Nunavut Justice Issues: An Annotated Bibliography

4.  Annotated Bibliography (continued)

Bryce, Sandy, Debra Dungey and Lynn Hirshman.  “Preventing Family Violence in Northern Communities”, in Self-Sufficiency in Northern Justice Issues Burnaby: Northern Justice Society, Simon Fraser University, 1992.

Domestic violence is intimately linked to crime rates and a cycle of criminal activity in Northern communities.  Not only must it be eradicated so that there will be less criminal activity both engaged in and perpetuated in the community, the lives of female victims and children need protection.  It is a multi-faceted problem that requires multi-faceted strategies.  This article, part of a workshop compendium, does not attempt to articulate a specific plan of action to end the cycle of violence, it simply asserts that it is those within the community who know what needs to be done.  At the same time it recognizes that the community is not always a safe place for women.  Communities are unique – so must be responses to crime, especially domestic violence.  Issues of power dynamics at the community level and the Northern environment are addressed.

General Overview

This article is a part of a larger collection that addresses the potential for criminal justice self-sufficiency in the North and some of the strategies that communities can use to facilitate it.  The participants are often front-line community workers and through their dialogue with audience members some of the important issues on the topic are uncovered. The discussion is led by a resource person(s) and the information they provide is often not scripted, but spontaneous discussion and sharing of experiences.

This workshop addressed some of the many issues facing the cyclical nature of family violence in the North.  The participants discussed prevention strategies and some of the particular challenges such strategies will face.  The resource persons for this workshop included Sandy Bryce (Assaultive Husbands Intervention Program Manager, Department of Justice, Whitehorse, Yukon), Debra Dungey (Family Violence prevention Unit, Department of Justice, Whitehorse, Yukon) and Lynn Hirshman (Faculty of Social Work, University of Manitoba (Thompson), Manitoba). 

Underlying Themes from the Dialogue

Findings

Northern specific issues: The unique nature of the Northern environment and the communities that reside there must be understood and incorporated into any initiative. Small, isolated communities face particular situations and challenges that communities that are not so isolated may not. These particular challenges affect a woman’s ability to leave an abusive relationship.  The participants drew attention to the role of community support for the victim and the effect that a lack of such support has on her ability to leave an abusive environment.  If an abused woman wants to leave a violent relationship and the other community members do not support her, it is possible that she may stay in that abusive relationship, being further victimized.  Similarly, the lack of agencies in small, isolated communities, agencies that may provide protection, such as police, may also affect a woman’s decision to stay in an abusive relationship.  Finally, the participants concluded that if the services and programs adopted are imported from the Southern bureaucratic process, they will not meet the unique needs of the victim.  The Northern landscape and needs that arise from it are fundamentally different from the needs of the South.  As a result, such Southern-based proposals, if forced upon the community, will more than likely fail to protect the victim.

Role of the community: The participants held that the community must take ownership of family violence.  They must take responsibility for ending it and preventing it.  This requires looking at a host of other areas: alcohol and substance abuse, a return to many traditional lifestyles, and the renewal of respect for Elders. In many cases government bureaucracy will make this difficult, through the application of mechanistic, rigid, and bureaucratic rules.  In such a situation, the participants suggest that a creative process be utilized.  The message the participants gave was to not bother waiting for government to make any real steps, either in dismantling the offensive regulations or funding programs.  As one participant stated, it’s easier to get forgiveness [from the federal government] than permission. 

Power dynamics and politics within the community: The politics of the legalistic system that forms the basis for the development and implementation of programs must be addressed along with the politics of the community.  In other words, the ideas that may reinforce the cycle of abuse and the marginalization of women in Inuit communities must be brought out into the open and challenged.  They must not be incorporated into any new justice initiative. 

Role of prevention: Prevention plays an important role in ending domestic violence.  Prevention strategies must incorporate working with children in the community, building their self-esteem and their conflict resolution techniques.  Often low self-esteem and feelings of powerlessness underlie violence and the goal is to address how these feelings are developed and then attempt to prevent them.

Canada.  Community Development and Research.  Ottawa: Solicitor General, Aboriginal Peoples Collection, 1996.

This document is a useful tool for understanding the relationship between community development and research as well as the specific research needs that Aboriginal communities have identified, highlighting the community dynamics and mobilization issues that must be addressed.

General Overview

This report is the result of an intensive two-day workshop held in August, 1994. The information was gathered through two days of discussion.  Participants that took part in the focus group included individuals involved in community development initiatives in Aboriginal communities, academics, private-sector consultants and Aboriginal Corrections Unit Staff. 

Discussion at the workshop centred around questions such as ‘what community development is’, ‘how government can assist in community development,’ as well as some of the issues regarding research and Aboriginal peoples, and the specific needs underlying community development and community development projects.  The goal was to shed light on the opportunities and roadblocks that affect community development and community research, generally, and make suggestions for overcoming them.  Important considerations that have come out of past experiences were the focus, not specific strategies. Included in this document is a comprehensive list of funding sources and resource people.

Themes

Findings

Defining community development: Participants provided definitions and examples about what community development is and spoke about the basic themes of community development.  They concluded that community development puts the community in control of development and direction.  This in turn builds their capacity to grow and develop in a way (and time frame) which suits them.  Community development uses the past and present traditions to affect the future.  It is essential that the entire community be involved in the process.  Examples of community-based development programs that they discussed included Hollow Water Community Holistic Circle Healing, St.Theresa Point Youth Court System, and the Teslin Tlingit Tribal Justice System.  In all of these initiatives the community took control and ownership of the problem and acted on what they perceived as the most effective way to respond.

Views on Research: The participants concluded that although research is a valuable tool, there has to be a shift in how it is done.  There was a shared concern about the lack of community involvement in developing research projects and they concluded that communities need to be more involved in all stages of the process if real community development is to come out of the process.  The objectives and methods that have been used in the past are also problematic.  In other words, Western models do not capture the Aboriginal specific needs in relation to research.  They want to capture a holistic perspective, not just the views of a few members.  Community members must be leaders in the project and what they have identified as their needs must drive the research.

Undertaking a research project: Participants held that communities must identify what is being researched and why, they must ensure that the type of research chosen will meet the needs or objectives of the project, and there must be committees to answer these questions and oversee the process.  This will ensure that the community is not left out. The participants also addressed the challenge presented by the apathy of community members, their general lack of interest to get involved, and discussed how this too must be incorporated into the process.  Finally, they discussed the role of consultants and how and where to apply for funding.

Role of the federal and territorial governments: Participants found that there was consensus among the group that governments can best help community development by being supportive and flexible; by being a responsive partner in the goal to develop healthy communities.  Along with providing financial help, the government must listen to the needs of the whole community - not just the leaders or organizations representing them (i.e. they must ensure they hear the voices of women and children).  The governments must also help communities with the difficult bureaucracies that they will have to find their way through.  Finally, governments must be willing to learn from the information shared by Aboriginal peoples.

Condon, R.  “Changing Patterns of Conflict Management and Aggression Among Inuit Youth in the Canadian Arctic: Longitudinal Ethnographic Observations”, Native Studies Review 8 (2) 1992.

This author examines the impact of individualizing forces on one Northern community and how they have affected the community member’s ability and desire to address interpersonal conflict, addressing the Northern environment.

General

Condon examines the changing pattern of aggression of Inuit youth in Holman, holding that there has been an increase in interpersonal conflict that has developed hand in hand with a decrease in the community’s ability to employ traditional techniques to address such conflict.  He attributes these changes to the increasing influence of Southern media (alcohol, mass media and southern system of law).  He concludes that the result is that there is a decreasing influence and power of traditional conflict management/avoidance techniques in the community.

His methodology included longitudinal research.  Over a ten-year period that incorporated three extended trips, Condon conducted research in a small, isolated Inuit community (Holman, NWT).  Information was gathered through field work/observation, formal and informal interviews.  He was in the community between 1978-1980, 1982-1983 and 1987-88.

Themes/Assumptions

Findings

Significant changes in the pattern of aggression of the residents of Holman, particularly youths: Through his research, Condon noted that with each visit to the community, more interpersonal conflict was occurring.  This was based on his observations and interpretations of the interactions of youth in the community as they played sports, where he observed significant changes in the level of interpersonal conflict.  This finding was also based on the crime data and interviews, which suggested that there were increased incidents of aggression and conflict among young people and that these were often alcohol-related.

Causes of the rise in aggression and interpersonal conflict in Inuit youth: The author attributes the rise in interpersonal conflict to be largely the result of exposure to southern mass media (especially television), alcohol abuse and the disappearance of inter-dependency and social cohesion in the community.

Traditional patterns of conflict resolution: Traditional patterns of conflict resolution were based on a delicate balance between non-interference and dependence.  Community behaviours limited conflict through practicing tolerance and non-interference and internalizing emotional inhibitors.  Conflict was lessened through the development and maintenance of links and inter-relationships that were based on economic and social obligations such as marriages. Hostility was diffused through conflict management techniques such as humour, laughter, and gossip.  When conflict did occur, the focus was on immediately restoring peace. 

Changes in the community - The limited effectiveness of traditional techniques: The researcher holds that the traditional techniques are largely ineffective now.  The social and economic changes that have affected modern Inuit society have individualized the community.  For example, people now reside in densely populated communities and consequently physical withdrawal or social ostracism are, for the most part, largely ineffective as sanctions.  Similarly, the shift from subsistence hunting to a wage-based economy limits the need for sharing and cooperation.  These changes represent a less inter-connected kinship pattern and a decreased reliance on networks within the community.  As a result, the need to maintain harmony is no longer driven by the community dynamics and the conditions that limited conflict in the past have become somewhat non-existent.

Significant changes in patterns of conflict management - An increased reliance on external law enforcement: The decline in use and effectiveness of traditional conflict resolution techniques as a result of social changes in the community has developed hand-in-hand with the increasing reliance on outside law enforcement authorities to manage and address conflict.

Generational differences - young vs. old attitudes: The researcher found that traditional conflict resolution techniques are still valued by the Elders.  However, the younger generations have exhibited a marked shift to conflict management based on litigation, punishment and restitution.

Conclusions

Given high rates of crime, abuse and substance abuse in the North it is essential that strategies and justice initiatives be effective and meet the needs of the community to successfully break the cycle of violence.  To do this, there must be an exploration of and an understanding of what may or may not work.  Further, why they may or may not work is just as important to understand if a community desires to return to those methods.  In other words, it is important to understand the factors that may account for the limited effectiveness and abandonment of traditional forms of conflict resolution in modern Inuit society so that they can be addressed and so that their impact can be minimized.