Thank you very much.
We'd like to begin by thanking you, Dr. Fry, the co-chairs, and members of this committee for providing us with this opportunity to address this very important issue.
We also bring greetings from Elisapee Sheutiapik, Pauktuutit's president, who was not able to be here today. She's certainly with us in spirit.
We support all the comments made by the previous speakers--our colleagues--and we welcome the opportunity to work together. We don't have that opportunity enough.
For those of you who may not be familiar with Pauktuutit, it was incorporated in 1984. It just celebrated its 25th anniversary. It is the national representative organization of all Inuit women in Canada. It was incorporated to address the many social issues communities were experiencing during the early days of land claims negotiations.
Since that time, Pauktuutit has broken the silence on very painful and difficult issues, such as violence against Inuit women and the sexual abuse of children. It has developed a very strong and credible reputation, because it is in close contact with women in the communities and has proven to be an effective vehicle for positive change. Other priorities over time have included political, social, and economic equality, and numerous health issues, including maternal and child health and midwifery.
Fundamental to all of Pauktuutit's work is the recognition of the uniqueness of Inuit culture and the responsibility for working within a framework that not only supports, but strengthens, Inuit-specific approaches, language, and culture.
Between 1984 and 2007, 244 resolutions were passed at the organization's annual general meetings. We did an initial analysis of them, and the top five priorities over 25 years related to political equality, health, social issues, the administration of justice, and abuse. Violence against women continues to be a significant physical and mental health issue.
Our time is short today, so we will make a brief presentation and would welcome your questions.
We just held our most recent annual general meeting here in Ottawa at the end of March, and the board of directors and delegates had an opportunity to meet with the minister responsible for the Status of Women at that time. Issues related to women's safety and the lack of safe shelters dominated the discussions.
Inuit women live in 53 communities, spread across four vast geographic regions of the Arctic, spanning four times zones. There are eight major dialects of Inuktitut, and all communities are fly-in, pretty much.
There are only 15 safe shelters to serve 53 communities, and not all of these shelters may be operating at any given time due to operating costs, human resources, capacity issues, or even the lack of an adequate building to house women.
I won't repeat a lot of the statistics our colleagues have shared about rates of violence, but according to Statistics Canada, spousal homicide rates in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut were 7.3% for women and 3.6% for men, compared to 1.0% for women and 0.03% in the general population. Sexual offences recorded by the police in 2004 were three to six times higher in the Northwest Territories and between seven to 14 times higher in Nunavut. It must also be noted that Inuit women who live in the north also live in Arctic Quebec, the region of Nunavik, and in Nunatsiavut, which is now implementing self-government in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. So it's not exclusive to the territories or north of 60.
We won't take a lot of time today discussing the many unique factors that contribute to these shocking rates of violence against Inuit women, but we must note that the lack of community infrastructure, including housing options and the availability, or lack thereof, of crisis intervention and support services for victims, are significant barriers to ensuring women's safety.
We would like now to offer some recommendations related to the recent federal announcement of $10 million to address violence against women. We welcome this commitment from the federal government, and we commend our sisters at the Native Women's Association of Canada for their outstanding work. However, in our discussions with NWAC, they acknowledged that they were not able to undertake Inuit-specific research and certainly support Pauktuutit in our efforts to address violence against women. We would ask this committee to help us ensure there is an equitable allocation of these resources to enable Pauktuutit and its members in the communities and regions to undertake Inuit-specific initiatives.
There is a need for a national forum of Inuit women to identify their own priorities and action plans. We heard clearly at our recent AGM that the lack of housing options and safe shelters is a huge issue for all of our members, all of the women in the communities. For a woman in a fly-in community without a shelter, there may be no safety if she's not able to get on a plane and go to another community, and given the cost of air travel in this country, doing so may be simply prohibitive.
We heard one story of a woman in Nunavut who asked social services to relocate her from her community and her violent partner. Her request was denied, and the next day she was murdered. In January this year an Inuk woman in Nunatsiavut was murdered by her spouse. This must stop.
Child sexual abuse is also a significant priority for Inuit women. A study done by Pauktuutit in the early 1990s indicated that up to 85% of health care providers and social service workers were aware of specific incidents of child sexual abuse. We do not know what the rates are today. There are also Inuit children at risk of sexual abuse and exploitation in urban areas. My colleague Sandy will be appearing before the Dallaire round table tomorrow.
We need adequate resources to conduct research on the prevalence of child sexual abuse of Inuit children across the country. We know from research in the general population that women will often take steps towards leaving an abusive situation when their children are at risk. We also know that this is the time when they are at the greatest risk of being murdered. There is an urgent need for effective and safe interventions for Inuit children who are being sexually abused within their families.
Pauktuutit has developed significant expertise in issues related to violence against women and their children. We have a national strategy to prevent abuse, and we are currently working with Status of Women Canada on a two-year project on abuse prevention. One emphasis of this project is abuse prevention through developing the leadership skills of women. We've also developed an initial action plan and communications strategy on child sexual abuse in conjunction with some of our recent work on this issue.
We need the assistance of many partners, including the federal government, to undertake substantive and broad-reaching holistic initiatives to save the lives of Inuit women and children. We have brought some copies of some of our work for you, and we would be delighted to talk with you any time.
We'd like to end by sharing our vision for our abuse prevention strategy. That vision is of an Inuit society of healthy individuals who respect the past and embrace the future as Inuit and who live in support of families in caring communities. In our vision, violence and abuse are rare occurrences that are dealt with swiftly and justly according to Inuit ways. Abusers are held accountable for their actions, and both victims and abusers are supported in their healing process.
We thank you very much for your time today, and we're available any time. Thank you.