Canada can’t ignore shocking domestic violence figures

The statistics are sobering. In 2014, 131 Canadians died at the hands of a family member. Close to 134,000 Canadians reported being victims of violence. Most of them were women. This from a report released by the chief public health officer, Dr. Gregory Taylor, on the state of public health in Canada.

For Dr. Taylor, there are glimmers of hope. The incidence of spousal violence appear to be going down, except in one key area: indigenous women. Ten per cent of indigenous women say they have experienced unhealthy conflict, abuse or violence committed by an intimate partner (compared with three per cent of non-indigenous women). Indigenous women are also more likely to report more severe types of spousal violence.

If there’s ever been a reason to embrace the importance of reconciliation, it is within these statistics. The intergenerational trauma within indigenous communities, caused as a result of their residential school experience and the ongoing effects of decolonization, means family violence statistics are still too high.

There are no clear predictors for family violence, but there are factors that can increase the likelihood it will occur: poverty, a history of childhood abuse or neglect, an early exposure to violence and lack of access to health care and educational resources. There are potentially other factors as well. Consider this: Controversial research from New York’s Mount Sinai Hospital found that children of Holocaust survivors had increased likelihood of stress disorders. In very simplistic terms, there is a transmission of trauma from one generation to the next — something called epigenetic inheritance. Studies in Canada have determined children of indigenous peoples who experienced residential school trauma are at a higher risk of depression. Couple that with a loss of traditional knowledge, poverty and poor health and there is a potent dynamic for violence and abuse.

For those still unmoved by this, choosing instead to believe that this isn’t their issue or their problem, Friday’s report on domestic violence also provided some other staggering numbers. In Canada, it is estimated spousal abuse costs about $7.4 billion a year in costs to the justice system, health care (including mental health), loss of productivity and loss of life.

Canada simply cannot afford to ignore the cycle of violence within the indigenous community. Manitobans can’t ignore that the current system of putting kids in care may be making things worse. It is time for serious reconciliation.