English - Ontario Association of Children's Aid Societies

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$Marie Collins \$

FAMILY VIOLENCE Family violence in Aboriginal families includes male violence against women, violence between intimate partners, between siblings, between parents and children, and between parents and Elders. Family violence includes violent behaviour that occurs between family members in the immediate and extended family. First Nations and Inuit women in particular experience higher rates of family violence than non-Aboriginal women. A 2004 Statistics Canada study showed that Aboriginal women were three and a half times more likely to suffer some form of spousal violence than non-Aboriginal women. Statistics Canada interpreted the findings of the 2004 General Social Survey, and discovered the following trends: > > 24% of Aboriginal women reported spousal violence in the preceding five years > > 7% non-Aboriginal women reported spousal violence in the preceding five years > > 43% of Aboriginal victims of spousal violence reported injuries > > 31% of non-Aboriginal victims of spousal violence reported injuries The Ontario Native Women’s Association (ONWA) and the Ontario Federation of Indian Friendship Centres (OFIFC) have studied family violence in Canada and in Ontario. The 1989 ONWA study entitled Breaking Free found that eight out of 10 Aboriginal women in Ontario had personally experienced family violence. The statistics listed below provide additional information about family violence in Canada, and in Ontario: > > In some northern Aboriginal communities, it is believed that between 75 and 90 percent of Aboriginal women are battered > > Aboriginal women run eight times the risk of being killed by their spouse after a separation, compared to non-Aboriginal women > > Thirty-seven percent of Aboriginal women experienced emotional or financial abuse from a current spouse, in comparison to 18 percent of non-Aboriginal women > > Ninety percent of federally sentenced Aboriginal women have histories of physical and/or sexual abuse Children witness more than half of the violence that occurs between the adults in the home and are also targets for abuse, especially sexual crimes, with up to three quarters of Aboriginal girls under the age of 18 having been sexually assaulted. INTERGENERATIONAL VIOLENCE 30 As the Harmony Circles explain, the family and the community surrounds the individual. Researchers have learned that violent behaviour is learned, through the interaction with others and by observing violent behaviour. Social Learning Theory
has been used to explain the cycle of violence among families. Social Learning Theory is described as the observations of others; that we imitate behaviour that we observe. How the parents respond to conflict will help shape whether or not the child learns violent behaviour during the most critical developmental learning stages. What we learn to see as “normal” when we are children, we pass on to our own children. Children who learn that . . . sexual abuse is “normal”, and who have never dealt with the feelings that come from this, may inflict physical and sexual abuse on their own children. The unhealthy ways of behaving that people use to protect themselves can be passed on to children, without them even knowing they are doing so. This is the legacy of physical and sexual abuse in residential schools (Aboriginal Healing Foundation, 1999). What happens when an entire generation of children has been exposed to violent behaviours through historical experiences The action of protecting the child by removing the child from his/her home and community does not in fact protect him/her in the long term. Each child has a right to his/her cultural identity and that identity is rooted in his/her family and community. Child welfare professionals can be participants in supporting the healing process for the family and community. In our view, the primary impact of family violence and abuse in Aboriginal communities is the metastasizing of violence into community life, and the gradual generation of a “culture of violence.” The term “culture of violence” means that the lived patterns of human interactions, as well as the belief and values that support them, are infused with violence to such a degree that violence has become a distinguishing characteristic of community life . . . . Widespread family violence and abuse in Aboriginal communities has, since the days of residential school, passed through at least three and sometimes four generations in which chronic abuse and violence has been allowed to flourish and spread. This means that for multiple generations, children have been raised who were “incubated in terror” (Perry, 2001), or at least in persistent fear, unease and intermittent trauma . . . . The spread of lateral violence within communities is now becoming a serious concern of Aboriginal leaders (Federation Saskatchewan Indian Nations, 2001). The critical point is that one of the primary sources of this pattern, both in terms of its origins and its perpetuation, is the violence and abuse that occurs in Aboriginal families (Bopp, Bopp & Lane, 2003). LATERAL VIOLENCE Lateral violence has impacted Indigenous peoples throughout the world to the point of where we harm each other in our communities and workplaces on a daily basis. That violence includes gossip, shaming of others, blaming, backstabbing, family feuds and attempts at socially isolating others. This form of violence occurs when out of anger and frustration, an oppressed group turns on itself and begins to violate each other (Mohawk Rod Jeffries, 2009). Lateral violence is described as organized, harmful behaviours that we do to each other collectively as part of an oppressed group; within our families, within our organizations, and within our communities. Lateral violence is also referred to as ‘internalized colonialism’. 31
Page 1: WORKING WITH FIRST NATIONS, INUIT A
Page 4 and 5: SUPPORTING ABORIGINAL FAMILIES Than
Page 6 and 7: THE STEERING COMMITTEE Native Child
Page 8 and 9: 8 4 > STRENGTHENING YOUR PRACTICE /
Page 10 and 11: Child welfare professionals have a
Page 12 and 13: 4. To successfully protect First Na
Page 14 and 15: A range of violent behaviour can oc
Page 16 and 17: “The term ‘Aboriginal’ is off
Page 18 and 19: The Practice Guide is an invitation
Page 20 and 21: Clan family: This structure is base
Page 22 and 23: Family violence (witnessing and bei
Page 24 and 25: could live on the land and in the c
Page 26 and 27: The historical trauma of Aboriginal
Page 28 and 29: VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN Adapted from
Page 32 and 33: General characteristics of lateral
Page 34 and 35: G. ATTACHMENT Culture has commonly
Page 36 and 37: In Indian country, we should probab
Page 38 and 39: Customary Care: Customary Care reco
Page 40 and 41: Canada Mortgage and Housing Corpora
Page 43 and 44: 2 > FIRST NATION, INUIT AND MÉTIS
Page 45 and 46: First Nations people living outside
Page 47 and 48: First Nations, Métis and Inuit peo
Page 49 and 50: and meeting obligations to medicine
Page 51 and 52: C. THE INUIT In 2006, there were 2,
Page 53 and 54: population relates primarily to the
Page 55 and 56: Individuals or their children were
Page 57 and 58: status as a result of marrying non-
Page 59 and 60: MILLENNIUM SCOOP In her report, Pro
Page 61 and 62: G. ABORIGINAL FAMILIES AND CHILD WE
Page 63 and 64: . . . if we go back to the origi
Page 65 and 66: Effectiveness of Healing Activities
Page 67 and 68: 3 > UNDERSTANDING CHILD WELFARE AND
Page 69 and 70: and linguistic development, is a de
Page 71 and 72: The Medicine Wheel is an ancient sy
Page 73 and 74: Life Cycle Wheel training and teach
Page 75 and 76: 1. Piliriqatigiinngniq — worki
Page 77 and 78: Traditionally, it was the women who
Page 79 and 80: The OACAS Practice Guide, Critical
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THE STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK TO END VIOL
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2. In order for development to occu
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Circles and involves the community
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A key tool that is often used to he
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Four Worlds International Institute
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A. HOW ABORIGINAL FAMILIES DESCRIBE
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Indigenous knowledge, including how
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“I felt judged by the workers. I
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The focus group participants gave t
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“When a CAS protection worker cam
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Offer as many interventions as poss
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The model below shows elements invo
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F. PRACTICE: ENGAGE OTHERS TO SUPPO
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What are the strengths of this fami
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The focus group participants made t
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“CAS was called in because the fa
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3. Focus group participants express
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Some of the training provided to re
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SOURCES Ajunnginiq Centre, National
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A. WHAT DOES “ABORIGINAL COMMUNIT
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Organizational change within CAS in
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ESTABLISH A COMMITTEE OF CHILD WELF
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“Our organization has agreements
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AHWS Healing Continuum Aboriginal H
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SOURCES Aboriginal Healing and Well
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A. WHAT DOES ADVOCACY MEAN Child we
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community initiatives, conducted re
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To download a copy of Children Firs
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3. What interventions are offered t
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and ongoing needs with the resource
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A. A PROCESS OF RECONCILIATION In 1
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S O U R C E S Blackstock, C., Cross
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ONTARIO ABORIGINAL ORGANIZATIONS Ch
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APPENDIX A GLOSSARY Unless specific
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emaining within Canada. All 10 prem
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APPENDIX B SAFETY PLANNING FOR WOME
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APPENDIX C SAFETY PLANNING FOR THE
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flag situations arise from rigid ex
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REFERENCES 2-Sprited People of the
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Castellano, M.B., Archibald, L., &
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Hudson, P. & McKenzie, B. (2003). E
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Ontario Association of Children’s
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Teillet, J. (2010). Métis law in C
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English - Ontario Association of Children's Aid Societies

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