Status of Women Committee on June 4th, 2010

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Good morning.

I want to thank all the witnesses for coming.

We are here as the House of Commons committee pursuant to Standing Order 108(2) to look at the issue of violence against aboriginal women.

When we speak to the issue of violence, we're looking at the scope of violence. We mean every kind of violence, not simply physical violence or sexual violence, but emotional violence, systemic violence. We're looking at the causes of it. What are the root causes that make aboriginal women the victims of such a high level of violence? So those are the things we're looking at, and, with you, we're looking at trying to find solutions, of course within the federal jurisdiction, that are practical and that will actually make a difference.

This is an issue people have been dealing with for as long as I can remember, for as long as I have been a member of Parliament, and yet we have been able to do very little about it. I know that, necessarily, government and Parliament cannot do anything about it, but there may be things we can facilitate, legislation we can pass, policies we can make, or whatever is within our jurisdiction to begin to look at making a difference. We're hoping that we will do that with your assistance, with your input, so that we do the most effective things for change that we can do. So thank you for coming.

Normally we give everyone ten minutes to present. I notice there are four groups in the first bit. I think if we allow for a ten-minute presentation from everyone, we will not have any opportunity to interact. What I wanted to do, even though this is a quasi-formal meeting, is to have something that is recorded but not as formal. So I'd like each of you to introduce yourself—I'm going to give you about three minutes—and to give a quick synopsis of what it is you think, what you feel based on what we talked about earlier on, and what I said was the mandate. Then we can open it up to a more interactive kind of discussion, where we may ask questions, you can ask us questions, so that we can sort of get a dialogue going, as opposed to having some sort of formal hearing.

How do you feel about that? Does that sounds good? Okay.

So why don't we start with the Fredericton Native Friendship Centre, with Tamara Polchies, and then we will go in order so that we can move through. Then when you finish, I think all of us around the table will be given a minute--not three--to introduce ourselves and to say where we're from, so that you know who we are.

[Tamara Polchies, Executive Director, Fredericton Native Friendship Centre]

Thank you. Good morning and thank you for the opportunity to appear today.

My name is Tamara Polchies. I'm a Mi'kmaq from Eel Ground First Nation and I now live in the Maliseet community of Kingsclear First Nation near Fredericton. I have been the executive director of the Fredericton Native Friendship Centre for the past five years, and during this time I have worked in partnership with Gignoo Transition House on the development of the Healing Journey Toolkit and have been an active member of the provincial advisory committee ending violence against aboriginal women in New Brunswick since its conception. I'm also an active member of the City of Fredericton cultural diversity advisory committee and was involved in the development of training for the city police on intimate partner violence.

I have also been chosen to attend a national forum on violence against aboriginal women in Ottawa and the National Aboriginal Women's Summit in Yellowknife. I'm trained by the Fredericton Sexual Assault Crisis Centre and am a member of its collective. I take calls from women throughout New Brunswick and when needed will accompany a woman to the hospital or help her leave an unsafe environment, 24 hours a day.

My background began in Ottawa with the Assembly of First Nations in the gender equity department, learning from very powerful aboriginal women. I also had an opportunity to work with the National Aboriginal Circle Against Family Violence, which has helped me build a foundation of knowledge regarding transition houses and issues women face in violent situations.

Every day, my friendship centre has aboriginal women coming through its doors looking for help and support. We offer such services as a food bank, clothing bank, employment services, Internet access, phone and fax machine, a traditional craft workshop, and lunches, and we provide outreach.

The history of the friendship centre involvement with specific programming for aboriginal women started with the young women's group called Little Sisters. This program was started by me and my summer student staff. We noticed our young women were dealing with adult situations and lifestyles. I was noticing the young girls and women in our community growing up faster and not having an opportunity to enjoy their childhood. We wanted young women and girls to have a chance to feel their own age and work together as peers to support one another in the community. We started with one first nations community in an urban group. We consulted each group, starting with providing a safe space where they could meet, trustworthy leaders, and healthy food. We offered information on Internet safety, predator identification, health education, self-esteem, and empowerment, and we helped them learn to respect one another. We made our own rules for each group with the girls, and we worked together to become a trustworthy group where the girls could feel comfortable talking and asking questions.

Healthy food was an important factor in getting them through the door, due to the economic standing of most families. The girls and young women requested fruits and vegetables and dairy products before asking for pop, chips, or processed foods. So we found that interesting, that they would prefer to have something healthy as opposed to something unhealthy. That brought more kids in when we were doing that.

We had guest speakers, sleepovers, and discussion groups, and we developed many meaningful relationships that are still ongoing today.

For the past few years, we have partnered with Quebec Native Women Inc. and accessed funding for New Brunswick native women here in Fredericton. We first provided two employment placements within our organization, and we also helped women who were looking for education funding for training. We offered computer upgrading training, skills enhancement, and self-esteem and empowerment workshops. The training and workshops provided women with a new outlook on re-entering the workforce after raising their children or leaving violent situations. Finding new goals and learning how to overcome barriers led the women to employment and jobs now. So they are furthering their education and becoming positive role models for their own children and families in their communities.

My colleagues and I have discussed the many factors involved in why aboriginal women are abused and how society helps non-aboriginal women differently than aboriginal women. We spoke of racism, the definition of violence, and gender issues and how many of our women are missing or murdered. A common understanding among all of us is that we repeatedly have the same studies and research done on issues against aboriginal women. So we understand the definitions. We understand a lot of the help we have now. But we're wasting time, money, and spirit, and we're enabling abusers to keep abusing aboriginal women.

Right now, when we're sitting here having meetings, meeting with other groups, and continuing to do this across the country, we're giving time for people to get hurt every day. We are not stopping or preventing violence; we're normalizing it in the community. Crimes against aboriginal women have been unsolved for years, but if a group of non-aboriginal women went missing these crimes would have been solved already. We wonder why.

Most of the aboriginal women I've spoken to or helped have the same conclusion about why we all know women who have been affected by violence once in their lifetimes. Every woman I have spoken to knows there are many women in their communities--many other women or children they know who are affected daily. It's time for us to work together to reduce, prevent, and protect our aboriginal women from violence.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you so much.

Next is Tanna Pirie-Wilson, with the Public Service Alliance of Canada.

[Tanna Pirie-Wilson, Female Aboriginal representative, National Aboriginal People's Circle, Public Service Alliance of Canada]

Good morning, ladies.

Good morning, Mr. Clarke.

Tan Kahk, nil toliwes Tanna Pirie-Wilson. I sit before you firstly as a proud Maliseet first nation youth from Tobique First Nation, two hours north of here. I also sit here as the female representative of the Public Service Alliance of Canada's national aboriginal peoples circle. I am here to speak to you today about the negative impacts of systemic violence against aboriginal women.

Women in our communities were once highly regarded citizens. We held high-ranking positions within our governing bodies. We were the keepers of our communities, our culture, and our languages. We were the givers of life, and our men respected and even supported us in those roles. It was through the influence of early European colonization that our men and our women were taught suppression and oppression. They had a different view to teach us.

Okay, I'm told it's a three-minute introduction.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Tanna, just say what you need to say.

[Tanna Pirie-Wilson]

No. I'm not doing my speech.

That's why, within the Public Service Alliance national aboriginal peoples circle, we're determined to take the societal condition to the forefront. We're determined to make a difference to the societal condition of aboriginal people through political action. That's where I fit in.

The national aboriginal peoples circle of the Public Service Alliance has embarked on numerous lobbying efforts. We recently went to Ottawa and made a lobby day effort last fall, which was very successful. We hosted a number of letter-writing campaigns in support of the Native Women's Association Sisters In Spirit campaign and initiative. We also embarked on a post-card campaign, which some of you may have seen. It was a direct response to the apology, that sometimes sorry is not enough. We focused that on the Sharon McIvor case and the inaction toward the Kelowna accord.

So through these community and national campaigns we were able to draw people's attention to aboriginal poverty and the crisis of our drinking water; and provide a unified voice from a diverse community--our Public Service Alliance first nation, Inuit, and Métis members. We come together so we can increase our involvement at all levels within our community to empower each other and advance our basic human right to live a life without violence against aboriginal women.

I'll end it there, because I'll go into more depth. My role is to bring light to issues such as violence against aboriginal women.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you very much, Tanna. That was very efficient.

Now we're going to go to Gail Nicholas, who is from the New Brunswick Aboriginal Women's Council.

[Gail Nicholas, Vice-President, New Brunswick Aboriginal Women's Council Inc.]

Good morning. My name is Gail Nicholas. I'm Maliseet from Tobique First Nation, a proud elder from Tobique First Nation. I'm the vice-president of the New Brunswick Aboriginal Women's Council. I'm also the director of the Wabanaki Women's Council, and we have Wabanaki women's gatherings twice a year to help empower women in our Wabanaki population.

I've been a child protection service worker and adoption specialist for the State of Nebraska for approximately 15 years. I also specialized in the Indian Child Welfare Act. That's the piece of legislation that protects native children in the United States when they are in state custody. Also, as part of the New Brunswick Aboriginal Women's Council, last September we introduced a resolution on Indian child welfare to the Native Women's Association of Canada, to have them look at that type of legislation for our children here in Canada so they'll be placed in aboriginal homes first, and also to train native foster families to take in their own children or children from other first nations.

When I left Nebraska I moved to Bangor and I was the clinician with the Wabanaki Mental Health Association for three years. I worked with native adults with mental health issues, and that was very rewarding. Then I decided to move closer to home and had to stop in Holt. Then I was the language director there for about a year until the funding ran out. Then I went back home to Tobique to be with my family.

Then I taught for a couple of years. I was a native studies teacher and a Maliseet language teacher. Then after that I saw a position as a program coordinator for the Mi'kmaq-Maliseet Healing Network Centre, working with residential school survivors. Previously, when I worked as a clinician, I came up on weekends when the survivors were gathering. They asked me to help them out, so I did that on a voluntary basis.

Now I'm coordinating the Wabanaki teaching lodge and working on projects to reintroduce culture and language to our community and other first nations people. Also, I'm with the New Brunswick Aboriginal Women's Council, where we've been busy trying to work on new strategic planning to find where there are needs in our province. So that's what we've been busy with--with Sarah; I'll include Sarah.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you.

Now we'll go to Gignoo Transition House. Sarah Rose, you are with both of those. You're going to speak to the—

[Sarah Rose, Representative, New Brunswick Aboriginal Women's Council Inc.]

I'm with both organizations.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

You're with both. Yes, I was wondering.

[Sarah Rose]

Yes, I'm the board president. I'll introduce myself.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Then you're going to speak a bit. Go ahead.

[Sarah Rose]

Good morning. My name is Sarah Rose. I'm from the St. Mary's First Nation, which is just across the river from here. I hope you have a chance to visit it before you leave. Welcome to Maliseet territory.

I'm a mother of three; I have a nine-year-old, a three-year-old, and a two-year-old daughter. I have grown up off-reserve, but I've always been involved in the community, so I never recognized that on- and off-reserve boundary. I currently work for the Union of New Brunswick Indians. I work in the health department and I work with all 15 bands. Even though the union only represents 12, I work with all 15. I represent the communities at a local, regional, and national level on health issues.

I'm also the president of Gignoo Transition House. I am the president of Under One Sky, which is an aboriginal off-reserve headstart that is located here in Fredericton. I sit on the executive for the New Brunswick Aboriginal Women's Council. I was also part of the youth council for NWAC.

In my own community we have a St. Mary's youth leadership enrichment program through which we mentor young girls and boys to fulfill that leadership role, because we need to recognize the positive within our own children. I'm a mentor in that program, in addition to working and being a full-time mom. That's me in a nutshell, and we'll talk later.

I have had the opportunity to represent my people at an international level as well. I've had the opportunity to go to Colombia and talk about our culture and history, and we're dealing with these kinds of issues as well. Later on this summer, I'll be going to Ireland to do the same thing at the university.

That's who I am. Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you.

Go ahead, Ms. McBride.

[Natalie McBride, Executive Director, Gignoo Transition House Inc.]

Gignoo Transition House is the only aboriginal transition house in the province of New Brunswick. We service all 15 first nations. We are in Maliseet territory. I am a Maliseet woman from the Woodstock First Nation, which is one hour away. I travel every day to Fredericton. However, our transition house is located off-reserve. It services both the Mi'kmaq and the Maliseet women, so there's no fighting over who has ownership because we have our board of directors.

I am also the treasurer for the National Aboriginal Circle Against Family Violence. Gignoo is also a founding board member. Four of us were instrumental in starting the National Aboriginal Circle Against Family Violence. That's something that I've been a part of since its inception.

I am also the co-chair, with Norma Dubé from the Province of New Brunswick women's issues branch, of the advisory committee on violence against aboriginal women. Sarah handed out our strategic framework, which would take more than eight minutes to talk about. We brought it so that you could read it at your leisure.

I'm also traveling around Canada to present our healing journey tool kit, which I omitted to bring. It is a New Brunswick initiative that helps service providers working in the field of family violence to help women who come to them. We're very rural and located in Fredericton; it was a tool to help others and went from being a New Brunswick initiative to a national initiative. It is clear across Canada now, and I've been busy going into the provinces with INAC-funded shelters to present on that initiative.

I'm happy to be here. Thank you for allowing me to come. We'll talk more when it's my turn.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you.

Before we go further--I'll go in this order so that everyone can introduce themselves--I want to thank the Maliseet nations for allowing us to be in their territory and work here. Thank you.

Go ahead, Kelly.

[Kelly Block, Conservative, Saskatoon—Rosetown—Biggar, SK]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

My name is Kelly Block and I'm a member of Parliament from Saskatoon. My riding is Saskatoon--Rosetown--Biggar. I don't typically sit on the status of women committee--I serve on two other parliamentary committees, the access to information, privacy, and ethics committee and the finance committee--but I feel very privileged to be here today and to have participated in this study all week. It's been very enlightening and I've learned a lot this week.

To put my riding and our province in context, our city is divided into four quadrants. My riding would probably have the largest first nations and Métis population in it, in the urban part of our city. We have many organizations that I have been building relationships with in terms of the issues facing first nations and Métis in an urban setting. We have 74 first nations in Saskatchewan, so we have a lot of opportunities to work with our first nations and develop relationships.

I'm very pleased to hear from you and I'm looking forward to the rest of our discussion this morning.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Sandra.

[Sandra Gruescu, Committee Researcher]

My name is Sandra Gruescu. I'm an analyst for the parliamentary library.

[Julie Cool, Committee Researcher]

I'm Julie Cool. I am also an analyst serving this committee.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Actually, what they do is write the report at the end of the day. They are really very important people around here.

I'm Hedy Fry, and I'm the chair. I'm the member of Parliament for Vancouver Centre. I was the status of women minister for over six years in the Chrétien government and also for multiculturalism and have been really interested in aboriginal issues for the longest time, especially in Santiago, where, as the head of the delegation for Canada, we brought forward the concept that aboriginal people were peoples in their own right and were not merely population demographics, and got that accepted at the Regional Conference of the Americas and took that ahead. That was the impetus for a lot of the work that was done on the United Nations convention on the rights of aboriginal peoples, which is a Canadian-led and -driven initiative with a lot of Canadian indigenous scholars, like Willie Littlechild, who helped to formulate the rights of indigenous peoples around the world.

Then we have the clerk. Go ahead.

[Angela Crandall, Procedural Clerk]

I'm Angela Crandall.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

She keeps us in line.

[Rob Clarke, Conservative, Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River, SK]

My name is Rob Clarke. I'm from one of the first nations. I believe I met some of you on the aboriginal affairs committee, actually, which I sit on, or maybe you came to my office to meet with me.

I'm not usually sitting on this committee, but I'm very honoured to be actually coming in and listening to some of the issues here about aboriginal women.

My home reserve is in Muskeg Lake, right in the middle of Saskatchewan. One of the interesting parts of my constituency is the great portion of northern Saskatchewan that's in my riding, two-thirds of the province, and about 72% are aboriginal. That's where my background comes into play. Being a former RCMP member of 18 years, almost all my service was dealing with the non-aboriginal population, the Métis, and the first nations in northern and remote Saskatchewan. I've seen the best in people, and I've seen the worst in people. I know what people are capable of doing to each other and to the aboriginal women and the aboriginal men, and it's a cycle. Somehow we have to address the cycle to stop it from all angles.

Coming through here and to your communities—and many of you have travelled a great deal on your own time and probably on your own money from your pockets just to come here to testify—I'm very thankful that you came to relay your stories to us so the regular committee members can take that back and put it in the report to bring it before the House of Commons.

Again, thank you very much.