Forgive me, but it's a very emotional topic.
I don't have an answer as to why this hasn't been heard. But now is the time, which is why I sit here as a first nation woman, to be a voice for all of my sisters that the violence has to stop.
I have heard that this exists back east too. I've read reports. It's always done in secret. It's kind of like, “We can't put this on record. We can't speak about this. It's for your eyes only to see.” This was just over a couple of years ago that I read this, and I asked myself, “Why? Why can't it be voiced out there?”
So I sit here in hope that our voice will be heard loud and clear as first nation women. I speak for my daughter, my cousins. I speak for those I've lost in my past due to suicide because of domestic violence and other assaults that have happened to many of our women in our communities.
There are no easy answers right now, but I know that this action has to be taken now. Change has to happen. This stuff should not be happening in our communities in this day and age. Making those connections outside of first nations communities, making those connections with the RCMP detachment to make better relationships--that also has to be done with women. We need women speaking to women. We need aboriginal women speaking to each other. We need education for our women on what domestic violence is, and sexual assault--everything. I grew up with violence around me, thinking that it was just a normal thing. But when I became a woman myself, I realized that it was not normal.
So I want this to stop.
Thank you.