Moving Forward Together in Aboriginal Women's Health: - Theses ...

Moving Forward TogetherJanet KellyRights and Equal Opportunities Commission (HROEC) 2005). The inquiry intoAboriginal Deaths in Custody (Human Rights and Equal OpportunitiesCommission - HROEC 1991) found that 80% of those who had suicided had beenin institutions at some time during their childhood, reinforcing the detrimentalimpact this policy had on Aboriginal Australians.Similar findings of abuse, sexual assault and long term health and well-beingeffects have emerged in Canada from research into the ongoing effects ofResidential Schooling where Canadian Aboriginal children were removed fromtheir families and communities, prevented from speaking their own languages andlearning about their heritage and cultures. This highlights the international effectsof colonising actions (Battiste 2004; Varcoe & Dick 2008).When the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody (Human Rightsand Equal Opportunities Commission - HROEC 1991) and the Bringing themHome Report (Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission (HROEC)2005)outlining the personal and community consequences of incarceration and theremoval of Aboriginal children were released in the late 1990s, they triggeredmixed response in Australian society. Many Aboriginal people were relieved thattheir stories were finally heard and recorded. Many non-Aboriginal people foundthe reports shocking and the country was divided in its response – some wantedaction, some refused to acknowledge the report, and others wondered if the claimsof atrocities were really true. Official national political recognition of thesecolonising actions did not occur until 13 th February 2008 when Prime MinisterKevin Rudd formally apologised to the Stolen Generations and their descendants inhis first parliamentary sitting as incoming Prime Minister. The apology was passedby both houses of Parliament (Rudd 2008; Welch 2008). There is another historicalissue however, that has not been officially recognised or apologised for at a nationalpolitical level, and that involves denied employment opportunity and unpaid wages.Denied employment opportunitiesFor those on missions, segregation and regulation severely limited their attempts tobecome independent or enterprising, and provide for their families. Thebureaucracy, particularly the ‘Protector of the Aboriginals’ refused many requests.For example in 1916 Albert Karloan of Point McLeay applied for a loan of 15047