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2. 2.0 Nunavut
5. 2.5 Recommendations for Victim Services in Nunavut
5. 2.5.5 Victim Services Programs
6. 2.6 Nunavut: Summary of Needs and Recommendations
1. 2.6.1 Summary of Needs
2. 2.6.2 Summary of Recommendations

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2.5.5 Victim Services Programs

• “We need more programs for victims similar to the Women’s Program at the Yellowknife YWCA.”
   
• “Offer programs like they offer to the offender, i.e., healing cognitive development, anger management ... make it fair and help them both.”
   
• “We should have sharing circles to help them process the crisis.”
   
• “We don’t want another ‘cycle of bureaucracy’ program.”
   
• “We could use 24-hour crisis response workers.”
   
• “We have to get childhood sexual abuse out into the open.”
   
• “We need more early anti-crime intervention programs.”
   
• “Have victim assistance offices in every community with a worker.”
   
• “People trust women’s shelters.”
   
• “We need a framework for the wisdom of the community to come through.”
   
• “It takes 3 to 7 years of work before the person realizes they don’t have to be victimized ... no one wants to fund that.”
   
• “There is a place for ‘land programs’ but in the end they don’t teach men how to get along with people without being violent ... these men need an education, among other things.”
   
• “First of all, we have to get women to that level of consciousness where they at least start to protect themselves.”
   
• “Services have to work together or clients fall between the cracks.”
   
• “We can’t do any of the things listed in this consultation paper (i.e., in the previous chapter) until the shelters are in better shape.”
   
• “I want a system and a law like they have in the Yukon. How did the people in the Yukon get that legislation and the money for all those programs?”
   
• “We need to stop young people early and help them refocus.”
   
• “The justice committees want to use the family counselling model not the power model.”
   
• “They should replace Alcohol Rehab Centres with Recovery and Restorative Centres as alcohol and drug abuse is only a mask of the problem.”
   
• “I think we need to ensure that victims have a say in how any programs that will assist victims will be designed and implemented.”
   
• “One has to identify what kind of service the victim may need and that is kind of a very personal thing to individuals.”
   
• “Alcohol and drugs is only a mask of the problem.” 

As some of the direct quotes provided above indicate, the recommendations for victim service programs are in relation to victim services workers, shelters and safe houses for assaulted women and their children, addiction treatment and trauma recovery programs, family support services, personal healing circles, and crisis lines.

Victim Services Workers

Respondents pointed out that there are many capable, motivated, indigenous community people who just need the training, and infrastructure, to deliver effective services. They stressed the importance of providing victims services in every community and in this respect felt that the system in Labrador, which used contracted and trained local people to deliver the service was the best option. A few respondents thought that a system of victim advocate volunteers might also work. However, all respondents felt that a fly-in service (as used in some remote areas of Canada) would not work as they believe a victim support person needs to be readily available in each community during a crisis. Furthermore, a locally available, known person is in the best position to develop the web of solid, trusting community relationships so necessary to service delivery in Inuit and Aboriginal communities.

Respondents were very mindful of the fact that these victim advocates would need support from their communities and from local service providers as well as from a centralized victim services office. Ideally, they would like to see these victim advocates trained in the areas listed earlier and capable of delivering the following services:

• emotional, practical and logistical support to victims of crime during and after the crisis period;
• emotional, practical and logistical support to victims of crime during any standard or alternative judicial and/or correctional process, including the completion of Victim Impact Statements;
• education and awareness programs in the schools and other local institutions on topics related to crime prevention;
• participation in interagency groups and cooperation with existing community service providers in strategic planning for community wellness; and
• liaison with community justice committees.

Respondents support this choice with the following rationale:

• a community-based localized program ensures that there is at least minimal service to victims in each community;
• a community-based program employs local community people, thereby ensuring that the permanent indigenous population has an opportunity to learn the skills necessary for this, and other types, of service delivery;
• the employment of the local indigenous population creates a further opportunity to promote greater choice in terms of community social norms, particularly in the area of interpersonal violence; and
• local people working in victim services programs can ensure the approach to victims is based on traditional Inuit cultural values.

In terms of logistics, respondents noted that any victim services office should be located away from the police station and preferably in a neutral location such as a Friendship Centre or health centre. They were not interested in creating part-time positions to deliver this service as they state that part-time jobs lead to high turnover and a ‘watered down,’ less effective program overall.

In addition to the provision of victim services workers in each community, respondents recommended that additional services, similar to services in other remote Aboriginal communities, and as outlined in the previous section, be developed. Additional community-based and regional services should include shelters for assaulted women and children, shelters for youth, addiction treatment and trauma recovery programs, family support services and personal healing circles. Each of these services, as envisioned by respondents, is described below.

Shelters and Safe Houses for Assaulted Women and Their Children

Respondents believe that there is a need to have shelters for assaulted women and their children in each community. They also feel that there needs to be a “second stage” shelter in each region so women who do not wish to return to their abusive partner have the option, after leaving the initial shelter, of using a longer-term “second stage” shelter until they can locate their own housing. In addition, they feel that all shelters should have children’s advocates on site.

Respondents note that shelter staff need training that covers the areas of psychology, law, post-traumatic stress disorder, family dynamics, violence, formal and informal support systems, human rights and rights as a victim, communication skills, logistical and administrative skills.

Several respondents noted that existing women’s shelters in Nunavut might be ideal locations for victim services workers, as they report that “people trust shelters.” References were made to the victim services program in Dease Lake, B.C., The Three Sisters Haven Society, which operates a women’s emergency shelter in conjunction with a victim assistance program. With additional resources and training most respondents felt that the existing shelter network would provide a credible and effective community sponsoring agency for potential victim services programs.

In addition, many respondents to the inventory of Nunavut services made the suggestion of opening emergency shelters for children and youth. School representatives in particular mentioned the problems of children trying to come to school when they are hungry and tired due to problems in their home and suggested that emergency shelters for children and teenagers might provide an answer.

Addiction Treatment and Trauma Recovery Programs

Respondents are anxious to see an increase in the number of community-based and regional addiction treatment and trauma recovery programs available to men, women and children. There was interest in learning more about the treatment program in northern Quebec as described in the previous section, particularly as the program is based on Inuit values, language and culture and is run by Inuit staff. The Women and Children’s Healing and Recovery Program in Yellowknife was also of interest to respondents as it provides a comprehensive, long-term program of skills, treatment and training to participants. Respondents felt that these types of programs would be valuable at the regional level in each region of Nunavut and they would like to see a similar residential addictions and trauma recovery treatment programs made available in Nunavut.

In terms of addictions treatment and trauma recovery programming, respondents wish to see the following components included:

• treatment of chemical and process addictions;
• opportunity for healing from residential school trauma;
• opportunity for healing of child sexual abuse and other traumatic life experiences;
• a recovery of traditional Inuit identity; and
• the use of Inuit dialects in the treatment program.

Family Support Services

Respondents made many suggestions, as part of the inventory of services survey, regarding the provision of increased supports to families.

Most note the high need for increased family counselling programs, in each community, that employ both traditional and modern methods of counselling. Traditional counselling refers to intervention, advice and support from Inuit elders. (There may be more than one elder involved in this process.) Modern counselling methods refer to the dominant culture approach of counselling sessions with a counsellor trained in psychological interventions.

The majority of respondents also discussed the need for parenting programs, or some manner of intervention with parents, that encouraged them in their role as decision makers and supervisors of their children. In this regard, suggestions were made about in-home family support programs, early intervention programs, family healing and counselling opportunities, marriage counselling, cultural identity and skill development programs and recreational programs that bring the family together.

The comprehensive programming options available at the Yellowknife Women’s Centre, as described in the last section, impressed respondents with its wide array of appropriate, practical, supportive and educational programming for victimized and otherwise disadvantaged women, men and families.

Personal Healing Circles

Respondents note the success of healing circles in several programs described in the previous section. They recommend that communities develop healing groups for women, men and teens that allow them an opportunity to disclose their traumatic experiences and move on with their lives in healthy ways. Respondents believe that community caregivers should be given training in this area.

Crisis Lines

Several respondents note the effectiveness of the existing Nunavut-wide crisis line. Inventory results indicate that the crisis line is well used throughout all Qikiqtaaluk (Baffin) communities. The suggestion was that it be at least partially funded through government dollars rather than relying solely on volunteer fund-raising efforts.

2.6 Nunavut: Summary of Needs and Recommendations

2.6.1 Summary of Needs

In Nunavut, the needs of victimized people, and those providing service to them, appear from this research to be overwhelming. Judging by the results of the inventory of Nunavut services and the consultations with Nunavut service providers and other Nunavummuit, existing services, both informal and formal, are stretched to the limit. Service providers and other community caregivers are attempting to meet a wide range of needs in their particular target population, many of which fall outside the boundaries of their mandated service.

In the final analysis, governments at all levels will have to cooperate in the design of a multi-faceted and comprehensive strategic approach which takes into account the following factors:

• the very high levels of traumatization in the overall population of Nunavut, including the traumatization of service providers and community caregivers who work with few resources and limited training;
• the large shortfalls in most communities in the areas of housing, employment, literacy, education, skill training, early intervention;
• the absence of treatment and healing options in most communities, and territorially;
• the intense pressure on existing services such as schools, social services, nursing stations, women’s shelters and police to provide a wide range of services with few referral services to draw on and with limited funding;
• the lack of public awareness, lack of leadership, lack of basic information and the levels of denial about family violence, addictions, child sexual abuse, child neglect and other traumatic and destructive behaviours; and
• the very different approaches to problem solving, intervention, infrastructure, time, relationships, programming, family and communal life between the Inuit and dominant Canadian culture, and the lack of awareness about these differences in both cultures.

Culture, isolation, colonialism and economic realities have combined in such a way within most Nunavut communities that traumatic reactions have frozen into social norms. The irony of solving this puzzle is that both cultures involved will have to adapt, learn and grow. A ‘one way street’ approach in which the dominant culture attempts to ‘help’ victimized people in Nunavut, while useful in some respects, can only have limited success in the long run. This does not mean that various victim services programs are not worth implementing. The point is that, in the long run, the situation can only change when the strengths and skills of each culture are understood and incorporated into the functioning of the other culture.

2.6.2 Summary of Recommendations

In practical terms, potential victim services programs, policy and legislation all need to move in the following directions:

• learning opportunities in the areas of cultural awareness, trauma and recovery need to be provided for people of both cultures who are providing services to victims, formally and informally;
• a community development approach, based on the Inuit understanding and approach to communal life, and as described throughout this paper, should be the framework for community service delivery programs;
• treatment and healing opportunities need to take as their starting point the traditional Inuit understanding of the holistic and spiritual relationship between all people and all life, in all its expressions;
• opportunities need to exist for community service delivery personnel to learn the basic infrastructure tools and practical information necessary to delivering human services within a dominant culture framework;
• there needs to be a conscious and well planned strategy in place that solidly and permanently links existing community agencies, government departments at all levels and informal service providers at the community level;
• connections need to be made between service providers, community caregivers, and the communities themselves, to other indigenous land-based cultural groups around the world who are struggling with the same challenges as Nunavummiut;
• the question of individual human rights, especially as they relate to collective rights, will have to be considered in the development of programs, policy and legislation; and
• the programs, policy and legislation necessary in areas such as housing, employment and education, also will all have to be in place before social norms around violence and other crimes will change, and victim and offender recovery become viable options.

Given the variety and scope of recommendations provided by Nunavut service providers and others consulted during this research, and given the other considerations raised in this paper, it is daunting to try and find the most useful starting point in terms of providing increased services to victims. However, several practical starting points present themselves. Decision makers within communities and governments will need to consider which starting point is the most sensible. Potential practical starting points are outlined as follows:

• the provision of greatly increased and carefully planned emotional, practical, educational and financial support to existing formal and informal community caregivers and service providers in each Nunavut community;
• the creation of formal and informal methods of linking these caregivers and service providers to each other at the community, regional and territorial level;
• the creation of a long-term, appropriate public education program around human rights (particularly the rights of women and children), family violence, child abuse, addictions and recovery from traumatic events;
• greatly increased early intervention and school programs with the goal of containing and stopping interpersonal violence in the long run;
• the drafting and passing of legislation that provides basic safety and services to victims of crime;
• the development of community-based, regional and territorial trauma recovery, healing and treatment programs; and
• the development of a community-based, territory-wide victims assistance program based on some of the models presented in this report.

A Community Justice Specialist, after reading about best practices in other jurisdictions, summed up several of these suggestions in the following way.^[41]

I see the most practical organization for victim services in Nunavut communities would be like in Labrador, as para-professionals. With training this would develop community victim workers and help in educating the at-large community on victims' issues. Courts have had para-professional Inuit [Native Court workers] … in JP court. Fee-per-work performed is a good idea, especially in the smaller communities and with paid time for training, and doing community education, etc., or other community events.  In larger communities such as Cape Dorset, or where there are shelters this could be a full-time position if that person was very active in organizing workshops, or training on victims' issues, family violence, sexual abuse, trauma, etc., for the community and other caregivers.

Expecting community victims workers to be volunteers is unrealistic in the economic setting we have where jobs are scare. It does not work to expect the jobless to volunteer their time.

Funding must be continuous, reliable funding to get community resources developed with long-term training plan. This would make development of community-based victims services and resources possible as a Nunavut-wide program. It could be part of a government core-funded program, like community justice with a clear mandate to use a community development approach.

Working closely with police in providing initial victim support after an incident is a good starting base for community workers to get involved with an individual, family, etc.  Some victims of violent crimes in the community have expressed that after an assault no one came over to offer support.

Working closely with women’s shelters, healing groups, drug and alcohol workers, social workers, justice committees in communities for a support network of other professionals working in similar field would be important. Some of these would also be providing counselling or other support services to victims.

Victims workers would need developmental training annually, meeting twice a year, regional or Nunavut-wide, focused on training, development and networking for community victims workers. Safety is a key issue in making the workers themselves aware of their own personal safety, but also training in the ethical codes, safe practices of working with clients in a counsellor-support person role.

Long-term recovery programs need to be developed for victims.  Family violence and sexual abuse are two of the leading problems in Nunavut.

In communities, healing groups and self-support groups could be a way to offer healing and recovery support to individuals. Training for communiyt-based healing project caregivers would be important.  Regional healing workshops educate the public about healing needs for both victims and offenders. Train community people to run healing support groups. Many communities have brought in healing facilitators to help get started in developing healing groups.

In summary, it appears obvious from the consultations undertaken during this research that amongst Nunavut community caregivers and service providers there is strong basic understanding of existing social problems, in particular the situation in which victims find themselves. They have provided many workable suggestions and solutions for the consideration of decision makers at all levels of government, and within each community. As a result of this and other studies around social problems in Nunavut, they stressed that their primary concern was to see a direction that would assist victimized people acted upon, not simply discussed and studied.

^[41] This quote is taken from an e-mail received from Kristiina Alariaq, Community Justice Specialist, Qikiqtaaluk (Baffin)South, Cape Dorset, Nunavut.

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