http://canadiandimension.com/articles/2006/02/26/377/ Sun, 07 Sep 2008 06:32:29 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.3 http://canadiandimension.com/articles/2006/02/26/377/#comment-543 Kathy Wesley Mon, 27 Feb 2006 02:25:45 +0000 http://canadiandimension.com/articles/2006/02/26/377/#comment-543 <p>Hello. I live in northwestern BC. Terrace and District has a population of about 18,000 people. Surrounding Terrace are First Nations groups - Nisga'a, Tsimshian, Gitxsan and Wetsu'weten, Haisla, Tahltan, and Haida. We have a high population of First Nations people. As Terrace seems to be the hubbub of the northwest coast, I am concerned that there is a lack of organized FN groups surrounding the issue of ending violence in "mainstream" society, as well as in our own FN communities, and an organized group that can keep violence such as Highway of Tears, a high priority issue. (I can relate to this author, Lois Moorcroft, who talks about how the lack of trust and racism guide the silence and low communication in reporting to the RCMP). I recently inquired within the Terrace community if there was a group that was taking the lead in fielding calls from concerned political parties on missing and murdered Aboriginal women along Highway 16. There is no one group. I thought of this when I read, "..community-based programs to help marginalized Aboriginal women vulerable to violence." We certainly do see a lot of women continue to hitchhike along this highway, but as this article eluded, the issues are much deeper relating back to the impacts of colonialism, racism towards Aboriginal people. Thanks for writing this article. You're right when you say, " bringing people who live with violence out of isolation for education and support is a powerful tool for stopping the violence".</p> Hello. I live in northwestern BC. Terrace and District has a population of about 18,000 people. Surrounding Terrace are First Nations groups - Nisga’a, Tsimshian, Gitxsan and Wetsu’weten, Haisla, Tahltan, and Haida. We have a high population of First Nations people. As Terrace seems to be the hubbub of the northwest coast, I am concerned that there is a lack of organized FN groups surrounding the issue of ending violence in “mainstream” society, as well as in our own FN communities, and an organized group that can keep violence such as Highway of Tears, a high priority issue. (I can relate to this author, Lois Moorcroft, who talks about how the lack of trust and racism guide the silence and low communication in reporting to the RCMP). I recently inquired within the Terrace community if there was a group that was taking the lead in fielding calls from concerned political parties on missing and murdered Aboriginal women along Highway 16. There is no one group. I thought of this when I read, “..community-based programs to help marginalized Aboriginal women vulerable to violence.” We certainly do see a lot of women continue to hitchhike along this highway, but as this article eluded, the issues are much deeper relating back to the impacts of colonialism, racism towards Aboriginal people. Thanks for writing this article. You’re right when you say, ” bringing people who live with violence out of isolation for education and support is a powerful tool for stopping the violence”.

]]>