As a person who is not an aboriginal person, I am interested in some recommendations that would be targeted towards non-aboriginal communities, the larger community, and the “us and them” mentality. I alluded earlier to the inhospitable climate that we have in our country, that starts with.... There are so many us and thems, but one of the us and thems is prisoners and non-prisoners. Very many of our prisoners are aboriginal people, and very many of the ones who....
In answer to your question, in Fraser Valley Institution right now 40% of the women are aboriginal, and 90% of those would have been sexually or physically or emotionally abused; 80% of the non-aboriginal women.
Those are our prisoners. They are feared by our society. They are shunned by our society. They are not welcomed back by our society.
So I would love to see a recommendation from this committee that puts a focus on education and public understanding and breaking down some of those “us-them” walls. If we can do that in a broader way, then we will definitely contribute to the situation of aboriginal women, because they are making up so much of that population.