Saskatoon roundtable seeks solutions to problem of violence against Indigenous women
- Fraser Needham | February 20, 2015
The Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations is looking for grassroots solutions to the ongoing problem of violence against Aboriginal women.
As part of this effort, the organization hosted a roundtable on missing and murdered Indigenous women in Saskatoon on February 19.
About 130 people attended.
FSIN Interim Chief Kimberley Jonathan says they are seeking input from all stakeholders – both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal.
“Happy to accomplish that we all come together and everybody’s voice is heard,” she says. “I keep saying this is not just an Indigenous problem, it’s a society problem and we need to all address it together with love – not with anger, not with blaming, not with anything negative. Just love and understanding to go forward.”
At the same time, Jonathan says the roundtable is just one step in a process to find solutions to the issue of missing and murdered Aboriginal women and the ultimate goal remains to continue to pressure the federal government to call a national inquiry.
“With this inquiry, it will draw out all of those details, all of those concerns of what really is going on, so that we can fix them together. And that it would put the information, the statistics down on paper so they can’t be ignored.”
The FSIN has also drafted a survey in order to solicit as much feedback as possible from the widest group of people on the issue of violence against Indigenous women.
The roundtable was held at the Saskatoon Indian and Métis Friendship Centre.
Similar roundtables will also be held at the University of Saskatchewan and University of Regina later this month and the Assembly of First Nations will be hosting its own roundtable on missing and murdered Aboriginal women in Ottawa on February 27.
Jonathan says both herself and Okanese First Nation Chief Mary-Anne Daywalker-Pelletier have been allotted two of Saskatchewan’s 10 seats at the AFN roundtable.
Carol Wolfe, mother of Karina Wolfe of Saskatoon who has been missing since July 2010, has been invited directly by the AFN to attend.
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