Native women need services, panel on violence concludes

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The federal government should fund more shelters and counselling services for abused women and children, especially in Native communities, said a panel investigating violence against women.

An interim report by the Canadian Panel on Violence Against Women, issued after a cross-country tour of community meetings, concluded abuse of women is higher than most Canadians realize.

And abuse in the Native community doubles the rates in non-Native society, said a member of the panel's advisory circle on Native issues.

"We are talking about eight out of 10 aboriginal women being abused compared to four out of 10 in the non-aboriginal population," said Claudette Dumont-Smith, a registered nurse who was raised on the Maniwaki reserve in Quebec.

Dumont-Smith said a lack of transition homes and services for women wanting to end abusive relationships often forces women to leave their communities while the perpetrator stays. Because many communities are isolated or semi-isolated, leaving means moving to urban centres, creating further feelings of isolation.

"When she gets to a shelter in an urban area there are no brown faces - no aboriginal people - working in the shelter. She feels doubly victimized and isolated," Dumont-Smith said.

The panel's report recommended "zero tolerance" of violence against women and issued a call to fight the sexual, physical, emotion and ritual abuse of women.

"Only when priorities are rearranged - and the political will is found to adopt a policy of zero tolerance for violence against women - will institutions, health and justice systems provide a service that is adequate, appropriate and effective," the report said.

Ottawa is currently planning a $1.9 million random survey of 20,000 Canadian women on the violence issues.

Preliminary sampling indicates abuse rates are much higher than the traditional one-in-10 figure, said project manager Holly Johnson.

"I think it is going to be shocking to a lot of people," she said. "It's going to reinstate this issue on the public agenda."

The preliminary tests involved questioning about 1,000 women in Quebec and Ontario during May and June.

Many of the women interviewed for the survey said it was the first time they admitted they had been abused," Johnson said.

Federal Justice Minister Kim Campbell said the government isn't planning to move on any of the recommendations until the panel issues its final report.