QNW: Annual Report 2015-2016

Press Release

MESSAGE From the President

Kuei,

Women, sisters, grandmothers, colleagues,

This year we renewed our commitment to our challenging and fulfilling work with enthusiasm. Our organization took part in numerous and diverse activities: consultations, collaborations, presentations, training sessions and filing of briefs at the National Assembly, always with the objective of representing Indigenous women and the issues that concern them. Indigenous women’s voices were included in numerous discourses resulting in Indigenous components being added to government action plans.

Indeed, the QNW team has been hard at work! For instance, in October, we organized a unique event to discuss two-spiritedness in our communities. We are so proud that our “Turning toward our traditions: valuing LGBTQ/two spirited individuals and fighting against sexual discrimination” conference gathered nearly one hundred people to address LGBTQ/two spirited identities and their history within our culture! Also, in collaboration with the Secrétariat à la jeunesse du Québec, the Regroupement des centre d’amitié autochtones du Québec, and the Assembly of First Nations of Quebec and Labrador, QNW collaborated in creating the very first Indigenous Youth Action Strategy in Quebec. Thanks to a large scale consultation with Indigenous youth across the province, this strategy has allowed us to update and renew the strategic orientations of our youth files with our partners.

This year, QNW has supported 31 Indigenous women in their efforts towards continuing education and employment. We also ensured that Indigenous women’s voices would be heard during the processes that will lead to the adoption of bills pertaining to status under the Indian Act as well as customary adoption. In terms of training, we organized three gatherings that brought together Indigenous women’s shelter workers so they could receive tools and information about youth protection, and sexual assault and exploitation. We also provided training to non-Indigenous groups such as SPVM and SPVQ investigators, Crown prosecutors, and BEI investigators alike, each of which was directly involved in reviewing files pertaining to abuse of Indigenous women by police.

Of course… I cannot present a review of this past year without bringing up and recognizing the incredibly brave women of Val-d’Or who spoke out in Radio-Canada’s investigative reporting show, ENQUÊTE. These women’s revelations were painful, both for our sisters themselves, and for those of us who wish to respond to such injustice. In the months following their important disclosures, our organization underscored how important it was to act.

In collaboration with the Denunciation Committee, which took shape during our last Annual Gathering of Members, we attended vigils, brought together Indigenous victims of police abuse from across the province, highlighted the courage of the women of Val-d’Or every time we were asked to speak and in every consultation process in which we partook. Currently, a petition is available to sign online. We are demanding a Provincial Independent Judicial Commission of Inquiry to investigate the relationship between Indigenous women and police institutions in Quebec. And we will continue this work, we will not give up because we believe them.

Our organization supports the efforts of women in the improvement of their living conditions through the promotion of non-violence, health, justice, and equal rights. Over the past ten years, this mission has guided us in our relentless demand for a national inquiry on missing and murdered Indigenous women. At last, our efforts were recognized, when last December, the Trudeau Government announced that such an inquiry would finally be put in place. Indeed, one of our very own sisters, QNW’s previous president, was appointed commissioner for Quebec, and I am convinced that she will undertake such an important position with integrity. In order to highlight the existence of the MMIW issue in Quebec, in December, QNW published a study entitled Nānīawig Māmawe Nīnawind – Stand with us: missing and murdered Indigenous women in Quebec. Among other things, this research process involved gathering MMIW families for the purposes of healing and sharing, which we intend to do on an annual basis moving forward. In fact, QNW’s second MMIW family members’ gathering took place this past October.

Ensuring that our existence is acknowledged, along with the issues and realities we face, is a daily struggle; but it is our collective responsibility. As president, QNW members, our nations’ and urban representatives, must be invested with the mission to educate and raise Quebec society’s awareness, to awaken their conscience, and celebrate our women far and wide for those who do not yet know who we are.

Thank you, and let us thank one another for carrying out this battle together, for breaking boundaries on the path towards a better world, and a better life.

Tshinashkumitinau !

nin,

Viviane Michel
Présidente

Download QNW: Annual Report 2015-2016

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