POLICE CHARGING POLICIES & DOMESTIC VIOLENCE - Native ...

Native Justice ResponseIt is impossible for aboriginal women to "leave" an abusive relationship in a remotecommunity. The man always returns to the community once his sentence has beenserved. Some abused aboriginal women fear being ejected from their band housing orfrom the community, especially if it is the husband's reserve or community and not hers.Aboriginal women often have to leave the community to feel safe because there is littleor no support. There is no safe place for women to take refuge. Some aboriginal womenfeel they cannot escape from the community and abuse. There is nowhere to go. Theyhave no support groups and the abuse is kept quiet. Some offenders do their time andthen return to abuse the woman again, only to go back to jail. Battered women,nonetheless, feel they will be ostracized if the man is arrested, convicted andimprisoned."Often women don't want to press charges against the man who has beatenthem. They are afraid. They don't want to press charges and the violencecontinues. I have known women that did not press charges and were latermurdered by their husbands." 20Abuse can be prevented. It becomes cyclical and dangerous if the offender continueshis violence with the more serious crime of murder or manslaughter. An evaluationprocess would benefit those working in the justice system by studying the deterrencefactor in imprisoning spousal abusers.Police ResponseWomen also do not get much assistance from the community and are often left aloneafter the incident of spousal abuse. In exceptional cases, mainly in the larger urbancentres, a shelter or transition house may be available.d) High Tolerance of Community ViolenceThe Manitoba Aboriginal Justice Inquiry found that Native community leaders wereremiss in their efforts to end violence against aboriginal women. In some communities inManitoba, signs in the Indian Act Band Office insist that women report domesticviolence to the Chief and Council and not the police. 21Native Justice ResponseEven when an aboriginal woman has been shot by her husband, she is afraid to presscharges because she cannot predict what he may do to her later. An abuser can makethreatening phone calls to the victim while he is in prison thus continuing the abuse. Theoffender is then able to keep the woman in the abusive relationship while he isincarcerated. He may also use the children and custody as blackmail. One respondent20Kuujjuaq at 28.21RCMP Winnipeg, Manitoba.Pg. 33