Thank you very much.
[Witness speaks in Mohawk]
I'm speaking to you in my language, Mohawk, from the Six Nations of the Grand River territory, and I told you my real name, which is Gowehgyuseh, which means “she's visiting”.
This presentation is actually dedicated to my cousin Tashina, who was missing and was found murdered in my own community. Her body was found in a shallow grave in my own community of Six Nations. She was also pregnant, and this is dedicated to her unborn child, to him as well. She had already called him Tucker.
Also, this presentation is dedicated to all of the missing and murdered aboriginal women in this country, their unborn children, their children, and their mothers, fathers, and their families. I have come to know many of these families across Canada. I still have very close relationships with them. I pray continually for justice for those who are still waiting for their loved ones to come home, or those families like ours who had to bury loved ones as a result of horrific murder and horrific violence.
I also am well aware of violence. I'm a survivor of violence as a child, as a young girl, and as a young woman. But I'm a survivor of violence, and I devote the rest of my life to ending violence in all forms.
I wanted to come here because the families I have been communicating with and still advocate for have concerns about this committee. It's about the mandate and the fact that there have been so many studies. The royal commission, inquiries, reports, Aboriginal Healing Foundation reports, women's organizations, aboriginal women's organizations, aboriginal organizations, inquiry reports, research reports, the Stolen Sisters report, the Sisters in Spirit report--all of them talk about root causes. All of them talk about the nature and the extent of the violence that's occurring on reserve and off reserve, in cities and towns and rural communities.
So we know there have already been millions of dollars poured into these research studies and thousands of recommendations that need to be implemented. How much did it cost for this committee to do this study? We don't need another study. We need action.
I believe that the House of Commons study and its process are creating more silence for aboriginal women, and this silence is violent.
Let me explain. The families of the missing and murdered were and are unaware of this process. When they did find out, they were unaware of the process to actually present. When they did attend some of your sessions already, they were unable to present because they didn't know the process. So they continue to be frustrated, not only about the continued injustices they face. They are frustrated and angry that a study is being done without their input, input that is well needed since they have direct experience to present to this committee. So I would respectfully request that this committee meet specifically with families of missing and murdered aboriginal women.
In my speech in response to the government's residential school apology, I said that respect is needed for aboriginal women, that action by government is needed. It's action that's needed. As I said, there are so many of those recommendations. It's about implementing those recommendations.
The impacts of residential schools are a root cause. They are a root cause of the cycle of violence that continues to this day. There are all types of violence--physical, emotional, mental, spiritual, sexual, racialized and sexualized--of which aboriginal women are direct targets, as were Helen Betty Osborne and Pamela George.
All of these issues of violence have been studied, and there have been tons of recommendations, as I said, so we need to look at the resources that are needed, or the resources that are actually being put into communities right now. What is working? What is not working? What is the type of study that has to be done in order to address it? What is really working?
If there are resources being put towards violence against women, why is there still a continuance of violence? Why are there still so many women going missing? Why are there so many women being found murdered? Where are the prevention services? Where are the educational resources?
Although I have total respect for this study that's being done and for hearing from the people who are coming here, what I do find is that there's no political will to put the resources where they are needed to actually end violence against aboriginal women. The resources are needed to revitalize traditional teachings about respect for women as life-givers, to revitalize the language where those teachings originate from, and to provide needed counselling and healing services both for men and for women to heal from violence.
We are dealing with violence internally from our communities, from our own men who are doing the violating. We are dealing with violence externally from white men and the impacts of racism and sexism--those women like Helen Betty Osborne and Pamela George. But today there is a momentum growing in grassroots communities, without government resources. We see Walk4Justice and these women who are here today representing Walk4Justice, Grandma Mabel being one of those, women who took on and have the strength to be able to do that grassroots work that needs to be done.
The families of the missing and murdered, as well as individuals, are healing and leading the charge to end this violence. But in order for there to be redress and reconciliation, with government actually taking some responsibility for the root cause of violence, which is residential schools--and which they have accepted that they have done to our people in this country--government must provide those resources.
There are specific needs. There are different needs for families of the missing and families of the murdered. Resources for the families of the missing are resources for searches, rewards, travel when families receive tips, publicity, healing services, loss and grieving counselling, and family gatherings. Needs for resources for families of the murdered are for assistance in court, knowledge of the process, victim services with training on cultural knowledge about what is needed for families, healing services resources, and family gatherings.
I'm going to end there, but the one final recommendation I have is that if this government really wants to make a change to end violence against women, what it can really do is actually enact legislation, as they did in the United States, to end violence against women. I'm going to end there.
I really want to make sure as well...there is also a direct relationship in violence against women and violence that's occurring to our mother, the earth. Until we as human beings recognize that there is a direct relationship, we will continue down this road, to the destruction of all life. I know that I have made the commitment to end this violence for my future generations. Are we all thinking seven generations ahead?
Thank you.