With respect to what you're talking about--local resources--right now I'm actually teaching a course at the University of Calgary on self-determination, indigenous governance.
I've always approached it by talking about the self as an individual within a community. That's where the healing begins, with the self and the self-esteem. Everything that needs to be healed with the self has a ripple effect on your family, on your clan, on your nation. So to me it is where the resources are needed. They're needed on that individual basis to deal with the cycle of violence and to end that cycle of violence.
Russell's organization, Warriors Against Violence, is an excellent example of the resources that are needed for the men, because that hasn't been happening either. The women are healing. There are a lot of women who are healing, but we still need our men to heal. We still need our men to understand the role they play as warriors, as protectors, because that's what they were, and that's what they're supposed to be.
So those kinds of resources are needed. We could do a study on the resources that are being provided: where they are going, how they are helping, and whether they are helping.
The reason I suggested this new law or this legislation was so it could be a way to begin those local resources. It could be a way to start the discussion that we continue to have and then finally have something that you could actually see that might make a difference.
I haven't done enough studying about the legislation—because it is new in the United States—as to when it was passed and whether it has made a difference. I don't know if Janine has looked up anything on that, but she could probably answer that. But I do know women in the United States who are dealing with the same issues. I just don't know whether or not they feel that the legislation that was passed has been any help. That would be another good study.