"Creating a Framework for the Wisdom of the Community:" Review of Victim Services in Nunavut, Northwest and Yukon Territories
4.0 Yukon Territory (cont'd)
4.3 Services Available in Yukon Communities (cont'd)
4.3.4 Continuing Challenges in Victim Service Delivery
While there are a number of excellent programs in the Yukon, respondents also spoke about a number of challenges to victim service delivery that need further work. This section provides details on these challenges.
Lack of Community Support for Victims and Service Providers
"The community won’t risk bringing a woman to the transition house … there’s a lot of lateral abuse here … families or close friends forcing you into doing things you don’t want to do … family blood ties are thick and protect offenders.
"There’s huge resistance to acknowledging spousal violence and its impacts on the family and its presence in the community … people are suffering from the fact that socially we’re minimizing their abusive behaviour.
"People don’t want the judicial system, RCMP or social workers, who might take kids away, involved …and women get very desensitized and wear it like a badge … it’s ‘us and them.’
"We need to do more on family violence … there is nothing in the community where sexual abuse is discussed … it has to start coming out of the grave … it’s so buried people are saying ‘let it stay there’ … a lot of us are saying ‘no, speak up’ … when we hear there’s no resources, it’s fear of dealing with it.
"Our biggest challenge is getting parents to see their child’s needs as the priority … without a parent’s support and a parent providing that safe living environment for the child, we’re not going to be successful.
"We live in a culture where people are self absorbed without commitment, responsibility or empathy for others … so people are more likely to victimize and be victimized … self-absorption is the stage of development called adolescence … trauma prohibits maturation into adulthood.
"For starters men and women can stop calling each other ‘Nazis’ who work for social change … there are no behaviours or dysfunctions that people exhibit that don’t come from the root cause of women’s inequity … people just don’t understand that violence against women and family violence truly affects everyone.
Public attitudes and social norms around spousal assault, sexual assault and child abuse which deny the high levels of interpersonal violence in the Yukon and then dismiss, shame, blame and harass victims and service providers are one of the biggest challenges raised by service providers. Most respondents state that while there has been improvement in this area (see "Successes" above) there is still a very long way to go.
Many respondents note that the friends, family, and community in general, put a great deal of pressure on victims to remain silent and blame themselves for the abuse they experience. Families and communities will go to almost any length to protect the offenders. When victims are given the choice of either belonging to a family and community, or speaking up, most are compelled to choose self-blame and silence.
According to these respondents, this leads naturally to a ‘them and us’ attitude especially in smaller communities. Victims, discouraged from approaching service providers and authorities, come to believe themselves that any intervention will further harm themselves and their children. As well, and according to several respondents, there is amongst First Nations people a natural disinclination to trust any government service or system.
In addition, several respondents noted that some public norms support the harassment and dismissal of service providers, feminists and other social activists who work for the greater enfranchisement of women and the eradication of violence against women. As one respondent noted, the general attitude of "self absorption" and "lack of empathy" in society does nothing to limit the effects of these attitudes.
Lack of Leadership Support and Understanding of Victims
"There are sometimes inappropriate comments made by leaders in influential positions which has created a backlash against abused women.
"Saying ‘We understand you’ve had hardships and we’re not getting involved,’ is protecting deviant behaviour.
"Some of them in leadership have not done any work on their own healing … they’re victims or perpetrators.
"It’s the people above us (in political power) who are saying ‘we can’t do that because we don’t have the resources’ … but we do have the resources.
"The challenge is keeping women’s issues on the political agenda."
Most respondents note that public leadership around victimization issues, and political support for their services to victims, is not always consistent. According to these respondents most Yukon public governments over the last 30 years have supported a relatively full range of social programs and specialized services. However, and according to some respondents, some political leaders, both in public government and in First Nations governments, have either criticized existing services as irrelevant and unnecessary, or claim that social problems are beyond anyone’s capacity to deal with them.
These respondents say this behaviour is reflective of an uninformed, reactive attitude about victimization in general, and the high levels of trauma in the Yukon in particular. They also feel it is indicative of a general backlash against feminism and ‘women’s issues,’ particularly violence against women, in our society. A few respondents also believe that these leaders have not dealt with their own history of victimization and offending, and therefore don’t want to see services that might force them to do so. The attitudes of these political leaders may also be explained as reflective of the public attitudes in general in Yukon, that while somewhat advanced compared with other northern jurisdictions, is still not truly supportive or understanding of victimized people.
Lack of Infrastructure, Resources and Services
"We’re a small organization spread thin … some high needs clients phone us every day … any agency that works with victims never has enough resources to meet the need; you never run out of clientele.
"We need a place where we can go and treat our clients … a place to offer victims programs and family healing.
"We have a high level of child abuse, physical and sexual violence, spousal assaults and sexual assaults … they often don’t get reported … people need a crisis line to call.
"There are male victims of violence but the men don’t call … there’s a lot of violence and trauma in the community … most perpetrators have a horrendous history of violence inflicted on them."
"There don’t seem to be any victim services for elderly people … no interpreter or emotional support … there is hidden elder abuse and not many older people access the services.
"For the people we worked with in camp there’s no support system in place for them, there’s no aftercare … their support system is the bootleggers.
"There are not enough services for the birth-to-age-3 group… people are not willing to take a stand on victimization … children in our communities really are abandoned; they have had trauma and loss, they need to form attachments … the ability to form trusting, respectful, caring relationships in your life is impaired when children have been sexually violated and physically abused and abandoned.
"Governments support project funding and that’s not always what’s needed … there needs to be ways to support continuing the things that do work … there is a lot of reluctance to increase operation and maintenance costs and lots of good programs that need to continue.
"In very small communities, it’s very hard to find people to take those victim services jobs because of the isolation of the worker … its hard on the community without sustainability … people working in the victims services field don’t stay there forever … people move on and that’s hard on clients and the community.
Virtually all respondents report that they are working at full capacity, and still are not able to meet the needs they observe in the Yukon population. Some expressed a need for improved or larger facilities. Others said they had trouble maintaining a full compliment of trained staff, sometimes due to high rates of ‘burn out’ and sometimes due to inadequate salaries and benefits. Several respondents wished they, or another agency, had the capacity to offer more services outside of business hours. And several mentioned the need for some sort of territorial crisis line.
In terms of the overall continuum of services respondents feel there are program gaps in the areas of treatment for male victims of violence, services for elderly victims of violence, and early intervention programs for high risk children. In addition, while respondents note the relatively high level and quality of service provision in the Yukon, many feel there is still inadequate attention given to the aftercare needs of people who access these services. Those working with victims in the addictions and spousal assault area felt this lack most strongly.
A number of respondents believe that there is a large number of male victims of abuse and assault who are ‘invisible’ and more reluctant to discuss their past than women who have been victimized. Service providers working in the healing and recovery field point out that men who become offenders often have a history of victimization that has not been addressed or acknowledged.
Several respondents brought up the issue of hidden elder abuse. The prevalence of this type of abuse was not known to respondents. They simply reported what they had heard informally from elders and the victims they work with. Respondents note that elders are reluctant to disclose abuse as they fear repercussions from family members, who may be the offenders, and the potential loss of family relationships.
Most respondents believe that despite some excellent programming around child victims of violence in the Yukon a great deal remains undone. In particular, respondents see the need for a much higher level of intervention programming for very young children and victimized children in the smaller communities. And those working with teenagers believe a great deal needs to be done in educating teens around the issues of date rape, spousal assault and sexual assault. They also point out the need to educate and sensitize parents to the needs of acting out children and teens.
In terms of program standards, respondents reported that despite the relatively sophisticated number and quality of services in the Yukon, more work needs to be done in the area of program standards. People feel there is a need to develop professional standards and core competencies in the area of victim service delivery. Program evaluation of these services has to become an ongoing priority and meaningful statistics need to be kept. In addition, the roles and responsibilities of some service providers need clarification.
Service providers expressed a number of challenges within the funding area as follows:
- funding at most agencies is inadequate to meet the agency’s stated mandate and the high public demand for service;
- funding for non-government agencies is short-term, which leaves agencies scrambling on a yearly basis … this leads to program instability and staff turnover which in turn breaks the trust and progress with clients; and
- there is a high need to move more programming into outlying communities, which is impossible without increased funding.
A substantial number of respondents report that a great deal more attention needs to be paid to victim service delivery in smaller Yukon communities. They discussed the need for impartial victim advocates, victim healing opportunities, appropriate medical services and overall community support for victimized individuals. Community attitudes and social norms around victimization, as discussed earlier, make the work of victim support that much more necessary.
Lack of Information
"We need more cultural knowledge from our elders before they pass on.
"We need to start listening more to that victim … we need to hear what they’re saying … we need to be better listeners.
"Service providers need training on the rape kit and spousal assault.
"It’s a challenge to keep service providers on the same page in their understanding of the awareness of dynamics of violence in relationships and treatment modalities … some counsellors will see couples even when there is violence in the relationship.
"Confidentiality is a complicated construct … safety can be jeopardized if there’s a reluctance to connect clients with services … when there’s an outburst and a woman is at the most open point for change, and vulnerability, is when to move the supports in.
"What are the protocols around case management? … Confidentiality policies can contribute to the lack of interagency and interdepartmental cooperation and information sharing … we need to always think of what will help the victim.
"I’ve heard that nurses will sometimes call the police when there is a sexual assault, even if the victim doesn’t want to talk to them … this upsets the women, and so sexual assault kits aren’t used and women don’t get any kind of service at all.
"Agencies need to clarify their roles and coordinate their activities … we need a network of peers at the management level … we need to share resources (dollars and space).
It appears, from responses, that Yukon caregivers and service providers have worked diligently on their own training and healing. Several respondents mentioned that their staff had had training in Post Traumatic Stress Disorder; addictions; vicarious traumatization (experiencing traumatic reactions as a result of working with victimized people); counselling skills; addictions awareness; traditional healing methods such as talking circles; family and group counselling; and family violence and sexual assault dynamics and recovery.
However, respondents note that there continue to be areas where more work is needed. Some said that there is not a sophisticated enough understanding amongst service providers of spousal and sexual assault. Others felt that the practice of seeing abusive partners and their victims together, and before the violence had been dealt with, was inappropriate and dangerous.
Virtually all respondents recognize the need to keep their own lives balanced while working with victims. Some recognized that they weren’t always successful in doing that and were looking for support themselves. This becomes even more of an issue when caregivers and service providers are related to the victims and offenders in question. These factors combine often and lead to worker burn out and high staff turnover in some locations.
Respondents see a need for improved communication and relationship building skills amongst service providers and caregivers. They recommend that all service providers develop culturally appropriate methods of intervention.
A sub-issue in the area of partnership networks is the issue of client confidentiality. Respondents report that there is confusion, and really no widely accepted and established policy or protocol, about ‘who can tell what to whom.’ They believe this has lead to decreased service to victims which has then stalled their recovery process.
Although respondents were generally pleased with advances in information sharing, joint case management and interagency cooperation they feel that more remains to be done in building a network of partnerships that will serve victims better. They remarked on the tendency of all agencies and government departments to become insular and cut off from each other. At times this had lead to some confusion over roles and responsibilities … and missed opportunities to share resources.
Difficulties of Working with Victimized People
"Minimization, denial and blame are our challenges from a therapeutic point of view.
"With a lot of our women it shuts them down … they can’t deal with current victimization because of historic sexual abuse.
"We have huge numbers of cognitively impaired people and huge numbers of substance abuse, addicted people … a couple of victims get drunk all the time, get raped at least once a month … we have no success with those people.
"A lot of young women in violent relationships who should go to the shelter won’t go there … they want to stay with their partner and don’t want to be told they have to leave him.
"Traumatization and victimization cause neurological differences: a similar disability to FAS, the symptom profile is the same … it’s a neuro-chemical imbalance … there’s a reluctance to open up on these issues … people damaged by FAS, trauma and victimization are very likely to be anti-social and victimize others.
"It’s a challenge to change belief systems from one of power and control to equality in intimate relationships … that’s a dynamic that exists in the community at large as well.
"Some of these things are very painful to deal with … its hard on victims to deal with their auntie about some past crime … its hard on workers if they are related to people in the community.
Respondents to this survey are well aware of the problems they face in attempting to assist and support victimized people. Many victimized people have a wide range of issues that need attention, including:
- addictions to drugs, alcohol, gambling;
- homelessness;
- unemployment, lack of education and poverty;
- multiple and/or repetitive traumas;
- well-established defence mechanisms;
- neurological conditions and brain damage, such as, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome;
- a wide range of medical problems;
- legal problems;
- relationship and parenting problems;
- anti-social and violent acting out behaviours;
- lack of family and community support; and
- Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
All respondents recognize that these issues cannot be dealt with by one agency or government department and stated that even with the relatively well-developed services in the Yukon many victimized people are not receiving any type of useful intervention. They also recognize that once a victimized person begins to seek out services it can take many years to piece together the resources necessary to address their often multiple and complex issues. Those with brain damage from trauma or FAS, who are sometimes chronically victimized, may need ongoing support and services throughout their lifetime.
Difficulties of Working with the Judicial and Correctional Systems
"What gives them the right to say there’s no place for victims … we don’t have to be below the judge anymore or be questioned by lawyers … we can tell our stories in a circle.
"Some restorative justice stuff is quite dangerous to victims … in circles, the offender has huge numbers of supporters and the victim is there alone hearing wonderful things about the offender … victims are silenced by that process … there’s a lack of education, people don’t understand trauma and victimization.
"The Victim Impact Statement is a very personal document, which is used in court … but it might not be something she wants passed around the circle and read by everybody in the community.
"There is a huge need for more awareness and education of professionals at all levels, including judiciary on violence, power and control issues, trauma, post traumatic stress, etc.
"There is some abuse of Domestic Violence Treatment Option Court … defence lawyers are not ethical and take advantage of it … a Corrections Services Canada report quoted the research as saying a lot of offenders in the pen claim they were victims, that their defence lawyers recommend that they do that … they suspect that in many cases the claim of victimization is bogus … that is not the kind of thing you would expect CSC to publish and its worth looking at … I suspect its accurate.
"We need to train the Crown and police in sexual assault, family violence and FAS … police sometimes do or don’t take statements and children are told you don’t have to testify … often children want to and need to tell their story and well intentioned or ignorant people want to ‘protect’ them and are doing more harm than good … often the police won’t act on a no-contact order or breach … they don’t think they’re serious.
"Many offenders are now in treatment options without incarceration … separation between the victim and abuser is crucial to promote healing the trauma for both victim and offender … that separation isn’t happening, so the trauma is not dealt with.
"The shelters keep their clients too disconnected from other resources … they protect those women from the bad guys and from the good guys.
Respondents had some focused comments when describing challenges around policing practices and the various Yukon judicial systems. A relatively large number of service providers surveyed feel that a number of serious problems need resolving.
Several service providers feel that alternative and restorative justice initiatives, such as peacemaker’s court, circle sentencing and family group conferencing, have not always dealt appropriately with victims of crime. They report that some victims feel intimidated into participating and are often overwhelmed by the support shown to offenders in these circles. Some victims do not want their Victim Impact Statement read in these circles, which has apparently happened without prior consultation with the victim. And several victims have reported that they did not feel any group support or sense of closure, ‘restoration’ or reconciliation as a result of the group. Apparently, some victims have felt completely silenced after listening to glowing remarks about the offender in these circles.
On the other hand, a few respondents said that these alternative justice processes have greatly assisted victims in their community and helped them move on in their recovery.
In terms of the standard judicial system, respondents believe that Crown attorneys and judges need far more training in the issues of victimization and traumatization. In particular they feel that these judicial personnel do not have an adequate understanding of spousal and sexual assault, power and control issues in relationships, chronic traumatization, historic abuse and Fetal Alcohol Syndrome.
A few respondents feel that defence lawyers are often unethical in their treatment of victims during a trial. And some wonder if defence lawyers are telling their clients to claim victimization in order to reduce sentences or gain the sympathy of the judge and the public.
A few respondents also feel that police need to take no-contact orders more seriously and enforce them properly, which they claim is not the case now. They also report that police do not always deal with child victims appropriately, telling them that they don’t have to tell their story of victimization in an attempt to spare them further trauma. Service providers working with child victims note that the child may in fact need to tell their story as part of their own recovery process.
There is some disagreement amongst service providers about what constitutes effective treatment of victims and offenders in spousal and sexual assault cases. Some respondents believe that offenders and victims need to have some separation in order to heal and they don’t see this happening. Other respondents wonder if the shelters for abused women keep women too isolated from other services.
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