Wachiya. I am Theresa Sutherland.
[Witness speaks in her native language]
I thank you all for hearing me today in regard to violence against women. I wrote down some stuff here that I quickly want to cover in regard to being born and raised in an isolated community.
I speak on behalf of our women, our young women. I speak on behalf of them because in the isolated communities their first language is the native language. And I speak for them in regard to the fact that when they go through violence, they are unable to leave the community itself because they have no way of communicating with people outside. They don't really have their English language, and therefore, when they're looking for some kind of help for themselves, they have no place to go. They're lost already because they are unable to speak the English language. I speak on behalf of them because they're not able to disclose about themselves, if they should go for counselling, as they don't have a counsellor who speaks the language.
Then, also, they just have no place to go. If they do have a counsellor within their isolated community itself, it could be their grandmother. It could be their aunt. Therefore they have nothing; they have nobody to go to. So I speak on behalf of the families, and if there's a relationship that doesn't work within, and then it comes down to very.... They're just stuck: nothing.
I go from community to community trying to help our people. I speak with them, and relate to them within their language, because I have my language. This one girl I was talking to told me that she had gone through 15 years of abuse. She thought it was normal.
I speak for these women because I think we need more counsellors, more resource workers, within the isolated communities. Our young people, our young women, could start to feel some self-esteem if they had more resource workers, mental health workers, and what have you.
This is what we need within the community. It's hard for them to leave their community, because that's their roots. That's their heart.
Thank you.