I think there are many reasons why things have.... I wouldn't say entirely that they have not changed, but they have changed very little. I still see an existing attitude towards women that has not changed, an attitude towards aboriginal women that has not changed, systemic beliefs about how to treat women that have not changed, and policies and practices that have not changed. There are many things. What I see is that there have been attempts to make those changes, and then other things happen that pull us back.
Because the numbers of women who are being abused are still enormous and unacceptable, because women continue to live in poverty--if not more poverty and more extensive poverty--because there are still difficulties in the justice system, and because there still are children being removed just because of systemic beliefs or oppression of women as I see.... I mean, some things have improved, yes. Back when I started doing this work 30 years ago, there were different views on child care, and there weren't as many transition houses. We have more shelters now. Maybe we have more treatment centres. Maybe it's more common to have more women who have post-secondary education. Some of those things, though, still exist, and they exist in large numbers within the aboriginal community, and I think that absolutely has to improve, as the women have spoken to here.
Even though those things are improving, there is still abuse of women. There still is.