I wanted to point to a real difference between the north and the south around a really critical issue. My sister is a band council member on a reserve in northern Ontario, and they have boundaries around that reserve. So whether it's child welfare or police, it doesn't matter who it is, if they go on that reserve the reserve knows about it and they have to give permission. There is a clear relationship there.
In the Northwest Territories relationships are very muddy because there are no reserves except for a very small one. It's all about public government, being friends, and collaboration. When community people come in contact with those systems that are public they don't understand the racism involved in that.
I'll just give you an example. I sit in the legislative assembly every day, and whenever community MLAs respond to almost any question, whether it's aboriginal or not, they always spout out policy of government, from my perspective. So there's a real buy-in where community people are confused because there are no clear boundaries around aboriginal and non-aboriginal rights in the Northwest Territories. Unlike my sister's reserve, any child welfare worker can walk into any home in the Northwest Territories and take any child--it used to be up to 45 days--with no questions asked. Now there are questions asked, but it's the government system that's asking the questions. That government system is racist and discriminatory, and in fact the human rights violations in the Northwest Territories are at the extreme end. You have people who don't understand that.
I'll just give you a quick example of a recent case where we had a social worker in the Northwest Territories. For years there were nothing but child welfare workers. Sad to say but true. But we have a new social worker in the Northwest Territories and they are hired by defence lawyers now to interview victims of violence. The women in the Northwest Territories don't know who they're talking to. They think they're talking to child welfare social workers. No, they're talking to defence lawyers hired by offenders to discredit those women, and we have no defence against that.
We have no capacity to go to the community and say, “Watch out, women. Those social workers who are contacting you work for the guy that just raped you or beat you up. Be careful.” So our situation is really different from that of the south.
When you're talking about all the inherent rights of aboriginal and Inuit people in this land, those are very muddy waters up here. There is really an impression that we're all working for the good of everyone, and that's just not true because of those discriminatory systems that are so entrenched here and not questioned.
Our agency was specifically defunded because we didn't agree with child welfare policies. And that was in writing. We were specifically defunded. So if you're not on board, you are not happening. And the federal government has a very specific kind of requirement for money to be transferred to the territorial government. The territorial government keeps it, and they deliver these services to communities whether they like it or not. So there's no real capacity for the community to stand up and say “We don't do things that way here. We need our own money.”
So be aware of that. The north is in particular jeopardy because there's a real facade of public community good that doesn't address racism.