Status of Women Committee on Feb. 17th, 2011

[Charles Hill]

I'm just saying that it's difficult to answer.

I grew up on a reserve. Growing up, I didn't see any particularly great amount of violence toward women. There was a lot of violence toward other guys and toward white people, but....

The statistics show that there are increases. Also, the number of aboriginal women who either have been found murdered or who have gone missing and are assumed to have been murdered has been atrocious.

The other thing that hasn't been mentioned is the question of suicides. I know that there has been a drastic increase in the number of suicides. That's among all of the people, not necessarily aboriginal women, and again, this is something that has to be addressed.

With regard to the seven generations, it's not my understanding that it requires seven generations to have change, but that when you do an action now, you have to think ahead--

[Dona Cadman, Conservative, Surrey North, BC]

Seven generations ahead....

[Charles Hill]

Yes, seven generations ahead, and that's not quite the same as something happening right now, a drastic change.

[Dona Cadman, Conservative, Surrey North, BC]

Okay. So are we thinking seven generations ahead or only one generation?

[Charles Hill]

I think you're thinking seven generations behind—

[Dona Cadman, Conservative, Surrey North, BC]

Oh, okay. Thank you.

[Voices]

Oh, oh!

[Charles Hill]

—because we were independent, self-sustaining, and whatnot until we were in fact confined to reserves and we lost the economic bases that we had. This has led, one step after another, over seven generations. We're in the seventh generation now. We have to hark back to the time when we had control over our lives. This is why we always talk in terms of aboriginal control over aboriginal affairs, whether it be housing or governance and things like that.

At the start of the recession, I heard that people in Toronto were getting laid off. They were losing their jobs and they were saying that it was so degrading not to have any work. I'd say, “Welcome o the Indian world”. Everybody was crying.

With regard to suicide, the young lady here, the hockey player's girl, committed suicide in a tragic way, and there was really a great uproar. I was thinking, well, if you compare that to the 200 or 300 Indian people who commit suicide every month of the year, so what....

The other thing, since we're talking about these things, is the question of exclusion. We were excluded seven generations ago when we fell into the minority position, and right now, we're being excluded on the one hand and forced to assimilate on the other.

When I say “excluded”, a good example of it is the question of advertising in the public media: how many native people do you see in advertising? On television, you always see a white person, a black person, and an Asian. There are no native people. The only native person I've seen recently in advertising is Floyd Westerman, who passed away a year ago. He was marketing that Lakota medicine. He was the only one who I recall seeing.

There's a long way to go. The one thing we have to do is work in cooperation with one another and keep in mind that these statistics are in fact painting a tragic picture. And the statistics are not lying.

[Dona Cadman, Conservative, Surrey North, BC]

No.

Just quickly, can you give me one way we can improve? What do you think? In what area? What thing would you change to make things better?

Mr. Lanigan.

[Jim Lanigan]

One thing that's really evident is that there isn't a great supply of housing and we obviously need more. The one thing that we believe is that housing is the cornerstone to all of this. In that context, all the other symptoms that exist in the aboriginal community can start to be solved if you have a roof over your head. You can work on getting a better education, on getting a job, on getting training, but it all starts from having a place to live.

We believe that's the cornerstone of starting. NAHA has developed a national action plan for aboriginal housing. This action plan is built on the aboriginal housing trust model that was recently developed by the government. What it suggests.... We've just started the process. This trust has provided an opportunity to increase the supply, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. We're so far behind now that it's going take us 10 or 15 years of a similar type of funding to be able to meet all those needs. The plan also tries to incorporate the very issue of aboriginal women.

So in that sense, we want to call on the government to endorse this and to continue the process. Every time we find a little bit of success, everything stops. Somebody says, “Oh, this is a one-time shot, so you just get it once”. Well, “once” just touches the edge of it; we need to continue that plan and address the problem in a much, much greater way.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you very much, Mr. Lanigan.

Thank you, Ms. Cadman.

We're now going to--

[Dona Cadman, Conservative, Surrey North, BC]

Excuse me, Madam Chair. Could I just ask if we could have that tabled? Do we have it?

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

It is, I think, in English only, but—

[Dona Cadman, Conservative, Surrey North, BC]

Okay. But it will be coming...?

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Well, how does the committee feel?

Would you like it tabled? All right?

[Dona Cadman, Conservative, Surrey North, BC]

Thanks.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

So everyone would like it tabled. Translation would be in order, but until then, we can table it. Thank you.

[Charles Hill]

Madam, in this context, I did leave three copies, so you can have them copied.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you very much, Mr. Hill.

Now we have Ms. Mathyssen for the NDP.

[Irene Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I want to thank everyone who's here and on television. I hope to be able to ask everyone a question, but I wanted to start with you, Mr. Hill.

You talked about second-stage housing. We've heard that there simply isn't enough second-stage housing for women to get their lives back in order and to look after their kids.

You also went on to talk about second-stage housing for women released from prison. Now, the reality is that we have a government calling for longer sentences, which means that women will be away from their children longer. I know that this creates an incredible strain on the functioning of that family again, and certainly we've been very concerned about the apprehension of children.

We're also hearing that government now wants people to serve full sentences; there's very limited access to parole now. It's being denied more and more, which means that there are fewer opportunities for rehabilitation and the kind of counselling that would help these women regain their lives and put their families back together.

I wonder if you could talk about your experiences. Is that a fair statement in regard to lack of opportunity and counselling for women who deserve the chance to put their lives back together?

[Charles Hill]

If I understand your question, is it that if second-stage housing for women is put in place, that is a good idea type of thing? Is that what you're asking?

[Irene Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

Yes, basically, and I'm thinking also of women who are coming out of penal institutions, because we very often forget them.

[Charles Hill]

Yes. This is why I spoke to that. I noticed that there was no mention of it in any of the material I was going through in preparation for this session. There was very little mention of transitional processes, including housing for people, for aboriginal women being released. I think there has to be special attention paid to that.

I think it would be beneficial if there were a transitional home for women. I know that there are several lodges for men, and I've worked in a couple of those lodges for men, but I'm not aware of any lodges that are dedicated specifically to women. In those lodges for men, they talk about the training that's given and that discusses traditional healing processes, traditional child raising, and family relationships.

Keep in mind that the residential school system is not too far behind us. That really destroyed a lot of our people. A prison is not too much different. We're talking now about, I guess, healing for the residential school victims. There has to be the same thought process applied to people who are being released. Why are they in prison in the first place? Somebody has mentioned that it's reaction to the violence that occurred to them, and this is quite often the case, but you have to delve underneath and see, for each individual, what went wrong and what can they do.

Also, since I'm thinking about it, I'll say that this is one of the key points of traditional beliefs and traditional education: that it's up to the individual to determine what they're going to do, but at the same time, they have to keep in mind that their actions do affect others in the community. This is part and parcel of things that people can in fact learn during the rehab session.

With regard to continued imprisonment and extending imprisonment, we're becoming another state of the Americans anyway there, so we'd better get used to it, maybe....

[Irene Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

I hope not. I truly hope not.

[Charles Hill]

I was trying to be facetious--