Status of Women Committee on Jan. 20th, 2011

[Sheila Nelson]

Thank you for bringing that question forward, Dennis.

From what I see on the front lines--and I often don't get an opportunity to be involved in the larger picture in the community because of the workload I have, but what I do see and what I did when I worked in the eastern Arctic.... When I worked there I worked in the area of sexual abuse. As a new person to the north, I went into all the remote communities and Baffin Island, and I thought, oh dear, there are a lot of issues here, but how am I going to address them? So I thought to myself, okay, I can't do this alone. I need to form relationships within the community, and I need to find some strong males who are here who will speak out against abuse against children.

I think we need to do that in the Northwest Territories. I think we need to do that at the grassroots level.

I don't think people want to address violence. They know it's wrong, but they're afraid to speak out. I think we really need to have men on board to speak out about violence in communities.

I'm all for having education in the schools as well. I think our young children need to know what's acceptable and what's not. Although the Government of the Northwest Territories has a no tolerance policy, there are times when my staff take a lot of verbal abuse from people who come into the office. I'm very adamant, if that is the case, and they're told it's not acceptable. You need to speak to people in a proper way.

I would certainly do all that I could to bring more men on board to speak out against the violence in the communities. Without that, without role models, I can't see a lot of changes occurring.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you.

Ms. Fuller.

[Lyda Fuller]

I just wanted to say that in December I was in Whitehorse, and they have been conducting a campaign. I brought posters back to bring to the coalition. They engaged men and they have developed posters with men saying, this is not okay, and I honour my wife and I protect my kids. They have had lots of success with that. They gave me a group of posters, and we'll talk about it at the coalition. I think it's critical.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Ms. Tucker, quickly.

[Sandra Tucker]

Very quickly, I just want to talk about engaging men. In Nunavut, actually in Repulse, there is a men's counselling project going on. When an individual is charged under the domestic violence act, he and his spouse are referred to this program. He undergoes anger management; he gets a lot of psychological education around violence and abuse prevention. They're given couples counselling, and she's also given counselling.

Out of the 64 individuals who have been court ordered to attend this, there have only been two individuals who have been subsequently charged with a domestic violence offence. The rest have made changes in their relationships.

Maybe this is something we need to look at as a part of this: if you're going to be charged, this is what you have to do. If there's successful completion, the charges are dropped. So we're educating that way as well.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you very much, Ms. Tucker.

Now we're going to go to a second round. The second round is five minutes; that means five minutes for questions and answers.

I'll begin again with Ms. Neville for the Liberals.

[Anita Neville, Liberal, Winnipeg South Centre, MB]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

An issue that has not come up here today, which I would be interested in knowing a little bit about, is what is your relationship, as agencies, as organizations, with the police? What is the role of the police in addressing domestic violence? How does the person who is abused deal with the police? Do they go? What's the role of the police in this community? We've been hearing different things across the country.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Ms. Tucker.

[Sandra Tucker]

Very quickly, from a national organizational standpoint, our relationship with the policing services, be they regional or RCMP, is actually phenomenal. They're actually calling us and saying, “Here's the situation we're facing. What information do you have? How can you help us?” To have that exchange with policing services is phenomenal. We know from a national perspective that they're engaged in the work that we're doing and we're engaged with them.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Ms. Nelson.

[Sheila Nelson]

I would have to say that the working relationship our staff have with the RCMP is very positive. There are times when we have our differences, but we're able to work those through.

Many of the calls that we get are call-outs after hours, in the evening, from the RCMP asking for assistance. I have seen them on many occasions to be very accommodating of the victim and supportive. Again, it depends. Some people are more comfortable with that role than others, but overall I think we're quite fortunate. In the smaller communities of Fort Resolution and Lutselk'e I haven't had any concerns being voiced by staff. They're always there when we need them and they do their best as well. So we're fortunate.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Ms. Phaneuf.

[Lorraine Phaneuf]

For us, our role with police would be mostly to sit on committees. They're usually very interested in doing that.

A lot of times we get a frantic phone call from women in small communities where there may be no RCMP present, or there is RCMP but they're scared. So oftentimes I will just call our person from the coalition. He works with us to call those police officers, those Mounties that are in those communities. Sometimes what happens is the women feel the men are going to be in remand, but then they're sent back.

There's no shelter there, and unless something else happens there's not much the police can do, so they're usually frightened in their own homes. Oftentimes we'll call and just ask them to keep an eye on them. They always say yes, they will. I don't know if they actually do. I have no evidence of that, but am hoping they actually do that. So for us it's been quite positive.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

One and a half minutes, Ms. Fuller.

[Lyda Fuller]

Because we're designates for the emergency protection orders, we've been working closely with the RCMP in most of the communities across the territory. I would say they try very hard. It's variable what you hear back at the community level.

We meet with them regularly, and whenever we raise an issue—and we will dog it, let me tell you—they have followed up and responded. So we have seen some good outcomes over time around that, but there' s always work to be done. I think it's very difficult in the small communities without RCMP.

In my presentation later I will talk about how sometimes they can't find some of the partners. When they serve emergency protection orders, it was a bumpy start-up, but we've been five years into that process and things have gotten better. We do have an ongoing regular relationship with them.

[Anita Neville, Liberal, Winnipeg South Centre, MB]

If I could just make a quick comment, Madam Chair....

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Yes, you have 30 seconds.

[Anita Neville, Liberal, Winnipeg South Centre, MB]

There seems to be something different about this community that we've not experienced nor heard about in many others we've participated in. That is not to minimize the problems and the challenges you have, but there seems to be a distinguishing characteristic here. We need to find it, articulate it, bottle it, and recommend it.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Very well said, Anita.

I go to Ms. Cadman, for the Conservatives.

[Dona Cadman, Conservative, Surrey North, BC]

I'm going to ask a question, and I don't mean it to be rude or anything, but I want to know: are any of you Inuit or aboriginal? Yes, I thought you would be.

We have been told that aboriginals want services for aboriginals, about aboriginals, and run by them. Now, you're not. How does this work here? Are they upset that you're not an aboriginal? Are they upset that you're a white person working for them? How does that work?

[Sheila Nelson]

My experience has been that it depends on how you relate to that individual. I think there are some aboriginal people who do struggle with the fact that I might be Caucasian, but on the whole, I would have to say that I'm very well accepted by the people I work with. I would like to see more aboriginal people involved. We certainly do strive to have aboriginal staff in our office.

I think, though, overall, I guess I can't say enough. It really depends on who you are and how you relate to the individual before you. I think it's so important that we respect each person who comes to us for assistance or that we seek out. You work at developing your relationship to the betterment of them.

[Dona Cadman, Conservative, Surrey North, BC]

Are you taking some of these younger women who may have gone through a program and mentoring them to help you, to hire them if you can, or to use them as role models?

[Sheila Nelson]

No.

We do have—and I think Barb touched on this—the Government of the Northwest Territories if you are an aboriginal person.... If you're a social worker and you get your degree or complete the diploma program, then you are put in a position in one of the social service offices. We have had a number of staff come to us that way. We work along with them and they're out there doing the same thing--

[Dona Cadman, Conservative, Surrey North, BC]

What about these women who don't have the education but have had the experience? Sometimes the experience is much more important than the education. You learn more that way, I think, having gone through it...experience is everything.

[Sheila Nelson]

Experience certainly does help you. For the social workers that I'm responsible for, you must have a college diploma as a minimum. Experience is certainly.... We look at equivalencies, but it's becoming more and more difficult to do this job; there is so much court involvement. So the requirement is that you must have a diploma or a degree.