Beginning a Long Journey
 
 
A Review of Projects Funded by the Family Violence Prevention Unit, Health Canada, Regarding Violence in Aboriginal Families

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Beginning a Long Journey was prepared by Robert Hart for the Family Violence Prevention Unit, Health Canada.

The opinions expressed in this report are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official views of Health Canada.

Ègalement en français sous le titre Début d'un long parcours

This publication can be made available in/on computer diskette/large print/audio-cassette/ braille, upon request.

Contents may not be reproduced for commercial purposes, but any other reproduction, with acknowledgements, is encouraged.
 
 

For further information on family violence issues, please contact:

National Clearinghouse on Family Violence
Public Health Agency of Canada Health Canada
Address Locator: 1909D1
Ottawa, Canada K1A 1B4
(613) 957-2938

Fax: (613) 941-8930
Fax Link: (613) 941-7285 or toll-free:
1-888-267-1233 or call toll-free:
1-800-267-1291

Internet Homepage: http://www.hc-sc.ca/nc.cn
 
 

TTY/TDD users: (613) 952-6396 or toll-free: 1-800-561-5643

 
 

© Minister of Public Works and Government
Services Canada, 1997
Cat. H72-21/152-1997E
ISBN 0-662-25958-0
 

Table of Contents
 

Introduction
        A Note on Methodology
        Historical Context

The First Steps: Public Awareness and Education

Focusing Awareness and Education: Key Partners

Walking One's Own Walk: Demonstrations of Culturally Appropriate Services

Talking One's Own Talk: Meetings and Networks

What We Have Gained

Standing Still a Moment: Assessing Cultural Appropriateness

Next Steps: Tomorrow's Opportunities

Looking Back - Looking Forward

Appendix I: The 15 Projects

Appendix II: Participants Who Reviewed the Material on Culturally Appropriate Practice
 
 
 

Introduction
 

A Note on Methodology:

This report is based on a review of files of 15 projects funded by the Family Violence Prevention Unit of Health Canada under the federal government's Family Violence Initiative (1991-1996). These 15 projects were all conceived, developed and implemented by Aboriginal people; and all were meant to address one or more forms of violence in Aboriginal families and to do so in a nationally innovative fashion. The file review assessed the significance and accomplishments of the projects. It also identified characteristics that reflect their culturally appropriate nature.

Wherever possible, to ensure the report's accuracy, representatives of the actual projects were contacted to verify information regarding accomplishments. As well, a wider group of people, including representatives from Aboriginal associations and educational institutions, reviewed the information on cultural appropriateness that emerged from the study. Officials in other, related federal government programs were also asked to comment. Thanks are due to these reviewers (see Appendix II), especially given the weight of their schedules and the limited time they were given to consider the material. Their willingness to work with the study was universal, very much appreciated and essential to producing a document that, it is hoped, can be used by Aboriginal communities to develop better services.

Every attempt has been made to faithfully incorporate the feedback from reviewers. The views expressed in the paper, however, are solely those of the author and should not be attributed to any of the reviewers or to the Family Violence Prevention Unit of Health Canada.

Historical Context:

Although family violence has always been with us, it has been only in the last few decades that we have begun to fully and publicly recognize its presence, explore its causes and effects, and systematically seek the means to address it. We have come to realize that the problem of violence is rooted in the most fundamental structural and cultural aspects of our society and that a long and sustained effort will be required to effectively address those underlying causes and reduce the amount of violence our communities suffer. We are just beginning a long journey.

As our understanding of the forms of family violence has grown, so too have our efforts to lessen their effects and remove their causes. The second federal Family Violence Initiative (1991-1996) supported a great deal of groundbreaking progress toward this goal. A five-year effort, involving many government departments and programs, the Initiative committed $136 million to a wide variety of community-based projects carried out in all parts of Canada. The common objective driving these projects was to increase understanding of the nature of family violence and to improve our ability, as a society, to address it.

In the course of the Initiative, federal funding programs partnered with community groups, voluntary organizations, universities, the business sector and other levels of government to develop, deliver and evaluate more than 3 000 projects. Violence within Aboriginal families was a prime area of interest for the Initiative, and all federal partners funded projects addressing it.

This paper reviews the funding activity of the Public Health Agency of Canada's Family Violence Prevention Unit in this regard 15 projects in total. Although these projects constitute only a fraction of all those funded by all sources under the Initiative, they do constitute a representative sample, reflecting all the major categories of projects carried out under the Initiative:

• prevention or public awareness and education projects;

 
• professional training and sensitization projects, including those that developed original training resource material;

 
• demonstration or service model development projects; and

 
• research or data-gathering projects.

This paper also explores the development of "culturally appropriate" practice reflected in these projects and stresses the importance of this aspect of the work.

Just as the projects funded by the Family Violence Prevention Unit constituted only a small part of the larger federal government response to family violence, the Initiative itself was only one part of a larger social reaction, as advocacy groups, voluntary organizations, communities and governments began to focus on the issue. In looking at what these projects tell us, we can see the shape of the ongoing task of addressing family violence in a concerted way and on a national scale.

The First Steps: Public Awareness and Education

As "family violence" slowly came to be formally recognized by community activists and service providers, one of the fundamental obstacles they encountered was the public silence surrounding the issue. This phenomenon of silence, denial and minimization was still significant by the early 1990s. The Family Violence Initiative therefore sought to increase Canadians' awareness of the prevalence of the problem. Projects carried out by Aboriginal people reflected an especially wide range of strategies to increase awareness. For example:

• The Status of Women Council of the Northwest Territories developed dramatic public service announcements to create a broad public awareness and instill a sense of priority about the issue. Aboriginal actors created a context in which violence could be discussed by portraying situations that had realistic meaning in Aboriginal communities.

 
• Pauktuutit, the Inuit Women's Association of Canada, brought discussion of family violence to the community level by soliciting drawings depicting spousal abuse and using them to create booklets to further encourage public discussion. Producing resource material in this way served as a participative method of raising awareness - especially effective because it was rooted in the reality of the communities that produced it.

 
• Headlines Theatre Company of Vancouver supported awareness building in an even more interactive fashion by using the "Power Play" as a means of engaging audience participation and as a catalyst for stimulating community involvement. The Company's original play, Out of the Silence, addressed family violence issues in the context of Aboriginal communities.

 
• The Community Legal Education Association of Manitoba developed a comprehensive approach to briefing community residents about services relevant to family violence in order to help people use the service system to its full potential.

Efforts such as these - in the broad Canadian population - generated considerable public response. As it became increasingly acceptable not only for the public to acknowledge the existence of the problem but for victims to seek help and protection, the human service system was pressured to respond effectively. Need created a demand for increased professional knowledge about the issue and for coordination among the many services involved in the response to it. Projects in the Aboriginal community addressed these needs in a variety of ways. For example:

• The Status of Women Council of the NWT working with the Women's Community Action Team, developed seven workshop modules for Northern communities. After cooperatively developing resource material, they worked with community groups to create local training expertise. As a result, communities across the North are now able to offer their own workshops in family violence prevention and intervention.

 
• The Western Judicial Education Centre of Vancouver pioneered new content in training programs for judges, to heighten their sensitivity to the cultural dimensions of violence within Aboriginal families.

 
• The Aboriginal Social Work and Social Services Educators Network (WUNSKA) of Ottawa undertook a national project to support the teaching of culturally appropriate social work skills by making standardized curriculum modules available to all Canadian schools of social work.

 
• The Community Legal Education Association of Manitoba tested methods for developing networks, support groups and training workshops to ensure that an interdisciplinary approach was taken within communities.

From the outset, Initiative funders realized that, to be effective, services must be appropriate to the culture of those being served. The Initiative supported the development of a variety of culturally appropriate models of service provision within Aboriginal communities. Seen collectively, these projects represent a significant part of the beginning of a comprehensive and culturally appropriate response to Aboriginal victims, survivors and abusers. For example:

• Native Child and Family Services of Toronto evaluated its successful treatment program for child and adult victims of child sexual abuse and then presented regional workshops to widen the visibility and potential for replication of the model on the national stage.

 
• The Helping Spirit Lodge Society in British Columbia developed a treatment program for abusive Aboriginal men and, in coordination with related services, connected it to the broader needs of partners and other family members. As well, a national advisory committee attached to the project was effective in disseminating information about the model nationally.

 
• The Mid-Island Tribal Council of Vancouver Island developed a 24-week group program for both men and women that creatively combined individualized life skills training with collective and community healing processes.

With so much happening in the course of the Initiative, it quickly became desirable for those involved in these innovative prevention and treatment projects to share their learnings with one another. For example:

What has been gained by these projects funded during the Family Violence Initiative? What do we have now that we did not have before? What does all of this activity tell us about future directions?

The funding of successful projects, involving a variety of stakeholders from across the country, produced more than just a list of "products." These projects created a wealth of material in a wide array of formats: television public service announcements, professional training and public education material, conference proceedings, curriculum outlines, academic and popular articles, and theatrical scripts. This material remains highly relevant to the field. Continuing work is needed to ensure that it is effectively packaged, promoted, disseminated and marketed so that it can be used even more extensively.

These projects, because of their nationally innovative nature and the results they generated, offer insight into future directions for Aboriginal people in addressing the issue of family violence. For example:

• Some have laid the groundwork for research on the prevalence of different forms of family violence and point to a continuing need for rigorous data collection and analysis.

 
• Culturally appropriate resources for public awareness and education have met with an enthusiastic response, validating a dramatic need for a wider array of such media.

 
• The projects' success in forging new channels of professional training and sensitization among non-Aboriginal people is evidenced by the receptivity to this work in the field and of the great potential for even more ambitious initiatives.

 
• Effective networking has begun to highlight examples of personal initiative and collective action. Regional and national gatherings reveal a rich vein of learning that can be tapped by facilitating ongoing interpersonal and inter-organizational connections across the country. It also points to the need for more systematic maintenance of a variety of networking modalities: Internet mailing lists and e-mail networks, speakers bureaus, practitioners' inventories, advisory committees and national interest groups.

 
• During the Initiative, each project developed and tested one or more methodologies for disseminating its findings, its final reports and other products. The experience of all the projects in this regard underlines the need for national mechanisms to disseminate information and implement follow-up activity.

• the problem being pervasive but largely unexplored within the Aboriginal community,

 
• little existing research and very few tested service models for this population, and

 
• relatively inexperienced project staff working within generally new host agencies.

Standing Still a Moment: Assessing Cultural Appropriateness

In the review of what has been learned during the initiative and the consideration of what now needs to follow, few conclusions stand out more clearly than the need to build services that are culturally appropriate to the people who are being served.

During the course of the Family Violence Initiative, there has been increased recognition of the need to ensure that resource materials, approaches to training and the organization of services are culturally appropriate to Aboriginal people. Cultural appropriateness is now accepted as essential to creating effective services for Aboriginal individuals, families and communities.

"Culture" refers to the collective characteristics of a community's way of life: its perceptions and values, the beliefs and customs - both ritualistic and informal - that flow from them, and the language that expresses them. Culture refers not only to the collective "knowledge" and customs of a group but also to the way that group passes these attributes on from generation to generation.

Culture is reflected in the organizations and institutions of the community. The clearer the reflection by those organizations, the better served the community. When the service, or the organization offering it, does not culturally reflect the community it is meant to serve, an additional stress is created. This does a great disservice to individuals, families and whole communities who are already under considerable stress.

As ownership of family-related services has increasingly passed to Aboriginal control, it has become evident that simply staffing those services with Aboriginal people is only part of the answer. The services themselves need to be designed by Aboriginal people to make them work as a reflection of the culture of the host community and the belief system found there. This redesigning is leading to the development of approaches that Aboriginal people feel are more understandable, comfortable, supportive and, therefore, effective. These approaches or models of service delivery contain a growing body of Aboriginal practice wisdom.

However, culturally matching service to both the servers and the served is not a simple task. Because of increasing globalization, all cultures are under stress and in the process of transformation. Evolution of family structures, gender roles, the significance and function of spirituality, the use of language, and the content of values and norms - all of these changes are transforming the institutions with which and by which we live. It is doubly difficult, in this time of continuing pressure to change, for Aboriginal cultures to reassert their importance and rediscover their inherent dignity after generations of devaluation by dominant cultures.

While cultural appropriateness is one of the most important prerequisites to developing good services, it is also one of the most difficult to assess. What constitutes a good practice in one community will not necessarily transfer well to another. Considering here the practices that have been designed to be culturally appropriate to some Aboriginal people is not meant to imply that they can be applied to all. There are large cultural differences both among Inuit, First Nation and Métis peoples and among individual communities within these larger groupings.

Of the projects funded by the Family Violence Prevention Unit, the following table identifies broad characteristics that were felt to be especially reflective of cultural appropriateness. Each characteristic is matched with a resulting practice, highlighting how practice particularities flow from cultural foundations.

This is not a complete or comprehensive listing but is simply a crystallization of aspects from specific, individual projects. It represents a preliminary examination of the effect of cultural appropriateness on the practice design. It can be used as an illustrative template to assist in the development of programs that reflect the cultural characteristics of other communities. Communities interested in designing culturally appropriate services for themselves can use the list as one tool, emphasizing or adding characteristics that reflect their reality and ignoring those that do not.

Confidentiality raises a number of seeming contradictions in Aboriginal communities. Because of their size and the inter-relationships of their members, there is a very strong need for the strictest interpretation of confidentiality. At the same time, especially with the inter-relatedness of programs and the staffing of these programs by local people, there is a tendency toward openness. The position put forward by Aboriginal practitioners stresses the imperative that information be shared with others only with the client's consent.

Because of the importance placed on caring and restoring balance, there appears to be a tendency within Aboriginal justice systems to go beyond questions of guilt and innocence to considerations involving restitution and the reintegration of the offender. As such, these systems can be seen as the beginning of a therapeutic intervention.

Since its inception, the Family Violence Prevention Unit has used its resources to create needed information (by funding projects) and to disseminate the information developed to those who could use it. While the program no longer has resources to fund extensive project activity, it retains the mandate and the means to continue to share information. Moreover, by partnering with others in this task, it can increase the amount of information shared and widen the audience receiving it.

There are opportunities for the development of a series of complementary, linked national networks to bring key constituencies together. The following are only a few examples that are suggested by a review of project files.

A Community Facilitator and Senior Practitioner Network of people who are wise in the ways of creating and offering appropriate and effective service. This network would be available to communities which wish to develop new services or evaluate those they have against proven experience.

A Research Network for the development and validation of designs, new work and the analysis of community generated data. This network would share research designs and reports. Its objective would be to reduce the cost of research, improve designs, create partnerships among communities and researchers, and replicate research between communities where possible and desirable.

A Training Material and Curriculum Development Network of adult educators. This network would create standards for resource material and, where appropriate, new material.

A Production Network of Aboriginal communications societies to create public awareness, prevention and training materials.

An Expert Opinion Network to disseminate specialized knowledge that is difficult for communities to access.

The purpose of all these networks would be:

• to lower the cost of these vital activities by reducing duplication and increasing national collaborative work;

 
• to increase quality by encouraging collaboration;

 
• to increase impact by effective dissemination of research findings, training resource materials and information on effective practice models; and

 
• to connect the resources of these networks directly to Aboriginal communities.

• regular briefing of Aboriginal leadership on implications of accumulated practice wisdom;

 
• validation of project designs;

 
• development of process manuals to encourage the replication of successful models;

 
• review of material with a view to national adaptability;

 
• development of nationally usable models;

 
• improvement of existing models;

 
• creation of new models based on past experience;

 
• production of an annual review of new models;

 
• development of partnerships with other networks;

 
• increased evaluation of models;

 
• effective dissemination;

 
• contribution toward the development of national standards;

 
• creation of a national capacity to quickly focus on emerging priority issues; and

 
• exploration of a wide range of funding partnerships, including private sector funding.

It is equally important for communities to talk directly with one another regarding the development and provision of services. To do this would require them to be able to compare information easily. The development of common reporting protocols would allow them to create an inexpensive and easily maintained national inventory of services.

Looking Back Looking Forward

The experience of the Initiative has confirmed that family violence is not simply a social problem. It is a social condition. In the short term, a governmental initiative, no matter how well conceived and carried out, cannot eradicate it or even noticeably lessen its impact. Such an initiative can, however, set the stage for ongoing work. It can pose questions and begin to provide answers. It can point the way to continuing work. The Family Violence Initiative, now concluded, has done this work well. It has set us solidly on the road as we begin a long journey.

There is now a public awareness about the existence and pervasiveness of this condition, its effects on victims and its broad social cost. There is also a growing community of researchers and practitioners and, with them, an expanding amount of research and practice wisdom.

As well, there is now an acceptance of the need for professional systems (for example, criminal justice, health and human service) to be sensitive to new knowledge about family violence and cultural differences in its manifestations and the appropriate responses to it, and the need for those systems to work together more closely. This has given rise to the development of resource material and training approaches that are both specific to these systems and appropriate to be shared with the wider community. Professional systems are increasingly finding ways to involve the community in an active and ongoing fashion.

Most important, the number of acknowledged survivors is slowly increasing. As victims speak out and begin their own long journey toward healing and well-being, they move from being victims to being survivors, and often to being healers themselves. These numbers will not decrease. The silence will not return.

As Aboriginal communities take ownership of these systems, they are slowly remaking them in their own image, to reflect their own culture and meet their own needs as they define them. Developing the community institutions and support services are among the principal tasks of Aboriginal leaders and communities. These are tasks both exciting and daunting, and ones that will hold the attention of not just this generation but several to follow.

This process is unfolding in a period when resources seem fewer and the need to work together is greater. But no Aboriginal community is alone in this process. Each faces similar challenges. It can be expected that communities will increasingly turn to one another for help in this work. All the more reason why the building of communication networks to support Aboriginal communities and organizations is critical.

Appendix 1: The 15 Projects

Metis National Council Family Violence Needs Assessment Proposal: This project produced a design for a survey on the extent and nature of family violence among Métis families in Western Canada.

Metis National Council
350 Sparks Street, Suite 309
Ottawa, Ontario
K1R 7S8
Tel: (613) 232-3216
Fax: (613) 232-4262

Television Public Service Announcements on Family Violence, by the Status of Women Council of the Northwest Territories: This project researched, developed and produced two one-minute and three 30-second public service announcements to raise awareness about family violence. The announcements were televised on CBC North.

Status of Women Council of the Northwest Territories
P.O. Box 1320
Yellowknife, Northwest Territories
X1A 2L9
Tel: (403) 920-6177
Fax: (403) 873-0285
CONTACT: Executive Director

Family Violence Crisis Intervention Training Program - Naalatsiarlutit, by Pauktuutit, the Inuit Women's Association of Canada. This project produced a booklet on spousal abuse and its impact on women and their families, and distributed it to every Inuit community in Canada.

Pauktuutit, Inuit Women's Association
192 Bank Street
Ottawa, Ontario
K2P 1W8
Tel: (613) 238-3977
Fax: (613) 238-1787
CONTACT: Special Project Coordinator

Aboriginal Family Violence Conference: "Communities in Crisis - Healing Ourselves," by Waseskun House, Montreal. This national conference served as a more concentrated follow-up to a family violence workshop that focused on Aboriginal men who abuse their wives and children.

Waseskun House
3601 St-Jacques West, Suite 340
Montreal, Quebec
H4C 3N4
Tel: (514) 932-4634
Fax: (514) 932-8454

Second National Aboriginal Child Welfare Conference, by the Assembly of First Nations. Aboriginal leaders in the field of family violence came to Winnipeg to lead a conference workshop addressing child abuse and the relationship between child welfare and child abuse in Aboriginal communities.

Assembly of First Nations
Child Welfare Liaison
1 Nicholas Street, Suite 1002
Ottawa, Ontario
K1N 7B7
Tel: (613) 241-6789
Fax: (613) 241-5808

Aboriginal Family Violence and Social Work Education Project, by the Canadian Association of Schools of Social Work. This project developed curricula within schools of social work across Canada to sensitize social work students to the nature and extent of violence in Aboriginal families and train them for intervention to address it.

Canadian Association of
Schools of Social Work
323 Chapel Street, 2nd Floor
Ottawa, Ontario
K1N 7Z2
Tel: (613) 236-3424
Fax: (613) 237-5969

Western Workshop - 1991, by the Western Judicial Education Centre, Vancouver. This was the second in a series of judicial education events for provincial and territorial court judges in Western and Northern Canada, with emphasis on the justice system's service to Aboriginal people, raising the consciousness of judges about the social context in which judicial decision making takes place. A training manual and videotapes were produced and distributed to judges across Canada.

The project was originally sponsored by the Western Judicial Education Centre. The Centre has since ceased to exist. The resource materials and video are available for consultation and/or interlibrary loan from the Departmental Library, Health Canada, Ottawa K1A 0K9.

1992 Seminar on Race and Ethnic Relations, by the Western Judicial Education Centre, Vancouver. This training event produced a training manual and videotapes that focused on ethnic and cultural equity, with significant focus on Aboriginal peoples.

The project was originally sponsored by the Western Judicial Education Centre. The Centre has since ceased to exist. The resource materials and video are available for consultation and/or inter-library loan from the Departmental Library, Health Canada, Ottawa K1A 0K9.

Legal Education Program on Family Violence, by the Community Legal Education Association (CLEA) of Manitoba. A legal information program was produced to assist people who come into contact with the legal system, with special emphasis on the needs of women, Aboriginal people and persons with disabilities in the context of family violence. Workshops were held in rural Aboriginal communities and information kits were produced and distributed.

Community Legal Education Association
294 Portage Avenue, Suite 510
Winnipeg, Manitoba
R3C 0B9
Tel: (204) 943-2382
Fax: (204) 943-3600
CONTACT: Alan Diduck

"Out of the Silence" - A Power Play Addressing Family Violence, by Headlines Theatre Company. This project prepared and presented a "Power Play" on the topic of violence in urban Aboriginal families, stimulating audience participation in the performance and thereby public involvement in the issue.

Urban Representative Body of Aboriginal Nations Society
1416 Commercial Drive, Suite 101
Vancouver, British Columbia
V5L 3X9
Tel: (604) 251-2006
Fax: (604) 251-4104

Women's Community Action Book, by the Women's Community Action Team, Yellowknife. In cooperation with the Status of Women Council of the Northwest Territories, the Team produced a training handbook and facilitator's guide to help women organize workshops on family violence in NWT communities.

Women's Community Action Team
c/o Status of Women Council of the NWT
Box 1320
Yellowknife, Northwest Territories X1A 2L9
Tel: (403) 920-8030
Fax: (403) 873-0285

Evaluation of the Aboriginal Spousal Assault Program, by the Helping Spirit Lodge Society of Vancouver. This project implemented and evaluated a three-year demonstration program for the group treatment and healing of Aboriginal men who were abusive to their partners. A treatment manual was produced and distributed.

Helping Spirit Lodge Society
3965 Dumfries Street
Vancouver, British Columbia
V5N 5R3
Tel: (604) 872-6649
Fax: (604) 873-4402
CONTACT: Ms. Bernie Whiteford

Mooka'am Sexual Abuse Treatment Program: Program Description and Planning Guidelines, by the Native Child and Family Services of Toronto. This project comprised the second phase of a two-phase project, involving a qualitative impact evaluation among the clientele of the treatment program for Aboriginal child and adult victims of child sexual abuse. To support dissemination of information about the program, workshops were held in Toronto and Vancouver.

Native Child and Family Services of Toronto
464 Yonge Street, Suite 201 Toronto, Ontario
M4Y 1W9
Tel: (416) 969-8510
Fax: (416) 969-9251
CONTACT: Kenn Richard, Executive Director

Mid-Island Tribal Council Family Violence Demonstration Project Final Evaluation, by the Mid-Island Tribal Council in British Columbia. This three-year demonstration project developed and evaluated an innovative treatment and healing program for victims, abusers and their families, combining life skills training with group treatment and community involvement. A program manual was produced and distributed.

Mid-Island Tribal Council
P.O. Box 1000
Duncan, British Columbia
B9L 3Y2
Tel: (250) 746-9941
Fax: (250) 746-9961

Elder Abuse Program Proposal, by the Native Canadian Centre of Toronto. This constituted phase one of a national project to develop culturally appropriate prevention resources regarding senior abuse among off -reserve Aboriginal people, laying the groundwork for resource production by means of a national consultation, the organizing of a national advisory committee, and the production of a proposal for actual resources to be developed.

Native Canadian Centre of Toronto
16 Spadina Road
Toronto, Ontario
M5R 2S7
Tel: (416) 964-9087
Fax: (416) 964-2111
CONTACT: Gayle Mason,
Executive Director

Appendix II: Participants Who Reviewed the Material on Culturally Appropriate Practice

Kathy Absolon Martha Argue Christopher Armstrong-Esther Anne Charter David Diamond Guy Freedman Michael Hart Maggie Hodgson Yvonne Howse Diane Kinnon Emma Larocque Margaret Mitchell Bill Mussell Tracy O'Hearn Joan Pennell Sharon Perrault Liz Roberts Daniel Ryan Paul Sonnichson Jim Taylor

University of Victoria Status of Women Council of The NWT University of Lethbridge University of Manitoba Headlines Theatre Company Health Canada University of Manitoba Nechi Institute Saskatchewan Indian Federated College Consultant University of Manitoba Department of Indian and Northern Affairs Sal'i'shan Institute Pauktuutit Inuit Women's Association Memorial University of Newfoundland Ma Mawi Wi Chi Itata Centre Canadian Public Health Association Congress of Aboriginal People Justice Canada Inuit Taparisat of Canada