Attendance: Audrey Berlovan, Tasha Felix, Tamara Young, Vesna Nikolic, Corinne McKay, Louise Mardell, Marianne Hladun, Lani Elliot, Leila White
Meeting held by Zoom
- Land Acknowledgment and Harassment Statement
- Corinne acknowledged
- Review minutes of last meeting and accept
- Minutes reviewed and accepted
- Review Agenda and accept
- Reviewed and accepted
- Introductions
- Marianne Hladun – RVP for the Prairies
- Speaker: Lani Elliott, Domestic Violence (Donation $100 to Fort Qu’Appelle Safe Haven)
- Lani Elliott has been sharing her story since 2011
- She survived domestic violence of 5 years
- Lani shared the story of her abusive marriage, the reasons she stayed, and the escalation of violence. She shared intimate details of the family life that can continue to exist in dysfunction.
- Finally, her spouse was arrested when she was hospitalized due to her injuries.
- She talked about the importance of women’s shelters in recovery and resilience.
- Discussion
- What advice would you give to someone trapped alone in their home particularly with covid restrictions – Yes, talk to someone you trust and come up with a safety plan of phrase to use when things get out of hand. The level of violence is escalating these days. Try to keep funds separate so have something if needed. Guard your personal information and have go bag available.
- Where can we do better with our system?
- The system definitely failed me –there was no confidentiality in the process.
- At that time Indigenous women were not covered under the charter of human rights act.
- Child & Family Services forces access to the kids for the abuser even when they knew of his violent nature. In child custody situations, if the children belong to the abuser’s band, the victim has no recourse if the children are taken to the reserve. The parent on reserve has better access to custody if the other parent is not on reserve.
- Shelters definitely need more financial support as they do assist with more than just a place to stay.
- Leila commented that these situations are real and as a worker in corrections she sees the results of family violence in the current offenders.
- Leila is compiling a list of shelters and services.
- Donations are always needed to the shelters – cloth, toys, personal products etc.
- Meeting Adjourned