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Notes from the Editor

Aboriginal persons, according to a number of sources, suffer violence at rates higher than non-Aboriginals. Sadly, in Canada, this is true both for family violence and stranger and acquaintance violence.

The recently released annual StatsCan publication entitled "Family Violence in Canada" (2001) describes the greater rate of spousal violence reported among Aboriginal peoples. Women were most at risk for intimate violence in the findings of the 1999 General Social Survey (25% of women claimed they were assaulted by a spouse during the previous five years; thirteen per cent of polled men reported experiencing spousal assault during this time frame.).

Recent data from the Children's Commission also reveal Aboriginal children and youth's increased risk of death by suicide and homicide. For a review of Commission-investigated deaths of young people in BC, please see "Child and Youth Fatalities Reviewed by the British Columbia Children's
Commission: A Family Violence Perspective", which will soon be available online at www.bcifv.org, and "Aboriginal Suicide in British Columbia", which may be ordered by consulting our website or the publications order form printed on page 26.

According to a 2000 McCreary Centre report, (Raven's children: Aboriginal youth health in BC), over thirty per cent of Aboriginal girls, compared with 20% of non-Aboriginal females, report having been physically abused. Sexual abuse rates are similarly higher in this group (28% of Aboriginal girls ; 14% non-Aboriginal females). The disparity in victimization of Aboriginal boys is evident in the Centre's findings, too: males were 3% more likely to experience physical abuse and twice as likely to report some form of sexual abuse than their non-Aboriginal peers. These young people also spoke of being the target of more community and school-based violence than non-Aboriginal youth.

Another form of violence that Aboriginal people were historically subjected to took place in "Indian residential schools", which for many young Aboriginal people were harrowing halls of learning. In these institutions, typically run under religious or charitable auspices, many children endured years of abuse. They were physically and verbally attacked for speaking their native language, or for otherwise demonstrating their non-conformity to the newly dominant culture, and deprived of dignity, food, and contact with loved ones. The legacy of the systematic oppression and abuse of the schools' "students" has wrought havoc on thousands of lives and affected generations of people (the last of the schools only closed in the early 1980s). If you wish to learn more about this tragic chapter in Canadian history, you will find lists of suggested readings and websites among the featured articles in this issue.

Thankfully, today, many survivors of the schools, together with their supporters, are taking steps to heal. Throughout many of the articles we present in this issue, you will note a recurring theme of Aboriginal self-help and empowerment.

Our next issue's theme is family violence prevention. We know that a lot of our readers are engaged in this work, and invite you to make a submission on this theme. Program reviews, scholarly articles, interviews, commentaries and other materials are most welcome.