The family violence program has been going on since 1998. This information is in your package. We started sitting on a committee, the leadership, comprised of the women chiefs in Manitoba. One of the first things we wanted to look into was family violence.
There are some elders and there are some community members who sit on this board. We have made booklets available to the communities, and these have been sent out to every first nation in Manitoba.
The causes of family violence...there are a lot of problems. To me, I think it started from going to residential schools. When you were at school during those times, you were not with your family or with your parents, so there was no relationship there and the bonding was lost. When we came home--and I'll say “we” because I attended. You lose your language and people make fun of you because you do not speak your language. Even your own family, your brothers and sisters, make fun of you because you don't speak the language. I think that's one of the reasons why family violence starts. It starts with ridicule.
It also starts when you're going to school. Many of us didn't even start going to school to take a course until we were 30 years old. I know I started when I was 30, and I finally completed everything I wanted to by age 40. Many of us are not fortunate to have this support. I know that my grandparents were the ones who gave me the biggest support in what I was doing.
In the communities there is isolation and a feeling of despair sometimes. You want to buy something, you want to get something for your children, and you just can't, so you find other ways of doing things. Much of this is taken out on the wife and the children.
I think there needs to be a holistic, cultural approach.