Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are very honoured to bring this motion forward. We don’t have to scratch the surface very far to find family or domestic violence, which has very devastating impacts on individuals and communities.
Family and domestic violence almost never occurs without warning. In most cases there have been repeated incidents of violence and indicators of risk
as well as opportunities for agencies and individuals to intervene before death.
It’s important to try to understand the factors that lead to such tragedy and lead to needless deaths when intimate relationships take a fatal turn. One death is one too many, and a domestic violence death review committee can gain to truly be powerful when it comes to preventing domestic violence and the deaths that result from such.
This motion calls for the feasibility to the establishment of a domestic violence death review committee and is an important step forward in the NWT’s ongoing efforts to confront family violence and violence against women, or men, for that matter, or children.
The purpose of this committee, should it be established, is to assist the office of the chief coroner in the investigation and review of deaths of persons that occur as a result of domestic violence and to make recommendations to help prevent as well as reduce and eliminate such deaths in similar circumstances. This will be completed under the expert opinions of the committee members.
This committee would work to develop a comprehensive understanding of why domestic homicides occur and how they might be prevented. It will also help identify the presence of absence of systemic issues, problems, gaps, risk factors, trends and patterns or shortcomings of each case to facilitate the appropriate recommendations for prevention. It will only work with the collaboration and communication among investigative agencies and the service providers, such organizations like victim services, prosecution services, probation, family violence prevention programs, possibly members from the Status of Women or Native Women’s Association, chief medical health officer, positions like psychologists, nurses, of course the RCMP and possibly a member from the community or even from an Aboriginal organization.
Mr. Speaker, we’ve got to stop working in silos. We need to work together to address the issues that are at hand and address the issues that affect our people. We all know someone who has died from domestic violence. We all know a family who has suffered such a tragic loss. We all know a community who has experienced such tragedy as well. It’s worse in the Northwest Territories because we’re such a small population that we literally know family and friends of such people who have gone through the case.
Over the last five years, there have been nine cases of family and domestic violence in the Northwest Territories that resulted in death. This needs to stop. I just want to make reference to a press release that the Native Women’s Association released about two weeks ago with regard to this. It expressed working together to prevent and address violence against indigenous women and girls. It
highlights that indigenous families and leaders, Premiers, provincial and territorial Ministers and representatives and nurses from the Government of Canada met in Ottawa on needed action to present and address violence against indigenous women and girls.
In May of 2014 the RCMP released a national operational overview of missing and murdered Aboriginal women. The research identified 1,181 missing and murdered Aboriginal women in Canada in Canadian police databases between 1980 and 2012. Of those, 1,017 were murdered.
Mr. Speaker, there was a national round table that resulted in creating some priorities. There were three priorities that were highlighted. The first one was prevention and awareness. Under prevention and awareness, one of the areas that they focused on was improving prevention and responses to violence within intimate relationships and families, something that this motion is going to address.
Number two, in community safety it talks about engaging communities, governments, organizations and institutions in supporting prevention, action and intervention when violence occurs. This is what this motion is doing, Mr. Speaker.
The third area they’re focusing on is policing measures and justice responses. Under that heading, they speak of identifying strategies within the justice system to protect and assist indigenous women and girls who are victims of violence, something that this motion will help work on.
In this press release from the Native Women’s Association of Canada, they did take quotes from leaders right across Canada. I would like to highlight one person’s quote in here and that’s our own Premier, Mr. Bob McLeod. He was at the round table and he did express his support. He goes on by saying: “Our experience in the Northwest Territories is that we are stronger and more successful when we work together as partners. This has been at the foundation of our commitment to engage with Aboriginal governments and organizations in the spirit of respect, recognition and responsibility. As the chair of the National Roundtable, I am very encouraged by the willingness of all the participants to engage in a meaningful national dialogue about concrete action and solutions to address the crisis of violence against indigenous women and girls.”
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Premier for representing this government at the round table but also being a very strong advocate for Aboriginal and indigenous women and girls not only across Canada but up here, as well, on this very important initiative.
This government took a bold step November 4, 2014, to support a national inquiry and a National Round Table on Missing and Murdered Aboriginal
Women and Girls. I ask this government to continue that support in protecting our women in the Northwest Territories, and men, for that matter, in domestic violence that results in death and re-creating the resources and putting a foundation in place so we can intervene, find the trends, find the things that result in death and stop it before it happens.
Before I finish, I would just like to thank my colleagues who will be supporting the bill. I’d like to thank the chief coroner of the NWT, Ms. Cathy Menard. In fact, I’d like to thank all the coroners on the tough jobs they do when it results in the deaths, as I stated earlier, domestic and family deaths over the last five years, as well as the RCMP, the victim service coordinators and all those who work in the justice system who have to deal with these kinds of issues possibly on a daily basis.
With that, I would like to thank my colleagues who will be supporting. Thank you.