Women’s shelters ignore IQ, MLAs claim

PATRICIA D’SOUZA

Abusive husbands should have greater access to their wives in shelters, Tunnuniq MLA Jobie Nutarak told members of the legislative assembly last week.

Nutarak made the comment in a Feb. 20 member’s statement, launching waves of opposition and support from fellow MLAs, and a heated debate aimed at Health Minister Ed Picco.

“Sometimes when the women are sent out to the shelters, whether to Iqaluit or to another community, many end up drinking and some end up having extramarital affairs,” he said.

Rankin Inlet South-Whale Cove MLA Manitok Thompson echoed Nutarak’s remarks in a subsequent statement:

“One time a person, a man, came over and talked to me about his wife leaving him to go to a shelter. He wanted assistance and I called the shelter on his behalf to see if there could be counselling arranged for both of them. I was told by the shelter employee that they dealt only with women and did not involve themselves with the men at all,” she said.

“In the past, according to Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit, when couples were having problems, elders were made available and they were able to talk to the couples. This is what Mr. Nutarak was getting at, and it is a heavy subject.”

However, Quttiktuq MLA Rebekah Uqi Williams described as “narrow thinking” suggestions by her colleagues that the needs of domestic abuse victims cannot be addressed in the territory’s shelters.

“As long as there is violence in the home, we must support shelters that provide safety,” she said in an emotional member’s statement on Feb. 25.

Williams, who has worked both as a nurse and social worker in Nunavut, has seen the effects of domestic violence first-hand. “I have seen a mother/wife/spouse dead, lying in a pool of blood,” she said in an interview, “one with no clothes, under the house — in mid-January — trying to get away from an abusive spouse.”

Her colleagues, she says, don’t know the whole story. “They have never worked in that kind of situation before. They’re looking at the situation as minimal — they don’t think it’s a dangerous thing.”

Finding a safe place

Nutarak charged ahead with a line of questioning aimed at Picco. “I asked about safe shelters for woman and I didn’t really get the answer I needed regarding the people that go to these shelters,” he said.

“They cannot speak to their husbands when they go to the shelter. Perhaps the police don’t want them to or perhaps the shelter staff don’t want them to. It seems like they are put in a position where they are not allowed to have contact with the spouse.”

Picco responded by saying that issues of law or safety sometimes make it impossible for partners to communicate after one of them has sought shelter:

“In some cases, the RCMP may have in place a court order, as the member has indicated, barring a spouse from contacting another spouse because of physical or other types of abuse that had occurred. In some cases, I know where women have chosen themselves not to communicate with their husband or their spouse. Or they may have been advised by their counsellor not to speak to the husband or the other spouse.”

Unhappy with the health minister’s answer, Nutarak tried once more, “I was looking at it as a left hand and a right hand. Are you going to be taking a holistic approach or just dealing with one side of it?” he said.

“The reason why I’m asking this question is because I want to see your department take a holistic approach in stopping or preventing family violence. I want to see both the man and the woman counselled.”

Uqqummiut MLA David Iqaqrialu supported Nutarak in his attack on the department of health. “The government members are making responses without any regard to Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit. It is something that I do not tolerate,” he said.

“Mr. Nutarak used an example of using both the right and the left hand, which is Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit. I hope that is clear, I hope you take your holistic approach.”

Picco was defensive. “I know at the family resource centre, they told us of some of the work that they have been doing proactively incorporating Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit on where their concerns are,” he said. “But there are other regulations and rules the members have to follow.”

Iqaqrialu continued his attack. “Is your department making plans to integrate Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit into these regulations and statutory requirements?” he asked.

“We are doing that,” Picco replied. “We’re in the process of bringing together a comprehensive mental health strategy that includes issues around family violence.”

Still unhappy with the response, Iqaqrialu ended his questioning with a statement of disbelief. “I don’t believe you. Are you putting anything forward soon?”

“You want to be accountable to the man and the woman,” Picco said, “And that’s part of the strategy that we’re bringing forward.”

Admitting there is a problem

Madeleine Qumuatuq, the president of the Nunavut Status of Women Council, came to the health minister’s defence in a release issued on Feb. 25.

It said she “supports Health and Social Services Minister Ed Picco’s intention to enhance opportunities for counselling at the community level.”

Williams also supports community-based initiatives in which elders counsel both men and women. “Community caregivers are very, very useful if people are willing to get counselling. The drastic, disruptive move to relocate somewhere is a last resort.”

She understands her colleagues’ concerns, and is glad they began the debate in the assembly, because the situation cannot be resolved unless it is first addressed.

“The thinking is women shouldn’t leave their husbands. But the situation now and 60 years ago are two totally different things,” she says.

“To me, the shelters are needed until people are willing to take counselling – admit, confront themselves and say ‘I have a problem.’”