VICTORIA - Suzanne Anton, B.C.'s Attorney General and Minister of Justice, has joined her federal, provincial and territorial colleagues in releasing the draft justice framework report, Violence Against Aboriginal Women and Girls.

Violence against Aboriginal women and girls is a serious concern across Canada. For example, Statistics Canada reports that victimization of Aboriginal women is close to triple that of non-Aboriginal women (15 years of age and older).

In October 2012, Federal-Provincial-Territorial (FPT) Ministers Responsible for Justice agreed to develop a co-ordinated response to violence against Aboriginal women and girls. They directed justice officials to develop the flexible justice framework released Nov. 14, 2013.

The draft framework draws on previous reports and recommendations on the issue, and its themes and principles reflect the commonalities found in those materials. The framework helps lay the groundwork for a dialogue with Aboriginal communities and organizations. It is a guide, not a prescriptive tool, for those involved as they work toward the development of actions to address violence against Aboriginal women and girls.

B.C.'s Ministry of Justice fully supports the framework and will examine how it can be used to further the work that was begun with the Missing Women Commission of Inquiry (MWCI). Since 2006, B.C. has been a leader at the national level in addressing issues related to missing and murdered women, and fulfilled its promise to share the results of the MWCI with other jurisdictions.

The draft justice framework was developed by a subcommittee of the Federal-Provincial-Territorial Working Group on Aboriginal Justice.

Quote:

Attorney General and Minister of Justice Suzanne Anton, QC -

"The violent victimization of Aboriginal women and girls is unacceptable to British Columbians. I believe the draft justice framework will be an important tool for guiding dialogue with our Aboriginal and community partners as we work in partnership to address this devastating social matter."

Quick Facts:

• Aboriginal women are almost three times more likely than non-Aboriginal women to experience violence by a spouse, acquaintance or stranger.
• Close to two-thirds of Aboriginal female victims are aged 15 to 34 years.
• Aboriginal women are almost three times as likely to be victims of spousal violence.

Learn More:

Follow this link to download and read a copy of the draft justice framework report: http://www.scics.gc.ca/english/Conferences.asp?a=view&id=3014

A backgrounder follows.

Contact:

Lori DeLuca
Ministry of Justice
Government Communications and Public Engagement
250 953-3196

Report on Violence Against Aboriginal Women and Girls

• In October 2012, Federal-Provincial-Territorial (FPT) Ministers Responsible for Justice agreed to develop a co-ordinated response to violence against Aboriginal women and girls. The result is the draft justice framework.
• The framework is designed to be flexible to each jurisdiction and respect the cultural, social and economic diversity across Canada. Rather than be a rigid manual, it suggests principles, priorities, themes and discussion questions for jurisdictions to use during their engagement with community and Aboriginal partners.
• Suggested five common principles:
• Responsibility - It is everyone's responsibility to prevent violence against Aboriginal women and girls.
• Healing - Individuals and communities-at-large will need to heal for the violence to be addressed. This includes cross-generational healing in response to colonization and residential schools.
• Partnership - Aboriginal people must be partners in the development and implementation of solutions.
• Behaviour/Social Change - Communities and individuals must change their attitudes about how they talk about the violence. Men and boys will be key agents of this change.
• Flexibility - The diverse situations of Aboriginal people and communities across the country must be taken into account.
• Potential priorities for justice-related actions:
• Raising public awareness aimed at changing attitudes that devalue Aboriginal women.
• Engaging Aboriginal communities in the development of individual and community safety initiatives.
• Improving the relationship between justice-sector professionals and Aboriginal people.
• Identifying what can be done within the existing justice system to protect and assist Aboriginal women who are victims of violence.
• Suggested themes/priorities:
• Raising public awareness aimed at changing attitudes that devalue Aboriginal women.
• Improving the relationship between police and justice system officials, and Aboriginal people.
• Identifying what can be done within the existing justice system to protect and assist Aboriginal women who are victims of violence.
• Supporting alternatives to mainstream court where appropriate and effective.
• The justice framework report emphasizes that there are opportunities to respond to the issue of violence against Aboriginal women and girls at every stage of the justice system:
• Prevention [i.e., healthy relationship training].
• Intervention [i.e., transitional housing].
• Enforcement [i.e., training for justice officials, including police].
• Court [i.e., providing therapeutic courts].
• After an offence or violent action [i.e., culturally appropriate counselling for families].
• It is clear that while the justice sector has an important role to play in stopping this victimization, the report argues that there is no one simple solution. The efforts launched by the justice system will have to be combined across sectors, such as housing, employment and health care, in order to get at the root causes of the violence.

Contact:

Lori DeLuca
Ministry of Justice
Government Communications and Public Engagement
250 953-3196