Yes, I can answer.
She's asked why we don't get those services. I can attest to what Wanda is saying. I'm originally from Cumberland House, and I still see a lot of our people come here into the city and not get those services only because we don't have enough of our own people serving our own people. When you go in for social services, they're not very welcoming. They're not very nice to you. They don't really want to help you.
A lot of our women, when they leave, will leave, yes, with their children, but they will also leave behind financial stability. When our women leave, they leave with their identity and that's about it. They leave everything else behind, including a stable home. Even though it's violent, even though it's dysfunctional at a certain level, it's still their home. It's still their bed. It's still everything they own. It's still their clothing and their personal effects.
A lot of our women leave without anything. I've known women to be kicked out of their homes with literally only their underwear on. They've been beaten up and thrown out into the snow like that. That's the harsh reality for our women. Whether we're in northern Saskatchewan or in the city, that's the harsh reality.
Do we ever realistically get a helping hand from the police services? A lot of the women I've spoken to have been treated very harshly. They haven't been treated with the same respect as our non-aboriginal counterparts. That's just the reality of the situation. You can ask women time and time again. You can ask children time and time again.
When women do leave, they enter into that realm of child and family services. I worked in that realm for quite some time. I don't work there now. I don't believe it's a system that's made to pull families together. I think it's there, realistically, to pull families apart in order for social workers to have a stable job. That's what I really, truly believe.