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OTTAWA (CP) - Stay in a violent relationship or risk homelessness: Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice says that's the awful choice faced by too many native women across Canada.
Provincial laws dictating how property is to be shared don't apply to couples living on the vast majority of reserves. Most First Nations are governed by the federal Indian Act, an archaic statute that fails to ensure equal division of matrimonial homes and other assets.
The resulting legal gap means one partner - usually the woman - is often left with next to nothing when a relationship breaks up.
"First Nations women and children living on reserve do not enjoy the same level of protection as other Canadians," Prentice said Tuesday. "It is time we address it."
Action won't come until at least next spring, however.
Prentice says input will first be gathered from native communities across the country on how to fix what he called "a pressing equality and human rights issue."
He named Wendy Grant-John, former chief of the Musqueam First Nation in B.C., as his special representative. She will co-ordinate talks starting in September to be led by the Native Women's Association of Canada, the Assembly of First Nations and regional native groups.
They will try to come up with recommendations by next winter to advise Prentice on new legislation to be drafted in the spring.
What if his advisers can't agree?
Grant-John will shepherd the unusual, multi-pronged talks, Prentice said.
"It will be her responsibility to guide the consultation process along."
Prentice cited a stack of studies and reports by parliamentary committees, and even a Royal Commission, that have called in vain for action.
"It's been 15 years since we brought this forward," said Beverley Jacobs, president of the Native Women's Association of Canada.
"The solutions are going to come from the women and the young people that have been directly affected by this."
Her group regularly hears from women who wind up in big-city shelters after fleeing abuse.
"What we're hoping is to find a safe place, somewhere where aboriginal women are able to talk openly," Jacobs said.
"Some of the women might not feel safe enough to be able to come forward to say what the actual solution may be, when she may be attacked directly in her own community (for) making a stand."
Prentice also announced Tuesday plans to improve violence prevention programs for aboriginal women, children and families. Details are to be outlined in the fall.
A report June 6 by the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics underscored the need for action.
Compared with national averages, people living on reserves were eight times more likely to be assaulted, and seven times more likely to be sexually assaulted.
Those suffering domestic abuse more often reported that they'd been beaten, sexually assaulted, choked or threatened with a weapon. They were also more likely than non-native victims to be injured by their spouses or to fear for their lives.
© The Canadian Press, 2006
