Nunavut earmarks millions for family abuse act

Nunavut will spend close to $2 million this year and almost $3 million each subsequent year to support the Family Abuse Intervention Act, Premier Paul Okalik has announced.

The act, which passed without opposition on Dec. 5, 2006, includes tools to remove abusive people from the home, as well as help elders, relatives and community members work with families to resolve problems.

Okalik said Thursday the $2 million this year will go towards training, as well as putting measures in place to support the act. Community justice workers, for one, will play a bigger role as a result of the funding.

"We currently have half-time community justice workers throughout Nunavut. We will make those full-time employees and they will have offices throughout the RCMP in Nunavut," Okalik said.

"Currently they don't have a physical location to even call an office; they work out of their homes," he said.

Justices of the peace will receive special training, while officials will work closely with justice committees to identify elder counsellors to get involved in the healing process.

Okalik said the government will spend the $3 million per year each year thereafter to support the legislation. While that may look like a lot of money, Okalik said itis little compared to what the territory currently pays to deal with people in the justice system.

"You saw our corrections budget. It's a hefty bill and I want to reduce that by making sure that families are healed so they don't have to go to jail," he said.

A Statistics Canada survey released in October found that women living in the northern territories are far more likely to be sexually assaulted and murdered by their husbands than those living in the provinces.

Territories' spousal abuse rate higher

Twelve per cent of adults in the three territories who had lived common law or been married at some point experienced violence at their spouses' hands, in the five years beforethe 2004 survey. That compares to seven per cent in the provinces.

The use of shelters was also higher in the territories than anywhere else in Canada, the survey found.

Tununiq MLA James Arvaluk, who was jailed in 2004 on charges of assault causing bodily harmfollowing a August 2000 assault on his former girlfriend, said he has gone through healing himself and supports the Family Abuse Intervention Act.

He told the legislature that he's particularly concerned about violenceagainst elders.

"Some elders are now staying with other families because their grandchildren are abusing them in their own house," Arvaluk said. "The abusive system is a social issue and it's not acceptable."