Inuit women will use MMIW inquiry to promote Inuit violence prevention plan

Remembering those who were taken: a table laden with a circle of candles surrounding a qulliq inside the Ottawa hotel meeting room where Pauktuutit held its pre-consultation meeting last week for the national inquiry on missing and murdered Indigenous women. Family members of of missing and murdered Inuit women and girls lit the candles Feb. 12, in a quiet ceremony. Each candle represents a victim of violence. (PHOTO BY JIM BELL)

OTTAWA — Canada’s national Inuit women’s organization will use the federal government’s upcoming inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women to promote a strategic plan aimed at curbing violence and promoting healing within Inuit communities, says a document from the Pauktuutit national Inuit women organization.

Pauktuutit’s board, and participants at a four-day pre-consultation, discussed ideas and issues related to the strategy last week in Ottawa.

“We’re finding our voices,” Pauktuutit President Rebecca Kudloo said.

Titled “Strategic Plan for Inuit Violence Prevention and Healing,” the plan also anticipates that the federal government will create a national strategy on gender-based violence.

“Pauktuutit is ready to meet the federal government’s national action plan and inquiry into violence into Inuit women and girls with the solutions Inuit women have been developing since 1984,” the document said.

And to implement the list of services and programs that Pauktuutit says Inuit women need, the organization said there is no need to wait.

“Immediate safety measures include affordable housing, shelters or safe houses in every community, and these courses of action cannot wait while inquiries are conducted or policy is written,” the document said.

Brenda Norris, Pauktuutit’s vice president, echoed that idea at the end of last week’s meeting.

“It’s action. I want to see something done. I want things to be different from my grandmother’s day,” Norris said.

Pauktuutit portrays the strategy as an opportunity to “restore power and resources to Inuit to address violence in communities.”

In light of that principle, they recognize that many perpetrators of violence in Inuit communities have at one time been victims of violence themselves.

“Violence in Inuit communities is not a simple ‘one victim, one offender’ problem. Violence has its roots in colonization and the resulting loss of self-determination of land, governance, economy, health and family life,” the document said.

“As a result, many Inuit who perpetrate violence have also been victims of violence at one time.”

And in recommendations aimed at all levels of government throughout Inuit Nunangat, the organization emphasizes more protection and services to help abused women and children, as well as more counselling and healing programs for abusers and those they abuse.

Those recommendations include:

• shelters, safe homes and services for women in every Inuit community;

• community services for children who experience or witness violence and for adult survivors of child sexual abuse;

• counseling for abusers and more healing centres;

• training for community members aimed at building community capacity to respond to violence;

• training and awareness programs that focus on showing people what healthy relationships look like and how to behave respectfully toward other people;

• enough resources to support a sustained national Inuit violence prevention strategy, including interventions and strategies for youth; and,

• better housing programs for Inuit that also recognize the “unique vulnerabilities and needs of women” including the need for “second-stage” housing for women and children.

To ensure adequate Inuit participation within the national MMIW inquiry, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami and Tungasuvvingat Inuit have teamed up with Pauktuutit.

TI will help co-ordinate MMIW inquiry work with urban Inuit communities, while ITK will help with work in the four regions of Inuit Nunangat.

On Feb. 15, today, Carolyn Bennett, the minister of Indian and Northern Affairs, is hosting her final meeting with the families of missing and murdered Indigenous girls and women.

That private meeting will include an Inuit component.