2. Women's Perspectives - Christian Aboriginal Infrastructure ...

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4.2.2 Aboriginal governments and organizations provide for the full and fair participation of Aboriginal women in the governing bodies of all Aboriginal health and healing institutions. In our chapter on health and healing, we set forth other recommendations relevant to Aboriginal women. For example, we called upon the government of Canada to fund national Aboriginal organizations, including women's organizations, to prepare a comprehensive, co-ordinated plan for human resource development in health and healing that builds on regional and local knowledge and initiatives. Concerning certain existing initiatives — the Community Health Representative Program, the National Native Alcohol and Drug Abuse Program and the Indian and Inuit Health Careers Program — we recommended that Canadian governments and national Aboriginal organizations, including national Aboriginal women's organizations, examine how to expand and improve these programs so that they become cornerstones of the more holistic and integrative approaches needed to address the health and social needs of Aboriginal people. In Chapter 7 of this volume, we discuss migration patterns and the urban experience of many Aboriginal women, particularly in relation to housing and social services. In acknowledgement of the critical role and responsibility Aboriginal women have assumed in urban areas, we recommend in that chapter that urban service agencies seek direction and guidance from Aboriginal women in formulating policy, programs and services respecting Aboriginal women. We also recommend that non-Aboriginal individuals and organizations whose work or responsibilities affect Aboriginal women's lives receive comprehensive information and education on the specific condition and needs of urban Aboriginal women. In further discussion on health matters, Aboriginal women also spoke to us about the importance of the environment. In the far north, for example, we heard that poor sanitation is a serious problem: This is preventable, but in a lot of cases [there are] inadequate sewage lagoons, disposable solid wastes, inadequate clean, running water….There is evidence that certain Baffin communities are contaminated with PCBs….This recognized contamination of the sea mammals affects the staple diet of many of the Inuit who eat the traditional Native foods. Concerns have been raised that PCBs can be transferred to the milk of breastfeeding mothers. Ineaq Korgak Executive Assistant, Baffin Regional Health Board Iqaluit, Northwest Territories, 26 May 1992 On the west coast, where many Aboriginal people depend upon healthy fish stocks, we heard that the human and environmental crisis is exacerbated by other factors that are 56
ignored, or inadequately dealt with by regulations: wood fibre 'lost' and damaging habitat through smothering, oxygen depletion…leakage of toxic leachates from solids and sludges in landfills into soil and air; 'spills' of processed chemicals….We, the Tseshaht Nation, have taken the steps towards joint management to protect our resources….Our nation relies heavily on the land and sea as the Creator put it here for us all to share. Lisa Gallic Tseshaht Band Port Alberni, British Columbia, 20 May 1992 In other parts of the country, we heard further representations from Aboriginal women, for example, about the effects of uranium mining: The Baker Lake Concerned Citizens Committee speaks for the average person in Baker Lake, people who have nothing to gain and everything to lose if uranium mining goes ahead. If anything happened to the caribou, we Inuit would have nothing left but welfare. So our clean environment means everything to us. If people don't understand that, then they won't understand how determined we are to protect our environment and our culture. Joan Scottie Baker Lake Concerned Citizens Committee Rankin Inlet, Northwest Territories, 19 November 1992 We also heard about environmental protection in general: We believe that there needs to be the inclusion of environmental protection to ensure a future for all children. It must identify the rights of the earth and our responsibilities to protect the earth. Continued unrestrained development threatens us all. Aboriginal people and all Canadians need constitutional protection from more mega-project dams, clear-cut logging, mining and environmentally dangerous industries. Rather than holding out the individual or the collective to be sacred, the basic premise must be that the earth should be held sacred. Marilyn Fontaine Aboriginal Women's Unity Coalition Winnipeg, Manitoba, 23 April 1992 Concerns related to the environment were raised by Aboriginal women throughout our hearings; for more detailed analysis and recommendations, see Volume 4, Chapter 6 dealing with the north; Volume 3, Chapter 3 on health and healing; and Volume 2, Chapter 4 on lands and resources. 5. The Need for Places of Refuge In 1969, the YwCA operated a residence for status Indian women in downtown Toronto. It was called simply 'Y Place' and was funded by the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development. By 1973, Aboriginal women had become involved in the administration of the residence and renamed it Anduhyaun, Ojibwa for 'our home'. 57
Page 1 and 2: VOLUME 4 Perspectives and Realities
Page 3 and 4: Total Canadian Total Aboriginal 1 R
Page 5 and 6: very different from the proportion
Page 7 and 8: percentage of women 15 years and ol
Page 9 and 10: Forestry and logging 4.2 0.3 0.9 0.
Page 11 and 12: We have stated our belief that the
Page 13 and 14: people. Right now it is very diffic
Page 15 and 16: Aboriginal communities. Many feel t
Page 17 and 18: identity and everything to do with
Page 19 and 20: property, his chattels. Unlike her
Page 21 and 22: highlights the irony of the officia
Page 23 and 24: The marrying out provisions that ha
Page 25 and 26: the property and later obtained an
Page 27 and 28: The impact of Bill C-31 was enormou
Page 29 and 30: 3.3 The Indian Act and Bill C-31: A
Page 31 and 32: • section 6(1)(a): this is a gran
Page 33 and 34: The establishment of categories for
Page 35 and 36: ands (those that were not were on a
Page 37 and 38: In addition, because the number of
Page 39 and 40: Another problem is that the appeal
Page 41 and 42: husbands. In this regard, Indian af
Page 43 and 44: put forth, such as introducing new
Page 45 and 46: which is dealt with through alcohol
Page 47 and 48: The inequalities in health and well
Page 49: In Volume 3, Chapter 3, we proposed
Page 53 and 54: Some Aboriginal women spoke to us d
Page 55 and 56: Lillian Sanderson La Ronge Native W
Page 57 and 58: In that chapter, we recommended tha
Page 59 and 60: Discussions on the patriation of th
Page 61 and 62: Throughout our hearings, when Abori
Page 63 and 64: The incorporation of the whole circ
Page 65 and 66: mechanism for the democratic proces
Page 67 and 68: Testimony has revealed the strong d
Page 69 and 70: their own political institutions, t
Page 71 and 72: The living conditions of many Abori
Page 73 and 74: Martha Greig Vice-President, Pauktu
Page 75 and 76: on our own….We started one and th
Page 77 and 78: Aboriginal women reminded us that t
Page 79 and 80: Many Aboriginal women see their eco
Page 81 and 82: Our analysis of employment developm
Page 83 and 84: solving and decision making are hol
Page 85 and 86: Secondly — All persons intermarri
Page 87 and 88: 29 Letter from Deputy Superintenden
Page 89 and 90: 48 Bill C-31 Summary Report, p. 5.
Page 91 and 92: 76 Subsection 10(2) of Bill C-31 st
Page 93 and 94: 96 NwAC v. Canada (1992) 3 F.C. 192

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