Confront threat of sexual abuse, stand up for children, Inuit leader urges – CP

Source: The Canadian Press
Nov 7, 2016

OTTAWA _ The head of the country’s leading Inuit organization is urging Canada’s leaders, indigenous and otherwise, to protect children from the scourge of sexual abuse and suicide.

Natan Obed, who is himself no stranger to intergenerational trauma, says no child deserves to have their innocence taken away.

Obed, president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, says his own father struggled with alcoholism after falling victim to sexual and physical abuse at residential school.

Extensive interviews with researchers, indigenous leaders and victims by The Canadian Press show sexual abuse in some indigenous communities is widespread.

In the 2007-08 Inuit Health Survey conducted in Nunavut, a staggering 52 per cent of women and 22 per cent of men said they experienced severe sexual abuse during childhood.

Iqaluit Mayor Madeleine Redfern says it’s hard to find an indigenous woman who has not experienced some form of abuse, and that many remain fearful about speaking out.

Redfern says she wants the issue addressed by indigenous leaders and politicians at all levels of government.

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