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

about self-government and feel powerless because decisions are made without them.
Programs or services are introduced without their involvement being requested or
encouraged.
Furthermore, the interviews revealed that some women had been thrown out of meetings
or shunned for attempting to join in. Many women feared repercussions for expressing
their views and did not want to be identified by name in the study. Some women reported
being fired from their jobs as punishment for speaking out. Because the women knew
little about self-government, they based their judgement on past negative experiences,
such as the implementation of Bill C-31, and feared a similar trampling of rights under
future self-government arrangements. Still, some hoped that change would bring about a
better life that would empower their people and strengthen the cohesiveness of their
nations.
Some Aboriginal women focused their concerns on the existing leadership, indicating
that shifts in attitude and behaviour among some male leaders are required:
Native women have been bearing tremendous burdens in their family, in the home, as
well as outside the home, in the workplace and in the political arenas of this country. In
order to eliminate the sexism and the racism that is directed at Aboriginal women, we
have to see a concerted effort on the part of Native male leadership in this country.
Brenda Small
Moose Factory, Ontario
9 June 1992
I would like to point out, to have somebody at least acknowledge the fact that these
people have been elected or appointed to those positions of authority or power and that
they need to remember who put them there and what they're there for. They need…to
listen to those voices because sometimes our leaders get too high or too distant from our
communities and they no longer hear what is important at the community level….I know
there are not very many chiefs and councillors here from our communities and that
concerns me somewhat because it is important that they hear it. But what we want to do
at the United Indian Councils communities is turn that circle around so that our leaders
are not at the top and we're not looking up at them, but that they remember that they are
servants of the people and they are there to espouse our viewpoints and to support and
represent us.
Cynthia C. Wesley-Esquimaux
Vice-Chief, United Indian Councils
Orillia, Ontario, 13 May 1993
It was apparent in what we heard from Aboriginal women that fairness, inclusiveness,
and accountability in Aboriginal governments are of paramount importance. In Volume
1, Chapter 16, we set out the basic principles necessary to achieve a renewed relationship
— recognition, respect, sharing and responsibility. These principles are also key to the
relationship between Aboriginal men and women.
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