On reserve, you have this nature of everyone knowing everybody. Even police are hesitant to charge. They'll say, “Let him sleep it off and he'll be okay.” So we have this issue.
You know, when growing up I thought violence was just normal as well, and it takes a while for you to realize that it's not. So I think it's very important in a crisis centre that you're dealing with the family, not just dealing with the woman but dealing with the family and dealing with police officers who are sensitized to the nature of violence, whether it's sexual violence, conjugal violence, or even any kind of violence. We know that two-thirds of people in a community also experience violence and can run into crisis situations.
I think what is needed is to have those healthy elders who worked through whatever trauma they have had in residential schools, or those who didn't go to residential schools, to be able to counsel couples, as we had in our traditional ways of doing things. That we include the best of both cultures, which is psychologists, social workers, with elders, to be able to have access, and to allow them the freedom to choose if they don't want to have one or the other. We have to look at some of the root problems, and we've discussed those things.
We need to be able to allow them to have the time to heal. When you go through something traumatic and then the next day you're supposed to go to work, you can't function in your work, so you may lose your job. I think there needs to be some compassion given to families who are in crisis, to say, if they're working for the band or if they're working for someone else—and that's where the multi-jurisdictions come in—“This woman has been beaten, her children are suffering. Give her at least two weeks to be able to catch her breath, to be able to know where she wants to go.” She will not leave her husband, as Béatrice has said, because she doesn't want to leave the home. Her husband may be the breadwinner.
We need to look at it from a compassionate point of view, but integrating both traditional and western forms of healing and well-being.
I guess I'll end it there.