Thank you so much. I appreciate the opportunity to come here and speak on the issues today.
I want to reiterate that some of the issues at the core of the violence against women are colonization and having generations of people going through the residential schools. You can imagine the turmoil and the upheaval of families. Traditionally in our communities we didn't have a whole lot of family violence because of the way we lived and because of our belief system. Our women were highly looked upon and honoured in that traditional setting. That is not the mainstream thinking today. Part of it is that the man is the head of the household. That clash of belief systems has been the downfall for first nations women in Canada, I believe.
Just to let you know a little bit about myself, as I said, my name is Angie Bear. I work with the ISKWEW program. It's a women helping women program that deals directly with abuse issues. Our services provide individual counselling. We offer support and referrals for abused women. When we are requested to, we support and advocate for women who are dealing with other agencies and government departments. We strengthen networks and cooperation among community-based organizations and groups. Through public education, we want to increase awareness regarding family violence.
I have just recently come on board with the ISKWEW program. I started November 26. I came from the Prince Albert Grand Council. I worked in the family violence area there for four years.
I've seen first-hand a lot of the core issues and where they come from. I understand the dysfunctions in our families and where they're coming from. I believe that when people wake up in the morning and look out the window, they don't understand a lot of the time where all of those issues come from and how they have gotten here.
I am an aboriginal woman. I grew up in Edmonton, and my family was from Saskatchewan. When I grew up, I had a lot of self-loathing, and I never understood why that was. I remember going home from grade 1 and saying, “I don't want to be an Indian because everybody hates us”, and feeling that way. I think it's those core issues that affect you, even when you grow up and you realize those aren't there anymore.
So first of all I'd like to address some of the issues that I think are really important.
Excuse me.