Yellowknife (Sep 12/03) - Only if police respond adequately to family violence calls will new legislation work, says the director of the Yellowknife Women's Centre.

Arlene Hache: blames trauma, not alcohol, for much of the domestic abuse that occurs in the territories.

"This will largely depend on how well the message gets out and how well the RCMP respond," Arlene Hache said of the Family Violence Protection Act, currently being discussed by the standing committee in the legislature.

The major amendment to the act, introduced to the legislature in June, is establishment of a quick court procedure for protection from a family member threatening violence.

Such a protection order is effective immediately upon being made.

But Hache was critical of the current position the RCMP take when attending a domestic violence situation.

"They are not well trained on the dynamics of family violence," she said.

"We already have measures like peace bonds, but the RCMP tell women they can't get a peace bond or the police will not help because of a lack of evidence."

But Inspector Paul Richards of the Yellowknife RCMP said this type of criticism puts the responsibility entirely on the police.

"This is not just the problem of any one organization. It is shared by the community and needs a community approach," Richards said.

He said every domestic dispute situation is different and police react accordingly.

While he has heard few complaints about response times, they may slightly vary because the officers are dispatched from a central dispatch office.

Governments blamed

Hache blamed the federal and territorial governments for creating this cycle of violence in the first place.

"Many of these people (who abuse) were taken from their homes and lived in residential schools.

Aboriginal nations were destroyed," she said of the subsequent high rates of abuse.

"And this level of violence will continue to grow and the level of disruption will expand until this paternalistic, inappropriate intervention stops," she said.

Abused women also must deal with other outside intervention as well as fleeing their homes, Hache said.

"There is a government effort to make family violence an automatic child welfare matter," she said.

"They should be afraid," she said, when asked if this might make women hesitant to seek help.

"There's a greater chance children will be permanently apprehended because of the level of trauma."

She blamed trauma, not alcohol, on much of the recurring domestic abuse.

In Yellowknife in 2002, stats show that 99 per cent of children in permanent care are aboriginal.

Therefore, Hache says, the act needs to be in place.

"It is worth the effort because the situation is serious and growing. We cannot afford not to do it," Hache said.

Statistics show the rate of shelter use in the north is eight times the national rate.