Day 33 July 22 Prince George

Today I attended a dug out Canoe project which is part of University of Northern British Columbia Native Studies course at the Lheidli T’enneh Reserve.  First Nations and non native women and men have been working on building two canoes over the last 4 weeks under the guidance and with help from Rob who lives right there at the fast flowing waters of the Nechako River.  Today was the last day of the course and the students filled the boats with water and then dumped hot rocks from a fire into the water.  The hot water would then allow the boats to be stretched open a few inches to flair the sides which would keep the water out. Unfortunately things went slower than intended and I could not stay for the launch as I had another meeting lined up.

While all the activities went on around the boats I had opportunities to talk with some women and men about Highway of Tears, men’s engagement, recent in incidents of missing women, and Change the Cycle.  One man who spoke of the inter generational violence by men and alcoholism in his family felt that the main thing men need to do is listen to women.  He spoke of his own situation where he had not been aware of how women have needs as well.  He said his mother stayed with his abusive dad because she thought it was her duty. This man also spoke shyly about how language plays a role: the word rape is used quite liberally, e.g “I raped the Exam” which he believes is part of not taking the issue seriously.

When I asked one of the Elder women about how to engage men she said that native men used to be very articulate before colonization but residential schools and the abuse completely took away their trust and they stopped talking: “The residential schools beat the talking out of them.”  Now it’s very hard to get them involved.  One of the male students ts who was part of the conversation supported the idea that men need to do something about the violence but also felt speechless about where to start.

Afterwards I visited Carrier Sekany Family Services downtown Prince George to talk with their Highway of Tears coordinator about the present situation of missing women in the area and if she had any suggestions on how to engage men.

For the past few years they have organized information sessions for communities in the whole region where they address prevention strategies, participate in vigils for missing and killed women and deliver programs to men and boys based on the I Am a Kind Man model.  The strategy seems to be quite wide – ranging with the goal to develop greater awareness for woman abuse, develop intervention strategies for violence against women and support boys and men develop respectful attitudes towards women and girls.

We shared our common observations about the difficulties to engage men in speaking about these issues.  And again it became clear that the continuous process of colonization makes it difficult for First Nations people to trust the Justice system.

I also found out that another young woman is missing since March 2013.  And since a while ago young men are going missing as well in the area with no explanation so far.