Status of Women committee  I just want to thank the committee very much for this opportunity to speak to you today. It's a real honour. I'm an associate professor in the faculty of law at the University of Calgary. I'm also a former crown prosecutor. I worked for many years in the Northwest Territories, a

Status of Women committee  Okay. Maybe in the questions I can get to some of my specific recommendations.

Status of Women committee  Thank you.

Status of Women committee  Thanks. I think I'll start with your second and third questions and then come back to the first one about my recommendations. I haven't done specific research on the impact of the government's new crime bills on aboriginal women, but I do think it's fair to say the following, b

Status of Women committee  There's an issue that is quite similar to the application of matrimonial property legislation on first nations reserves, and that's the issue of provincial family violence legislation. That's an area I've done quite a bit of research on. That was actually going to be my concrete

Status of Women committee  I agree that judicial education is key. We've talked a lot about education of police and so on, but I think because judges obviously play such a huge role in the justice system, they also need to receive specialized training and education on violence against aboriginal women. I

Status of Women committee  I'm glad to have a chance to address this point, because there's a bill before Parliament right now dealing with Indian status and band membership for aboriginal women arising out of the Sharon McIvor case. Sharon McIvor has been a huge figure and is really a leader in the aborig

Status of Women committee  Oh, it has. Okay. The issue I want to address is that in this situation, again the voices of aboriginal women were not listened to, and that lack of respect does lead to violence against aboriginal women. I think you've heard that repeatedly over the course of the morning, and

Status of Women committee  I think fear of the apprehension of children is one of the main things that keeps aboriginal women from reporting violence to the police, because as soon as social services or child welfare finds out there is violence in that home, and if the woman has not left the home, the solu

Status of Women committee  We need to provide the services and supports to the family to allow the children to remain within the family.

Status of Women committee  I have just a couple of things to add. I think in addition to the importance of having specialized treatment for aboriginal men who are perpetrators of violence, we also have to recognize that systemic problems continue in Canada and that aboriginal men are also victims of ongoin

Status of Women committee  I have a couple of thoughts as a result of what you've said. First of all, no one speaks with one voice. We have a huge diversity of aboriginal people across the country, so we need to recognize that aboriginal women are not going to speak with one voice, whether it's on Bill C-3

Status of Women committee  I agree with that. On the consultation front, I teach constitutional law, so I teach the duty to consult and the duty to accommodate. I think sometimes we forget about the accommodation piece. We think about the consultation piece, but once those consultations are done, they have

Status of Women committee  I think there is. You can have a piece of legislation that has important general principles that may be broadly applicable, but then the legislation can be implemented through different sets of regulations and different policies and practices. It's at that level of policy and pra

Status of Women committee  But I think there are ways to meaningfully implement those broader principles at the community level, and it's really important for that to happen.