Women urged to address human rights

Page 20

One recurring theme that emanated from the lips of several women panelists on the second day of the annual Esquao conference, banquet and awards was the need for women to be more proactive and face up to those issues that affect their human rights.

The May 20th Aboriginal Women's Human Rights Symposium was highlighted by several speakers who are long-standing activists in the arena of human rights.

The panel of professional Aboriginal women was led by writer, lecturer and lawyer Connie Dieter from Regina, who addressed a number of rights issues that plague Aboriginal women. Combined with the other presentations, topics addressed included the discriminatory Indian Act, as well as colonization, racism and genocide, infringements on human rights and the treatment of domestic violence.

Nellie Carlson, one of Alberta's originators of the group Indian Rights for Indian Women (1969), spent nine years as president and lobbied vigorously for changes to the Indian Act that eventually resulted in passage of Bill C-31, an act that reinstated thousands of Indian women who lost their status through marriage to non-Indians.

The act, according to Carlson, was "a complete violation of Indian rights for women," and led to discriminatory practices from the federal government. "It was not the fault of the (Indian) people," she explained.

A longtime peace activist who has never been afraid to vocalize her opinions, even internationally, regarding racism and genocide, has been PhD candidate Linda Bull. Allowing children to be fostered and adopted, and "forcibly transferring children" to other races of people are forms of genocide, she charged.

Colonization at the hands of Europeans, she added, brought "hostile laws and fictitious doctrines" that led to the severe oppression of Aboriginals in this country.

Indian commissioner Thomas Berger, she pointed out, once said "colonization has been one of the most destructive processes in human history." It also brought internalized oppression, one of the worst kinds, she explained. Indians who don't recognize oppression often become the perpetrators of it and violate their own people, she stated.

"It is time we address these violations; we need to be active and speak out for ourselves," she concluded.

One individual who's devoted many years to drug and alcohol addictions, inmates in jail, and teaching culture, is Elder Christine Daniels. She informed delegates that residential schools were one form of "infringing of the rights of human beings."

As an active member of the Voice of Alberta Native Women's Society, she's witnessed a lot of changes and, while women have come a long way, "there's still a lot to do and our job as women will never be finished."

Daniels was very critical of women who seemingly give up their children too soon. As for illegitimate children, "there is no such thing," she stated. That definitiion, she argued, was just one that was imposed by non-Native society.

The matter of domestic violence was the focus of crown prosecutor Grace Auger from Calgary. She said that men who physically and mentally abuse their spouses and usually wind up in court promise that they will change for the better, and talk their spouse into supporting them by saying things are going really well.

However, it is often only a ploy to have the charges against them dropped. And, unless corrective measures are taken, the abusive relationship resumes.

Abusive men need counselling-so do the women, she said. "If he has no long criminal record, I'll do a peace bond or recommend probation and anger management," she explained. If the abuser doesn't finish the anger management program, "then he's not sincere and doesn't deserve a break," she added.

The panel also heard from Edmonton city police officer Sharon Bourque, and the former director of Calgary's Native Women's Shelter, Rose Lameman.