Press Release (Oct. 10, 2013, Port Alberni, BC)
Words matter, and when used indiscriminately they can hurt more than they can help.
A case in point is a recent statement made by the Court in Port Alberni during a sexual assault trial: that there is a history of rampant sexual abuse of females in West Coast communities.
The Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council objects strongly to the characterization that sexual abuse is prevalent and growing unchecked in our West Coast First Nations communities. This statement feeds ugly stereotypes about Indigenous peoples, and we will not allow it to stand without response.
Let us make it perfectly clear that the vast majority of the populations in Nuu-chah-nulth communities are made up of good, kind, nurturing family people who place a high value on the respectful treatment of all—men, women and children. The Court’s statement leaves the impression that lawlessness and violence dominates our everyday lives, which is a complete exaggeration and a definite untruth.
“The Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council agrees with the Court that any predatory behavior in any community must not be tolerated. We disagree, however, in stigmatizing entire communities of good people in order to get a fair and just result in a case against a single individual,” said Deb Foxcroft, President of the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council.
Certainly, Indigenous communities around the world must deal with the terrible effects of marginalization and despicable mistreatment by colonial governments. We, in fact, work diligently at home to combat the results of the abuse of our people over the generations by Canada’s government. Our leadership invests their scant resources in programs for that segment of our society who struggle with social issues, the roots of which can be traced to those abuses.
The Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council and its member nations take every opportunity to raise awareness that violence of any kind in our communities is not to be tolerated, because even one instance is one too many, so the Court’s comment is offensive in the extreme.
“The Court’s comment comes on the heels of a week of reconciliation in Vancouver at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s National Gathering, and after the Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District declared 2013 The Year of Reconciliation in the territory. Still, there are those who continue to promote stereotypes that negatively affect the image of our Nuu-chah-nulth and our West Coast communities, and that is unacceptable,” said Ken Watts, Vice-President of the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council.
“Be careful what you say,” is a core teaching of our Nuu-chah-nulth wise people. We would like to share that teaching with the Court, which is a part of a justice system that has shown much mistreatment of Indigenous people over the course of its own history.
For further comment, please contact Debra Foxcroft, President of the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council at 250-724-5757.
