When you look at indigenous women's history, for the longest time we had equal respect between our men and our women. Then we faced colonization. With colonization we had a devaluation of our women take place. This continued with our residential school situation. I grew up on-reserve with my grandparents. The family atmosphere was quite different compared to when my own mother and my uncles came home. There was a difference in society of how women were treated. Over the years, we have seen women become less respected, less accountable to women's councils on different reserves and different nations, and we've seen the impact on our young women now. If our men can't value their own sisters, their own aunts, their own wives, and their own daughters sometimes, then these women fall into depression and despair, and they allow others to treat them without the respect that every indigenous women, every woman across this country, fully deserves.
There are people out there, men and women, who will take advantage of these young indigenous women, who these women feel are treating them with respect, but they're not. It's all about taking advantage of these young women.