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A Review of Research on Criminal Victimization and First Nations, Métis and Inuit Peoples 1990 to 2001
6. Victimization of Aboriginal Women and Youth
- 6.1 Women
- 6.2 Youth Victimization.
6. Victimization of Aboriginal Women and Youth
We review some of the major issues regarding victimization of Aboriginal women and youth in this section. In particular, we examine the serious problem of domestic violence from the perspective of Aboriginal women and children. In addition, we address youth victimization more broadly by examining the link between youth victimization in the family and subsequent anti-social behaviour. In particular, we address the issue of victimization in the sex trade and in gangs by Aboriginal youth.
6.1 Women
Domestic violence by men, both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal, against Aboriginal women is examined in this section. Although all women experience abuse by intimates because of gendered power imbalances and male privilege, the disproportionately high rate of domestic violence against Aboriginal women in particular requires further examination beyond the mainstream feminist critic. In Part 9 we examine the various theories that attempt to explain this disproportionate rate. In particular, we examine the impact of colonization once again and how Aboriginal men's "internalization of colonization"
may account for, at least to some extent, such high rates of domestic violence.
A number of reports have attempted to document the rates of family violence in Aboriginal communities. Timpson (1994) summarizes the research as follows:
The incidence of wife assault in the Canadian population is said to be one in 10. The Indian and Inuit Nurses Association of Canada consider the national figures "grossly under-estimated" for Aboriginal women. The organization cites studies indicating 70 to 100 percent victimization in Nova Scotia; 75 to 90 percent in Northwestern Ontario; and 71 and 48 percent in an urban and reserve setting in Southern Ontario. The Ontario Native Womens' Association estimates an 80 percent victimization rate. The Manitoba Justice Enquiry found that two thirds of Aboriginal women were abused. A British Columbia study estimated that 86 percent of Aboriginal women had personally experience family violence. The regional studies do not have consistent definitions of abuse rendering comparisons difficult. What is evident is the desire for these organizations to bring attention to the problem.
The Canadian Council on Social Development (1984) report also made a number of recommendations to address Aboriginal victimization issues that continue to have relevance today. In particular, one recommendation called for the establishment of "family support services"
to support victims within the community. According to the literature, there is considerable merit in such a proposal because of two reasons described below.
Firstly, there are circumstances within Aboriginal communities that contribute to the "normalization" of domestic violence (Stewart, Huntly, & Blaney, 2001). Some researchers have noted that the prevalence of violence, particularly in smaller remote communities, has essentially become an accepted part of life (Evans, Hann, & Nuffeld, 1998). The following report prepared by David (1993) based on a community workshop explains this problem in these words:
Participants spoke about establishing more shelters for battered women, more counselling for children victimized by violence, and counselling for men as victimizers. But delegates spoke about violence as a way of life, as a means of venting frustration and a signal of despair. They also spoke about years of being ordered to keep silent about the violence, both as victims and as victimizers.
After I gave a talk about family violence and abuse, a nun stood up and objected for making her feel sad and said those things never happened. The Church is afraid to say anything.
Child, sexual, and elder abuse is common, but not talked about. Communities won't admit there is a problem, even when the information is gathered and shows it's a big problem. One issue never talked about is child sexual abuse, it's a taboo to talk about such a thing. In most communities, everyone says ‘shhh!, don't talk about it.' (p. 24)
Moreover, a woman's ability to leave an abusive relationship in smaller remote communities is often much more difficult than elsewhere due to the lack of community support for abused women or the lack of victim support services (Levan, 2001; Bryce, Dungey, & Hirshman, 1992). Leadership within communities may also exacerbate victims' feelings of helplessness as one community member from Easkasoni recently stated:
Corruption in high places is a major obstacle to healing, and really is part of what needs to be healed. When this sort of systematic undermining of the community's will and intention happens, people get discouraged about their own ability to make a difference or to bring about change. They are less and less willing to get involved in anything controversial, more passive and more inclined to wait for and depend upon others to solve community problems. The reality is that many people feel helpless and powerless to change an environment that they know is slowly grinding them down. There's lots of discontent, but also a strong fear to speak up. We are afraid those in power will come down on us somehow, like when we need something fixed, or when we need a house for one of our children. They control our access to services and programs that may be our "right" to have, but they still control everything. So many of us remain silent. We are ruled by our own fear. (Lane et al., 2002, pp. 40-41)
Some possible explanations for such heightened and accepted victimization are reviewed in Part 9.
6.2 Youth Victimization
There is considerable literature that examines the issue of “family violence”, focusing on wife and child abuse, often however, without making much of a distinction between the experiences of women and children. This section examines the issue of child victimization within the domestic context. We recognize, however, that outside of this domestic framework, little attention has been paid to the victimization of Aboriginal youth and children generally. We have attempted to summarize what literature does exist in this area. In doing so, we separately discuss the victimization of Aboriginal youth in commercial sexual exploitation and gang involvement.
The literature is lacking a comprehensive survey of Aboriginal youth victimization in Canada (Dion, 1999). The literature tends to be comprised of qualitative studies of experiences encountered by youth or recollections of experiences by adults of their childhood. There is also some literature that focuses on identifying service and resource needs of youth generally and the needs of children and youth who are victims of violence specifically.
6.2.1 Youth Victimization in the Domestic Context
A significant amount of the literature draws the conclusion that child abuse in Aboriginal communities is staggering (RCAP, 1996d). A review by the Simon Fraser University National Crime Victimization Project provides a comprehensive summary of the studies that have examined family violence (Cohen, 2002). The review identifies a number of studies that document high levels of family violence in Aboriginal communities. Recent studies continue to support the conclusions of older studies that domestic violence is epidemic in Aboriginal communities (Thomlinson, et. al., 2000; Trocmé et al., 2001). For example, La Prairie’s study (1995b) of Aboriginal victimization and family violence in a number of urban centres in Canada showed disturbingly high rates of domestic violence. Findings from interviews with 621 informants revealed that 74% of the respondents experienced family violence and 49% experienced child sexual abuse.
One of the key conclusions made in the La Prairie study was that child abuse and sexual abuse were more likely to occur in non-biological or extended family contact situations. This conclusion was supported by the study of Kingsley and Mark (2000) who consulted 150 Aboriginal youth and children from 22 communities across Canada. They state that “many of the Aboriginal youth consulted shared stories of trauma at the hands of family friends, neighbours, and/or peers”
(p. 15) indicating that abusers come from a wide circle of people other than immediate family members.
Perhaps one of the most important findings that La Prairie makes, for the purposes of this review, is that the experience of family victimization is linked to subsequent victimization and criminal activity in later life. The more severe the child abuse, the more likely the child will become involved in juvenile delinquency, particularly for males. Moreover, such male children are at a significantly higher risk to repeat the cycle of violence with their future spouses (McGillivray & Comaskey, 1996). The link between child abuse and future delinquency has been documented elsewhere (see Fattah, 1991).
There are indications that age at victimization as well as gender are factors in victims’ subsequent responses. Widom (1989) found that abuse of children under the age of eleven increased their likelihood of adult criminality and violent behaviour and that this was particularly the case for female victims (77%). In contrast, the Kingsley and Mark (2000) study of commercial sexual exploitation of Aboriginal youth and children found that for females there were links between childhood abuse and self-destructive “criminal” behaviour of sex trade involvement, but not violent crimes towards others. The impact on future behaviour is unclear in the existing literature. Thus, more research is needed to understand the impact of various types of abuse in childhood and whether there are important gender differences.
The link between childhood victimization and the perpetuation of a cycle of violence became painfully obvious in the work of Absolon and Winchester (1994) for the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples. The authors also discuss how Aboriginal identity can be a factor in exacerbating the ability to cope with victimization. They identified various themes and issues from urban learning circles. In particular many of the participants talked about their “survival” of the residential schools and the child welfare system. They reported that:
Although not all people who went through foster care or adoption had terrible experiences, in most cases their Aboriginal identity suffered because the majority of them were placed in non-Aboriginal homes where their identity was either overtly humiliated, consciously denied or simply overlooked through ignorance. Only one woman, from the Saskatoon circle, told about how her adoptive parents always acknowledged her Aboriginal identity, always told her to be proud, and admitted their own ignorance and inability to tell her more about it, though they supported her efforts to learn. At the other end of the spectrum were stories about multiple foster homes, shaming of anything Aboriginal and all forms of abuse. The men in the inmates circle were testimony to this pattern as most were the children of residential school students and were graduates of the child welfare system. These men expressed the anger and rage of their victimization with great frankness.
Thus, there are unique issues resulting from society’s negative attitudes about Aboriginal identity that may contribute towards increased pathological responses including the perpetuation of violence as learned behaviour fuelled by frustration due to identity conflicts and turmoil.
