Rise in violence against Indigenous women and girls in Montreal: NWSM data

 The Native Women’s Shelter of Montreal and the Center for Research-Action on Race Relations (CRARR) are sounding the alarm on the growing needs for unhoused Indigenous women and girls in Montreal.

They say they’re seeing an increase in physical and sexual violence against Indigenous women and girls, human trafficking, and other violent crimes downtown and in Chinatown.

“The violence that we’re seeing is all like extremely serious types of violence,” says Laura Aguiar, Coordinator of The Iskweu Project for the Native Women’s Shelter of Montreal.

Aguiar says that she has seen a lot of cases about strangulation, which is one of the deadliest forms of violence, in addition to other forms of violence.

At a press conference held on Thursday in Montreal’s Chinatown, representatives of the Native’s Women’s shelter of Montreal presented data on incidents in downtown Montreal for April and May of this year.

This includes 21 incidents of domestic violence, 14 of sexual assault, 4 missing person, 4 hostage/forced confinement, 7 sex trafficking, and 13 street violence. According to Iskweu staff members, the situation is getting worse.

“We see a lot of violence as well that would result in very serious bodily harm, like broken bones, internal bleeding, and then because of mistrust with the medical system, it’s very difficult for a lot of the women we support to go and seek medical care,” said Agiuar.

Agiuar also mentions that there is a high number of barriers in terms of connecting with the women they work with, with safe places to go when they’re fleeing violence or after they’ve experienced violence. She says it’s heartbreaking.

“I feel really sad. I feel sad all the time. I know I’m the one who’s personally responding to all of these situations, so I can remember all of the survivors,” said Aguiar.

“All of these women are truly amazing people, and they deserve so much better,” she adds.

Systemic factors behind this trend include race and gender bias, lack of resources for growing needs and demands for services, and lack of access to existing institutional resources due to cultural and social barriers.

Also an issue for many women, particularly those who come out of the youth protection system when they turn 18, is the lack of adequate access to protection and support from the police and other institutions.

“There’s a lot of mistrust with the police, and the one thing that we hear a lot from the women we work with is that the police are never actually there when we need them,” said Aguiar.

“Someone on the street that is in crisis, well they go to a police. They know what has happened in the past and there is no trust. So that trust has to be built and that hasn’t happened,” adds Na’kuset, executive director of the Native Women’s Shelter of Montreal.

As part of its anti-violence and anti-discrimination mandate, CRARR will work with NSWM and organizations from Indigenous and other communities to help develop more adequate resources and services for women and girls who are particularly vulnerable to sexual violence and other forms of systemic exclusion. They say they’re looking towards the community for help.

“The role is really community mobilization and getting the community informed about the ways that we can work together between communities, between cultures, between neighborhoods. It really is that bringing the community together that we thrive in already and that’s what’s going to push this initiative even further,” said Veronica Galavais, Communication and Research officer for CRARR.

“We have to try to raise our own funds because we see that our youth are in crisis. So the indigenous women that face out of the foster care system and end up at Cabot Square are being pulled into very dangerous situations and we need someone who can speak to them in a way that really gets through to them,” said Na’kuset.

As a solution, NWSM representatives are putting forwards six specific measures, including a healing lodge, a full-time youth outreach worker, and an anti-violence street outreach program, similar to that existing in other cities.

Other solutions include improved access to health care and addiction prevention programs, Indigenous sensitivity training and cooperation with the police and hiring of Indigenous workers among existing services such as the EMMIS Mobile social mediation and intervention team, the Montreal Police and city agencies responsible for housing and public health.

Aguiar can only hope that the situation improves.

“I just hope for one day all of these women can live out their potential and have happy and safe lives,” said Aguiar.