Justice committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I want to start also by acknowledging the traditional territory on which I am currently, and on which you are meeting. As most of you know, I normally reside on Algonquin territory—right where you are—and this issue is very much linked to, as you

Special Committee on Violence Against Indigenous Women committee  In 2008 our organization changed our position from being a position of decriminalization across the board to the position we have now of calling for the decriminalization of women and girls always, and the continued indictment of the buying and selling of women and girls. Part

Special Committee on Violence Against Indigenous Women committee  The Nordic model is one of the examples. There are certainly.... One of the issues we're talking about is looking very much at a Canadian initiative. The Nordic model has with it many more of the social services and supports in place than we currently have in Canada. It would re

Special Committee on Violence Against Indigenous Women committee  We agree, hence the reason we're trying to intervene there, because that would be a much more productive way, and that's what we have encouraged to happen. However, we are painfully aware of what happened in Fort St. John in particular, and what that is creating in terms of an in

Special Committee on Violence Against Indigenous Women committee  I think the differential is very much based on inequality. If you start out in a less equal position, you end up in a less equal position, even though the law is supposed to apply equally. In terms of the economic disadvantage, the sexual disadvantage, and the fact that we don'

Special Committee on Violence Against Indigenous Women committee  Yes. We and the Native Women's Association of Canada did a piece on the hyper-responsibilization of indigenous women and girls.

Special Committee on Violence Against Indigenous Women committee  It's putting the responsibility on them to get themselves out of a situation of being victimized and marginalized and oppressed.

Special Committee on Violence Against Indigenous Women committee  I won't repeat what I already said, but it needs to be highlighted that the reason Human Rights Watch chose the title of the report, “Those Who Take Us Away” was, to pick up on Sue's point, that was their language, what they called the police. It's telling that it wouldn't be who

Special Committee on Violence Against Indigenous Women committee  It was part of why I mentioned in the context of an inquiry why that can be valuable, because many of the groups that have historically existed, including one that I mentioned, the Aboriginal Women's Action Network, don't have resources. Most of the groups that have been doing eq

Special Committee on Violence Against Indigenous Women committee  Thank you very much to the committee for inviting us. I also want to start by acknowledging the traditional territory on which we have the privilege of being, which is unceded Algonquin territory. Every day of the last 30 years that I have had the privilege and responsibility o

Justice committee  We always support resources going to victims, but that wouldn't mean we'd support this legislation, because even if that—

Justice committee  It can't. We're back to a logical inconsistency: if people can't pay, they'll go to prison, and the result will be longer jail sentences—more expensive than the surcharge would have been in the first place—and people will end up in custody.

Justice committee  I don't know how you can't look at the legislation that way.

Justice committee  There may very well be, yes. There are some who haven't been—

Justice committee  There are lots of people who do things for which they are criminalized, not because they're victimized. Yes, I would agree with that. But that doesn't mean that's all they are.