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November 25, 2005

You are not alone

This guest editorial was submitted by a woman who lives in one of Nunavik’s smaller communities. We are withholding her name to protect her from recrimination and abuse.

I am writing this because I am tired of being put down in a society of male-dominated communities where the church says “woman you agreed and made a contract with God to marry your husband for better or for worse, which means you are marrying your husband to accept him even when he cheats on you, even when he beats you up.”

That is what we hear in church when there is a marriage ceremony.

The worried wife hurries and rushes around to do what her husband wants. She gives him all the money she earns and when she does not make money she will look for money anyway so that he is able to get his drugs or his alcohol. She will keep the house clean because he likes cleanliness and order. When he sees just one mess he will either start beating her up or he will get angry and start shouting and swearing. He will call her “useless” and “worthless.” He will say that “nobody loves you,” and call her obscene names.

He will do anything to keep her away from her family by saying bad things about them. He will keep her away from friends and other people. He will break her things and threaten to kick her out. He will drag her, without her clothes on, to the porch. He will lock the door so she can’t get into the house. He will say “the house is under my name, you do not own this house, it is my house.” He will spill tea on her. He will hit her while she sleeps. He will hit her where no one is able to see. He will push her down the stairs.

Children will not be able to cry or scream and when they do he shouts at them. When she is afraid that he might kill her, she tries to defend herself by fighting back but he gets stronger. He locks her inside so she can’t go out. Children will start crying and go to their room.

She hears from her husband and his family that it is “her fault” he beat her up, because Eve ate the apple first. She will hear people say she got what she deserved.

She feels unlovable, unwanted, worthless and useless. She feels the same way she felt as a child when she ran away from her home when she was abused. She thinks that being beaten up is love.

The police may go to her house many times for the same reason. When she asks for help when she wants to keep the house and her children and get him out, she feels discouraged when they ask her “where can he go?”

She does not feel that she can get help from social services because she knows the social worker does not believe her and knows the worker is also afraid to help because of her husband. She thinks she is going crazy. There is nowhere to go for help and safety. There is no place to go.

I would like to say to her that it is not your fault he assaults you. You do not deserve to be hurt and abused. You have every right to do what you want to do. You are a beautiful person. You were born to be alive and free to be who you are. You are a gift and your being alive is a gift. You do not owe anyone for being alive. You are a human being, wonderfully made. You are not alone. What you are going through will pass. You have every right to say what you feel and think. Get help. Think of your children.

I am a woman now. I am able to defend myself with the help of people who love me and support me. I am not a mistake. My life is a gift, whether I do not like it or like it. What people say about me does not hurt me — it is their problem, not mine. I alone can take care of myself and my children. I do not need to take care of others. They are adults who are able to take care of themselves.

I hope that by writing this I will help women, and the communities, help each other against violence.

November 18, 2005

Urban Inuit: An issue that won't go away

Inuit in the cities need help to develop their communities

LISA KOPERQUALUK

In light of the recent "National Urban Inuit - One Voice" conference held Oct. 26 and 27 in Ottawa, the issue of the growth of the Inuit population in southern cities appears to be becoming an important element of Canadian life, and it's not about to go away.

This conference was a great way to unite Inuit living in southern cities across Canada, and presented a forum for the exchange of ideas, concerns, and needs of Inuit living in urban centres. The participants at the conference were also introduced to the idea of a national body that could eventually represent them in the future.

As an Inuk person who has been living for many years in the big city, I feel I have not lost my identity as an Inuk. I am regarded as an Inuk by Qallunaat, by teachers, by colleagues, by my kids, by my friends, by Europeans, by Americans, and by my fellow Inuit too.

For some reason however, there is a negative stigma attached to being an Inuk choosing to live in a city. Other Inuit assume you are no longer an Inuk. One stigma of being an Inuk mother is that your are "not a good mother." There is the stereotype of alcoholism and homelessness. Yet, the Inuk who is working in the city chooses to do this. This Inuk has a fundamental right to live where she or he wants.

Definitely, homelessness is a major problem, and there is a need for Inuit-specific services. Inuit mothers losing custody of their children need support, and social workers in the city need education on Inuit society. There is also a need for Inuit daycare and para-legal services in the cities.

This is why it is important for the Inuit living in places like Edmonton, Yellowknife, Montreal, Goose Bay, St. John's, and Winnipeg to mobilize and strengthen their communities. Right now, the Ottawa Inuit are the best organized community, with an annual source of revenue that provides them with opportunities to do this.

The Association of Montreal Inuit has existed for the last six years but needs to expand. Edmonton's Inuit are starting community activities and are on their way to setting up an association, and others are expressing their needs as well.

There are challenges for the growing number of Inuit living, for example, in Montreal, where Inuit live among four million other people and are quite dispersed - it can become complicated to physically meet together at a centre that is easily accessible for everyone. There is much work to be done.

Yes, there are urban aboriginal funding sources from the federal government, but most of it goes to non-Inuit aboriginal projects. And yes, there is undercounting of urban Inuit, and this can be countered by Statistics Canada having better counting methods, especially of homeless Inuit. An Inuit centre dedicated to Inuit living in the city could answer such needs. But such a centre needs people, dedicated people, and money.

In Montreal for example, it could help answer questions such as how does a Nunavut Inuk who has just died in Montreal get returned to their Nunavut home community for burial?

Very often, beneficiaries of a land claims region are not aware of all of the services they are entitled to, when the information is out there, but not readily available. Sometimes they find out the hard way.

For instance an Inuk in Montreal wishes to start a business that would benefit Nunavik, but when she or he applies for funding from the Regional Development Council there is an immediate refusal because she or he lives outside of the region. How alienating for an Inuk to be told this by the very organization that is supposed to be there to support them!

Basically, all this points us to Inuit identity and the link to identity and our land. Does it mean that if we no longer live on our land that we are no longer Inuit? Our tie to our homeland gets cut if we move out?

However, this is not to say that land claim organizations do not do their share in contributing toward Inuit qallunaanimiut. The Labrador Inuit Association maintains its Inuit members as beneficiaries even when they move away from home. The Makivik Corp. has done a great deal in helping out the Association of Montreal Inuit in organizing its monthly feasts.

In the past five years, Makivik has donated $42,000 each year, part of which goes to the expense of the monthly feasts, and a major part of which goes towards purchasing used but good-condition furniture to send up north for those who contribute food to the Montreal Inuit. Makivik has also on several occasions aided Inuit who need to go home because of a death.

Some of these issues remain to be discussed, and, it's hoped, to be resolved in the future. Out of the urban Inuit conference came a resolution, a resolution in the mind, that only by becoming involved in the development of our Inuit communities will we create better and stronger Inuit communities in the cities.

Lisa Koperqualuk is an Inuk from Nunavik who has lived in Montreal for many years.

There’s time for NTI to undo the damage

What were they thinking?

After just six weeks of well-intentioned bungling, officials at Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., and possibly other organizations, have not only managed to confuse and alienate the Inuit residential school survivors they say they want to help; they’re also well on their way to turning potential allies into enemies.

There’s still time, however, for the Inuit organizations to undo the damage they’ve done to their credibility. That, however, will require some humility.

It all started on or about May 30. That’s when the Government of Canada signed an accord with the Assembly of First Nations on a new way to resolve, once and for all, the numerous compensation claims made by aboriginal people who suffered for decades inside Canada’s infamous residential school system. A respected former Supreme Court of Canada judge, Frank Iacobucci, who represents the federal government, is to propose an all-encompassing package settlement by March 31, 2006.

All this took Canada’s Inuit organizations by surprise. Until this summer, they pretty much ignored the countless horror stories told over the past two decades by Inuit survivors of federal school residences and hostels run either by the Anglican and Roman Catholic churches or by secular workers. For example, survivors of the notorious Catholic-run residence in Chesterfield Inlet, Turquetil Hall, having fought for redress since 1987, will tell you that NTI was never there for them when they most needed NTI’s support.

But as if by magic, NTI, the Inuvialuit Regional Council, and the Makivik Corp. suddenly took notice. They reacted to the May 30 accord by filing lawsuits alleging abuses at residential schools that those same organizations, until now, have rarely been willing to acknowledge. And with all the puffed-up indignation they can muster, they also complain that Inuit were excluded from the process.

“I was surprised the Government of Canada did not include Inuit in this process from the beginning. Inuit deserve equal treatment,” NTI president Paul Kaludjak said in the press release announcing its lawsuit.

Surprised? It doesn’t take a genius-level IQ to figure out why Canada’s Inuit organizations didn’t get a seat at the table when the May 30 accord was signed.

It’s because they never asked for one. The evidence shows they’ve dodged the issue for years. They ignored the lawsuits that their own beneficiaries have been filing since at least 1998. They ignored the negotiation process that led up to the May 30 accord. And they ignored the numerous class action lawsuits that in the late 1990s, lawyers began to file on behalf of large groups of aboriginal clients — which now include Inuit.

The most important of these, the Baxter national class action, was filed in 2004 on behalf of all aboriginal persons in Canada who attended a residential school between 1920 and 1996. It’s backed by a consortium of 21 law firms from across the country, and is expected to be certified in Ontario Superior Court by the end of 2006. (“Certification” means a judge gives permission for the proposed “class” to be accepted in court.)

This proposed class — “all aboriginal persons” — includes Inuit. “Inuit” therefore, were not left out of the process. It’s Inuit organizations who were left out, and for that they have only themselves to blame.

You would think, then, that officials with NTI, Makivik, the IRC, and ITK would be thankful to those who did their job for them for so many years. After all, it’s the Assembly of First Nations’ diligent work, coupled with a growing number of class action lawsuits that finally pressed Ottawa into signing the May 30 accord.

Instead, NTI and its sibling organizations responded in a manner that patronizes their residential school beneficiaries and dismisses the important work done by the trial lawyers who have represented them for years.

But had they considered their response more carefully, they would have followed the example set by the AFN, who filed their own lawsuit last August to get a seat at the table, and at the same time praised the work of class action lawyers who make up the national consortium. And unlike the Inuit organizations, the AFN provides complete information to its members, such as contact information for class action lawyers.

In spite of all this, it’s still a good thing that NTI, Makivik, and the IRC filed their recent lawsuits. Late though they may be, these organizations have now become part of a process that promises to settle the claims of Inuit residential school survivors more quickly than long, drawn-out court battles would. They also promise to work for a settlement under which no beneficiary will pay legal fees.

And they can easily fix the bad will they’ve created. First, they should apologize to Inuit residential school survivors for ignoring their needs for so many years, and for the confusion they’ve recently caused them. Second, they should start showing some respect to those whose hard work made it possible for them to even be at the table. JB

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