Indigenous women more likely to face violence if they were a child in care: report

Front-line workers are calling for more support for Indigenous families after a Statistics Canada analysis found First Nations, Inuit and Métis women are more likely to experience physical or sexual assault in their lifetime if they were in government care as children.

The report, published recently in Juristat, said 63 per cent of Indigenous women have experienced violence and nearly half — 46 per cent — have experienced sexual assault.

The analysis found 81 per cent of Indigenous women who had been in the child-welfare system had been physically or sexually assaulted in their life.

Darlene Okemaysim-Sicotte is a co-chair of Iskwewuk E-wichiwitochik, which means "women walking together" in Cree. The Saskatoon group has been supporting families of missing women for nearly two decades.

Okemaysim-Sicotte has spoken with many women about how violence permeated their lives as children in care.

"Their experiences of trauma and violence started young by being taken from their family and then put in abusive foster homes," she said.

The analysis said violence overall is connected to historical and continued trauma from "colonialization and related policies aimed at erasing Indigenous cultures and dismantling Indigenous families and communities."

Certain characteristics in a person's life made the chances of experiencing violence higher, specifically being taken into care as a child.

Indigenous women were almost six times more likely than non-Indigenous women to have been in the government's care as children, the report said.

Across Canada, 52.2 per cent of children in foster care are Indigenous, although they make up about 7.7 per cent of the overall population of kids.

There are about 10,000 children in care in Manitoba alone. About 90 per cent are Indigenous. That province has been called ground zero of the missing and murdered Indigenous women crisis.

Cora Morgan, First Nations family advocate for the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, said apprehending a child is inherently a violent act.

"The most violent act you can commit to a woman is to steal her child."

The National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls heard from many people who experienced violence and a loss of identity while they were in care. They also shared how they were significantly harmed when their own children were taken.