Iqaluit (May 03/04) - An emotional Levinia Brown broke down sobbing at a press conference about violence against women on Wednesday having just learned her neighbour's daughter had been murdered in Rankin Inlet.

Excerpts from report titled: What Inuit Women Need In Order to Deal With Abuse and Violence: "Booze and drugs control men. Men take their anger out on women because they can't get what they want." -Anonymous female project participant "Some men agree with the traditional way of the past. Women are now more in control of their own lives and are more independent." - Anonymous female project participant "When you go through abuse and violence you forget there is a God." - Anonymous female project participant -- Research and report prepared for Qulliit Nunavut Status of Women Council March 2004, Iqaluit, Nunavut.

"Violence against women is wrong," Brown said, wiping away tears. "It starts at home."

The report, titled "What Inuit Women Need in Order to Deal With Abuse and Violence," is the result of two years of research commissioned by the Qulliit Nunavut Status of Women Council, funded by the Canadian Research Institute on the Advancement of Women (CRIAW) and conducted mainly by researcher Carrie Elrick.

Eighteen Inuit women, ages 20-54 from around Nunavut who had experienced violence or who work in the field of women abuse were interviewed for the report.

Elrick's findings point to a lack of services for abused women in Nunavut, including a lack of trained counsellors, and an inadequate system where women and their children have nowhere to turn once they leave an abusive relationship.

Iqaluit teacher Charlotte Borg, on hand to attend the press conference, said children are greatly affected by violence in the house, and need counselling and support, too.

Elrick's research pointed to this.

"Children of an abusive relationship are very vulnerable," one of Elrick's interview subjects said. "They think they are the cause and are very wary. They become violent and are abusive to others or other children."

Although she was moved to tears by sad events in Nunavut, mentioning the April 23 death in Rankin Inlet and the unsolved March killing of Rhoda Maksagak in Cambridge Bay, Brown did not say if the government of Nunavut was ready to hire someone to co-ordinate resources to deal directly with violence against women. Women interviewed for the report strongly suggested this.

"I have not had much time," Brown said. "I want to read it page to page."