[IPSM] Native Women's Shelter of Montreal: A secure place for Inuit women in distress

[hhazel at gmail.com]

A secure place for Inuit women in distress 

Half of the clients at the Native Women's Shelter of Montreal are
Inuit — but their staff get little help from organizations in Nunavut
and Nunavik.

JANE GEORGE
Nunatsiaq News 

MONTREAL — It's a nondescript, unidentified brick building at a busy
downtown intersection, but many Inuit women in distress know that the
Native Women's Shelter of Montreal is a warm and secure place to spend
the night.

"Montreal can be very lonely and cold," said Thelma Nelson, the head
counselor at the shelter. "We are safe, we are confidential, and
people know where we are."

The shelter provides a temporary home for any native woman who need a
place to stay, although nearly half of the 324 clients who stayed at
the shelter last year were Inuit.

While the average stay at the shelter is two weeks, some are there for
just one night and others for up to three months.

Some come because they are homeless in the city, while others are
fleeing home. Many are escaping violence and troubled living
situations in the Montreal region or even in the North. They arrive
alone or with their children. In many instances, they're also
pregnant.

They're referred by social workers, the justice system, or youth
protection authorities. Occasionally they just turn up at the door.

The 14 rooms, several of which have space for families, are clean and
comfortable. Some are tidy, while others seem to show signs of lives
that are still in disarray.

Shelter is no hotel 

But the staff is quick to point out that the shelter is no hotel. 

Residents are expected to pitch in with chores and observe a daily
schedule of activities as well as curfew. They have to keep good
behavior and refrain from drugs or alcohol.

During their stay at the shelter, women must also attend workshops on
such topics as family violence, parenting and anger management.

The shelter also helps with practical issues, such as obtaining
identification, welfare or housing.

"We need to build them up from the bottom up," Nelson said. 

Nelson said that most Inuit clients arrive at the shelter "with
horrific pasts." They're also often fearful to share what they've
experienced.

" 'What are you going to do to me if I tell you?' is what I hear," she said. 

Once they're at the shelter, women can choose to tackle their
addictions or even delve more deeply into the other problems in their
lives. When women stay more than two days, counselors work with them
to develop a healing plan.

"Our vision is to be a healing centre," said Jean Stevenson, the
shelter's director. "We say, 'our door is open to you if you're
willing to take the first step.' "

Once a month, the shelter brings in an elder or another woman whose
experiences serve as a role model for the shelter's residents.

The shelter has also received money from the Aboriginal Healing
Foundation for a project called "Moving towards the seventh
generation." This new program, due to start up shortly, will increase
the number and range of workshops at the shelter.

No Inuktitut counselors 

The shelter's services are intended to be offered with women's
"distinct cultural indentity and heritage in mind," but right now the
shelter presently has no Inuktitut speaking counselors.

But due to the high number of Inuit using the shelter, Stevenson would
like more Inuit input and assistance. She'd welcome visits from Inuit
health or social workers passing through the city and others with a
message to share, such as gospel singers.

She'd willingly accept contributions of country food, soapstone,
Inuktitut language materials, or travel assistance to help women to go
back to the North.

Stevenson, like the to staff at the handful of other Montreal
organizations who work with Inuit, has had limited contacts with
health and social services organizations in Nunavik and Nunavut.

Communication is difficult because of language problems and a lack of
common points of reference.

Many organizations in the North also seem to feel they're the ones who
should be supplying services to Inuit.

"But aboriginal people need to help each other," Stevenson, who is
Cree, said. "Aboriginal people have to extend a hand to each other, no
matter where they're from."

For more information on the Native Women's Shelter of Monreal, call
1-514-933-4688.