanding not just within aboriginal communities but for all Canadians about what the issues of violence are and why these issues of violence exist.
We also think it's really important to acknowledge the apprehension of children in the child welfare system as simply an ongoing impact of intergenerational abuse and colonization, which has stemmed from the same types of government policies as residential schools in the sixties scoop. We must allow aboriginal children to stay in their families and in their communities in order to end this cycle of dislocation and cultural dislocation from communities.
Thank you very much.