Darrell Greer
Northern News Services

Rankin Inlet (Jan 18/06) - Rankin Inlet Mayor Lorne Kusugak is deeply disturbed by the rising trend of violence against women in Nunavut - and he's fed up with excuses from abusers trying to defend their actions.

Kusugak said the violence is being felt by all Nunavummiut, not just Inuit.

Rankin's Lorne Kusugak says attitudes must change to curb violence against women

He said people need to raise their voices louder before government leaders will hear their message.

"I finally woke up to the violence against women in Nunavut when it happened in my life and I'm still dealing with the death of a family member," said Kusugak.

"I don't know why, but it remains a topic our politicians still seem hesitant to discuss in Nunavut.

"The Status of Women conference in Iqaluit has people talking about it and more people expressing their views will, hopefully, force our politicians to take action.

"I strongly encourage the women of Nunavut to speak up about it - and to speak loudly!

Kusugak was not hesitant to give examples of how far Nunavut has to go for attitudes to change in regards to violence against women.

He was angered over comments made during a phone-in radio show in Iqaluit this past year.

"The show was on family wellness and topics of that nature, and some men actually called in and said there is some justification in beating women.

"They said this right on the air - that women have to be put in their place every once in a while.

"One even said not all the safe shelters are doing good, and that some women get braver in the way they talk to their spouse knowing the shelters are there.

"We have to put a stop to this type of mentality."

Evelyn Thordarson is the executive director of a safe shelter in Rankin.

She said women are never encouraged by safe-shelter staff to become more aggressive towards an abusive partner.

"Shelters are a temporary safe haven for a person to get out the abusive situation they're in," said Thordarson.

"We give clients material to read and videos to watch, and they have access to counsellors so they can talk about their situations.

"We would never tell a woman to aggressively confront their spouse or partner because we would be putting her in the receiving line of another bashing."

Thordarson said too many of the wrong ideas about what takes place inside the walls of a safe shelter start right at the top in Nunavut.

She said it's even been suggested in the past that some women come to the safe shelter to visit friends and get some shopping done.

"Suggestions like that are absolutely false and I wouldn't even want to guess what would prompt someone to say something like that, but it happens in Nunavut.

"We also have too many people who say abuse is a family issue and nobody else should be involved with it.

"People are getting fed up with these types of attitudes, but the people being abused still aren't getting the proper support they need."

Kusugak has had experience with similar remarks and attitudes.

He listened in disbelief to such remarks during a Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. (NTI) meeting.

"A few years back at a NTI annual general meeting in Cambridge Bay, a delegate said he couldn't understand why his wife had left him after he struck her," said Kusugak.

"He admitted hitting her, but added 'not excessively so,' as if that justified it.

"We have a long way to go to turn this type of thinking around."

Kusugak said too many people make excuses trying to defend their actions, rather than admit they made a serious mistake and seek help.

He said he's tired of hearing people say they were drunk or depressed at the time of the abuse in an attempt to justify what they did.

"Oh, yeah, he was drunk at the time he beat her, so that's OK.

"No, it's not OK!

"People look for excuses to justify the violence, but there is no justification.

"It's OK because he was drunk or upset is the type of twisted reasoning we have to straighten out.

"We have to get the message across that it's not OK to resort to violence at any time, period."