Yes. In response to Mr. Russell's question around one thing that works, I think certainly from my work and experience with the Mushuau Innu in Natuashish that women traditionally are very strong leaders and have a very powerful role in the community. I see that as a strength.
Also, there's the fact that the Mushuau Innu have maintained and retained their language and their connection to the land and their traditions. I see that as very positive.
Certainly one thing that works, whether it's in violence prevention, addiction, or whatever kinds of programs the community runs, is that those particular attributes are definitely strengths, and this is definitely one thing that works.
I think it's important to invest in prevention programs, in having the ability to do outreach work with women. It's great to be able to respond to crisis, but oftentimes we work in crisis mode, and that's not always effective in terms of getting at and addressing the root causes, I guess. So it's about having the ability to empower women and to offer some of the things that the other speakers have already said around education and training and also to involve them in policy discussion. Oftentimes, the women, in particular in northern Labrador--and I'll speak again just to Natuashish--are geographically isolated. It's very expensive to travel out of the community and participate in discussions that might inform policy, yet they have a tremendous amount to offer to such discussions.
One of the things that I'll speak quickly to as well that's bound to be a challenge is the jurisdictional issues that often come up. Somebody spoke about the provincial violence prevention initiative. We did succeed in getting funding from that, but for some of the issues that we had to work around in terms of Natuashish being a reserve and around federal and provincial jurisdiction, those can be challenging sometimes. I'm not sure if it's something this committee can address, but certainly it's something that we face sort of on an ongoing basis: whose responsibility is it?
I see it as the responsibility of both levels of government and I look at it more around the perspective of “do you want to work with us?”, and if you do, then this is what we want to do. Do you want to be part of it or don't you? Sometimes those jurisdictional issues can be challenging.