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3. 3.0 Northwest Territories
2. 3.2 Services Available in Northwest Territories Communities
2. 3.2.2 Inventory Findings(continued)

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Ongoing Challenges in Victim Service Delivery

While there are a number of successes in victim services delivery, respondents discussed challenges to victim services delivery that still require attention. This description of challenges and gaps in service to victimized people has been compiled from the following sources:

• service providers, victims of crime, program administrators and funders interviewed during this research process (April/May 2002) as recorded in Appendix A (excluding the names of the victims of crime interviews);
• the results of the NWT Victims’ Assistance Conference (March 2001);
• the NWT Status of Women Council publication “Untold Stories of Battered Women” (May 2002); and
• the NWT Social Agenda Conference Report (July 2001).

Ongoing challenges were noted in almost all areas. Challenges remain in support for victims and service providers, leadership support and understanding, necessary infrastructure, resources and services, and in the availability of information, difficulties of working with victimized people. In addition, even though there is an increase in appropriate sentencing, there still remain difficulties of working with judicial and correctional systems. Details provided in each of these areas are discussed below.

Lack of Support for Victims and Service Providers

• “There is no sense of personal accountability.”
   
• “One of the problems is the pastoral indoctrination of Catholic elders, by the church, that people who stand up for survivors of residential school abuse are “against the people of God” … the elders are in denial about abuse and the church keeps them that way.”
   
• “We have to ensure the community understands what victims assistance is.”
   
• “It is hard to break old patterns and thinking about violence … years of dysfunctional behaviours are difficult to change … continued re victimization and blaming of support workers in small communities makes it very difficult to change things.”
   
• “Your own people put you down and turn their backs on you … you are looked at as a bad person if you try to help the victim.”
   
• “In smaller communities, everyone knows everyone’s business and there is no privacy… they are all related and full of secrets … people fear the stigma of "victim” and fear labelling and gossiping.”
   
• “No one, police, family or friends, will acknowledge there is a victim.”
   
• “People use Indian medicine in court to intimidate the victim … victim witnesses will run away and hide when court comes to town.”

Virtually all respondents described the endemic lack of community and family support for victims and the caregivers and/or service providers who attempt to assist them. They believe that this approach has become an accepted social norm. Some believe this attitude developed as a result of widespread residential school abuse, which brutalized and traumatized entire generations of Aboriginal people in the NWT. Others say that these attitudes have always existed within the traditional Aboriginal cultures of northern Canada. But, whatever their origin, these attitudes have resulted in the lack of support, blaming, intimidation, shaming and shunning of victims, and those who might care for them. Victims fear repercussions on themselves, their children and families if they speak up or seek help or try to leave. They aren’t believed, let alone supported or assisted.

These attitudes tend, according to respondents, to be more prevalent in the smaller remote communities. (As stated elsewhere in this paper, there is a sense among respondents that this negative approach to victimization is shifting in the more major centres.) However, where it exists this attitude has resulted in the silencing of victims, the perpetuation of the cycle of abuse and traumatization through each generation and a perpetual lack of services for victimized people. Some institutions, particularly the church, were pinpointed as perpetuating a ‘blame the victim’ attitude amongst their membership.

Lack of Leadership Support and Understanding

• “Leaders need to be balanced … many of them are not currently healthy and are now faced with these huge decisions that will affect the whole NWT … but they seem to be focused on fast and easy money and don’t seem to be able to really look long-term in a healthy way.”
   
• “The leaders accept the problems as the normal way of being.”
   
• “What can we do in our community when our band leaders are using and abusing … when the abuser is a respected and powerful person, it is very hard.”
   
• “There is inequality in our community as a result of political powe.r”
   
• “Leaders need to see women’s and social issues as priorities versus economic issues.”
   
• “There is lack of support from the chief and council ...these are the people that should know the difference but are reluctant to help.”
   
• “Many leaders are divisive and promote racism and fragmentation; they can’t share power, work together or support each other.”

Most respondents referred to the lack of understanding, amongst leadership at all levels of public and First Nation’s governments, about the prevalence of victimization and its overall effect on individuals and families, and on the social fabric of the territory. Some respondents think that there are leaders who do know about the brutalizing effects of intergenerational violence but ignore it. These respondents point out that victimized individuals make easy scapegoats for the community’s problems and keep people from questioning community power imbalances, and the resulting social inequities. Several respondents point out that some of these leaders are abusers themselves. Some have been convicted of assault, and are often later re-elected nonetheless.

Respondents note that family violence, child abuse and assault are not political priorities for most territorial, regional, self-government and municipal leaders. They see most leaders concentrating on economic development (such as the recent diamond, oil and gas boom) to the exclusion of social justice and adequate social and health services.

In addition, there are very few women in positions of political influence in the territory. Respondents note that men at the community, regional and territorial level actively discourage women from running and will work against them if they are elected. Several First Nation women said they had been elected to political positions in their community but were told by the elected men that they had no place in politics and should go home.

Lack of Infrastructure, Resources and Services

• “People have been taught to stand alone and no one is together … the challenge for community agencies is to work together in partnership for victims and offenders.”
   
• “The response of government has been to move forward on economic issues, but they have not moved on social issues … there are billions of dollars from diamond mines versus lack of program dollars … we have an insulated paved parking lot for the Legislative Assembly and our kids are in schools that are falling apart … our FAS kids are on the streets.”
   
• “Proposals have been written to meet the needs of policies not the needs of the community.”
   
• “We have to stretch dollars and resources to cover assessment, referral, education, and operations costs … Alcohol and Drug workers have to work bingos to raise money to fund their programs … feed on addictions to deal with an addiction … it’s a sad statement on the social envelope when schools, hospitals and Alcohol and Drug programs have to fundraise to provide services.”
   
• “It is stressful to be on a yearly contract … it makes us feel our work is not valued … working with children and families is the most important work and yet we are not valued … it’s a maze to try and get help for women and families.”
   
• “There are ethical challenges ... victims do not want to go to the community caregivers because they are related ... they would like to see someone they don’t know.”
   
• “The housing situation has reached crisis … we have at least 30 women each night sleeping on our floor at the centre.”
   
• “The income support system is very punitive … they don’t give the women and children enough for food let alone other needs.”
   
• “The challenge after the program is over is finding supports for the woman in her community, so she can stay on track … sometimes women are not able to identify a single healthy trustworthy supportive individual in their community.”

The overall lack of resources and services in the NWT was the challenge most mentioned by respondents. Most gave detailed lists of those services most needed, but not available. This lack of resources and services is most acutely felt in smaller communities. All communities, large and small, would like to see more services. But respondents in smaller communities feel this lack has created a major crisis as the tragedies and injustices of the past several hundred years play themselves out in full force in current generations.

These lengthy lists of service gaps included the following:

• victim-centred services:
  • the RCMP response to victimized people is not always appropriate, or present;
  • there are no crisis intervention or protection services, and no safe places or shelters, for abused people in most towns;^[97]
  • there are no support services for victims such as counselling or healing groups, especially in the smaller towns;
  • the existing recovery services, like healing and treatment programs, are insufficient to meet the needs;
  • there are not enough Victim Services programs;
  • the current intervention and support systems are complex and not suited to the needs of individuals, families and communities;
     
• professional personnel:
  • the police, judiciary, lawyers, government departments and agencies working with victimized people need more training;
  • existing programs are understaffed and the front line workers are overworked, untrained and may be unhealthy;
  • nepotism (hiring friends and relatives) and other poor hiring practices are common;
  • the wages and benefits of people working with victims in non-government agencies are inadequate;
     
• territorial resources:
  • there are too many ‘top down’ approaches and too many government structures, community boards and committees which fragment resources, create competition and limit cooperative, holistic approaches;
  • there is a territorial housing shortage; so even if the woman does want to leave, there is no housing available;
  • income support levels are inadequate;
  • there need to be solutions to the problem of service delivery over large distances with few resources;
  • there are too many transient programs;
  • there is a lack of accountability in programs at all levels;
  • there are gaps between government and agency policies and their reality in practice;
  • there are no regional supports such as treatment centres and comprehensive aftercare;
  • there is too little knowledge about early childhood and too few early intervention programs;
  • there is no detoxification centre in the NWT.
  • community resources:
  • there is limited community capacity to deliver programs;
  • all levels of government penalize small communities in isolated locations because funding is based on per capita population figures;
  • government policies lack the flexibility that would encourage community ownership of both the problems and the solutions;
  • programs don’t work together and are reactive and crisis oriented;
  • programs don’t treat the whole family;
     
• agency resources:
  • there is no core, ongoing funding for most agencies that assist victims … year-to-year funding is making social programs unstable and puts a lot of stress on front line service delivery personnel; and
  • there is too much work for the existing services and agencies.

As a final note in terms of resources and services, respondents stated that those practical services most needed by victimized women and children seem to be taking an increasingly punitive attitude towards their clients. They say that waiting periods and other rules around income support make people desperate and that the income support amounts do not reflect the high cost of living in NWT as they are based on southern prices. In addition, respondents were critical of the negative approaches they say are taken by some health boards towards high-risk mothers. Some non-government agencies have been told their funding will be cut off if they are publicly critical of the actions taken by social workers. While these public services are not designated as “victim services,” their clientele are almost exclusively victimized men, women and children. Respondents believe that the unstable and punitive service they receive further victimizes them and makes their recovery impossible.

Lack of Information

• “Professionals, resource people, caregivers and service providers often don’t understand Aboriginal culture, trauma or community, family and individual healing … too many are unhealthy themselves.”
   
• “The attitudes of RCMP are not always good.”
   
• “Listening and understanding the victims stories: that is not happening.”

According to respondents, despite signs of growing awareness, there is still a lack of information in the general population. The general public and service providers in every sector do not know enough about the resources that do exist; there is limited public and professional information about the dynamics of family violence and child abuse; and there is limited understanding of the needs and circumstances of victimized people. This includes a lack of public understanding of the long-term consequences of victimization and trauma. Moreover, language barriers cause further problems in understanding these issues, as does a sometimes too limited understanding amongst service providers of First Nation, Inuvialuit and Metis cultures.

Difficulties of Working with Victimized People

• “It is hard working with victims who also victimize.”
   
• “Victims have a hard time to trust … there is fear and lack of safety.”
   
• “It is hard getting them to believe that its not their fault that the abuse happened.”
   
• “They are financially dependent on the offender.”
   
• “Intergenerational sexual abuse is the undercurrent here.”

NWT service providers and caregivers report that working with victimized individuals can be difficult, for a variety of reasons. It is difficult and confusing trying to assist victimized people who also abuse others, including their children. It is hard to help victims who usually have a wide variety of needs that are impossible to meet quickly, if at all. It is hard to help victims who are usually also emotional hostages of their abusers, and can’t picture life on their own. It is difficult to deal with the emotional isolation most victims experience and the ongoing fear for the victim’s safety. It is hard to deal with people who abuse the existing support system. It is hard to help when the victim doesn’t want to leave their community to receive help. It is hard to help when the victim fears the system and fears being re victimized. It is hard to help victims when one is a victim too and hasn’t had healing or training.

Difficulties of Working with Judicial and Correctional Systems

• “In the courtroom, the accused has his whole family, and the victim comes in alone or late, or not at all … they are that afraid of the accused and his family.”
   
• “When the victim goes to court, the case is thrown out because there is not "enough evidence”; so the abuse continues over and over.”
   
• “They make it impossible to understand in court, and the victim gets frustrated.”
   
• “There is a loss of trust in the justice system to really help ... people say 'he's done his time’ … as well, there is no one here to supervise probation or do aftercare once they’ve been in jail.”
   
• “Some of the victims get very afraid when they know the guy is getting out and coming home.”

While there are improvements in both the judicial and correctional systems, according to respondents, more work remains to be done in making these criminal justice institutions responsive to victims. Respondents stated that police are not always following their mandatory charging policy in cases of spousal assault. In addition, police do not always act on no-contact orders and probation breaches.

Difficulties noted with the court process is that the process itself is time-consuming and the offender is not supervised while waiting for the court date. Moreover, the victim often has no support through the court process, while the offender appears to have a great deal. Respondents feel that there is limited awareness about Victim Impact Statements, and they noted that victims and their supporters are frustrated when there is no conviction based on lack of evidence.

Victims often do not understand what is happening in court, and there is a language barrier in the courtroom as some victims feel unable to express their feelings and the facts in English, and in ‘court’ language.

A number of specific difficulties with the correctional systems noted were that there is no mandatory counselling for the offender in jail or on probation, there is little supervision of offenders on probation and limited aftercare programs after incarceration or treatment, and there is no safety or support system for victims whose abusers are returning to the community.

Other difficulties noted were that there are not enough lawyers doing family law in the NWT and there is no criminal injuries compensation for victims who need financial help.

^[97] Off-reserve funding of safe shelters is different from on-reserve funding. Despite the fact that First Nations people in NWT make up 51% of the population, the NWT does not receive any specialized funding for First Nations safe shelters, unlike safe shelters located on First Nation reservations in southern Canada.

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