Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Good afternoon Premier, Ministers and honourable Members. Rita Arey, our president, sends her apologies. She is recovering from surgery and therefore, I'm here to represent the Status of Women Council, an organization which you created by an act of legislation in 1989. Because we take our creation and our mandate to represent all the women of the NWT very seriously, we value this opportunity to address this Assembly greatly. We want to thank our Minister, the Honourable Nellie Cournoyea and the Honourable Stephen Kakfwi and other Members of the Assembly who are dealing with the issue of family violence in the NWT.
Mr. Carpenter said, "Where have the women been while we've been negotiating land claims and trying to secure a place for aboriginal people in the constitution and the whole scheme of things?
We said we've been sitting around tables for 20 years talking about violence against women and children. When the first man showed up at a meeting about two years ago, we didn't say, where have you been all this time? We said, welcome, we are so glad you're here.
Certainly, the Health and Social Services review report substantiates this. So, what is family violence? It is a nice clean term for what goes on in one out of three homes in the NWT on a regular basis. I'll tell you about "Annie" who came in with her five children to Yellowknife from a remote Inuit community because the shelter in Iqaluit was full. She left her sixth child behind, not by choice, but because her mother-in-law demanded it. She had been beaten many times before but this time she had the skin of her knees filed down to the bone with a hacksaw to teach her to kneel before her husband on command.
I'll tell you about "Maryann" who comes from Fort Simpson. Her grandfather sexually abused her and her mother before. Her grandmother and mother were battered women. I'll tell you about "Albert." And, "Albert", I think, is probably the saddest story of all. He beat his wife to death in Dettah and now has convinced himself that a demon did it. He's a drug and alcohol worker now, counselling in Yellowknife.
We have to get past the denial and we have to look for solutions that work. Community justice is a great idea, but who decides who will be on justice committees? Who represents the community? Ask the elders and the women. The young men of Lac La Martre were surprised to learn that women elders were once considered the vehicles for justice. Men in power positions, it was thought, were not able to render unbiased decisions.
As we have consulted across the north, our community worker finds that women have the answers but no one wants to listen. Why? Is it because we enjoy such prosperity under the status quo? Not if you believe Statistics Canada when they tell us our economy isn't growing. Why then?
I know that self-disclosure is discouraged, but I have my president's permission to tell you my own story. I am a Metis woman who has had a life of violence. I have been asked to prove I am a Metis, but I will say this. When my great grandfather came here during the potato famine in Ireland, the only women who would marry a poor Irish immigrant were French women and Indians, that was the term of the day. My great grandfather married a French woman and my grandfather married an Indian. It was not by choice, it was simply to get a woman to help on the farm and to bear the children.
My grandmother died of poisoning from a piece of chaff which stuck under her fingernail because the white doctor in Wallaceburg, Ontario refused to treat Indians. I was beaten and sexually and mentally abused all my life until I left home and then I became a battered wife. My children also suffered. The brutality continues, we try to band aid it and the church has sanctioned it. Who do we blame for these injustices? The time for blame is over. We need action.
But, having said that, this Assembly needs to confront the church and demand they fully participate in the healing. In Chesterfield Inlet, the church said, "Don't expect us to sell a building like we had to do for Baker Lake." Well, we say that if they have to sell every building they have, too bad.
The zero tolerance declaration proposed by Stephen Kakfwi is the most important proposition you will ever consider because it says, "We are the role models. We will pledge from this day forward to accept no violence in our lives. If we do succumb, we will resign." If the people have no role models in this chamber, where do they seek them?
During our constitution talks and during our Nunavut review, women said the same thing, over and over. They said, it won't matter what kind of government we have if we don't heal the people. We're so busy killing each other off, no one has to do it for us. I have to talk about Rebecca Kudloo, our eastern Arctic vice-president, who worked so hard at our last board meeting in Yellowknife to have Paul Quassa come and talk to us about women's role in Nunavut. Where is Mr. Quassa now? I have to talk about Grace Blake, who spoke so eloquently at our constitutional talks in Inuvik. She said, "I would not build one more school, arena, dock or road until our people are healed. But where is our leadership?"
We agree that offenders need treatment. Where is the money to come from? Victims need help. Communities need to heal. The only answer we can come up with is a change, a radical change in our priorities.
If this Assembly would commit to healthy citizens as its priority, what then? The dollars, limited as they are, would go first to healing; everything else would have to wait in line. Do you have the courage to do that? That's the answer. The power to act lies with you.
Take a small percentage from each ministerial budget. You had no trouble assessing a one per cent payroll tax, so this suggestion shouldn't upset you. Then, commit to zero tolerance, personally. Become a role model and condemn violence in your constituency with vigour. This problem needs a holistic approach. It is not the mandate of Justice or Health or Social Services. It is everyone's mandate. Are you satisfied with a mandate to prolong the status quo? Are you satisfied with a murder rate 5.6 times the national average? If not, what are you prepared to do? Are you prepared to implement the recommendations of the Justice House report? Are you prepared to overhaul our outdated and ineffectual drug and alcohol program? Are you prepared to implement the recommendations of the health and social services review and the family law review?
We are very pleased with the government's response to the Justice House report but we are concerned about the lack of available dollars to put in place the resources we need to deal with the issues at the community level. We believe that community justice is indeed one of the long- term solutions and well worth pursuing, but we must assure that healthy people are on justice committees and that they are representative of and made up of community people including men, women, elders and youth. Training is an important issue in this area, and so funding, once again, becomes a problem.
The issue of treatment of violent offenders is a major concern. We are aware that the GNWT does not have the resources, at present, to properly treat offenders, and we do want to comment on what we see as a potentially dangerous trend to see perpetrators as victims. People have to take responsibility for their actions and we will never overcome our violence if people don't do that.
One possible solution to some funding and resource problems could be more partnership initiatives between government and non-government organizations. The Department of Health has had some very successful partnerships, resulting in initiatives and resources which probably could not have been afforded by government alone. Non-government organizations can apply to sources of funding unavailable to government and the partnership facilities grassroots involvements and community acceptance.
I want to thank you for your attention and allow me to make one final plea to you to act quickly upon the zero tolerance declaration. Thank you.
---Applause