LIIDLII KUE/FORT SIMPSON
The third break-in of the summer to Fort Simpson's pool was discovered the morning of Aug. 15.

Coun. Cheryl Cli, left, can often be found helping out with community cook-outs and events put on by Liidlii Kue First Nation. - NNSL file photo

Although nothing was stolen, an alarm panel was broken off and dumped in a pool of water. The door had been jimmied open.

In the midst of discussion about a curfew and programming for youth, one councillor believes the root of the issue lies in the intergenerational effects of trauma and abuse.

Coun. Cheryl Cli, who was elected to her seat in October, said the issue of trauma has largely been lacking from discussion around Fort Simpson's recent spate of crime.

"My own personal perspective on that is everyone is focusing on the superficial causes of what's happening in our community," she said.

"I have a feeling it has to do with the intergenerational effects of trauma amongst indigenous people, because of residential school."

Cli said she knows personally how damaging the effects of trauma can be when passed down by previous generations.

"We have survivors of residential school who underwent trauma by priests, nuns, maybe even other students. Then these survivors come home to the children that were being raised by grandparents, and they perpetuated what they were taught - which was to abuse," she said.

"Not too many people talk about this . Those of us who were at home experienced this from our own relatives."

That abuse provided a root for many of the problems faced by indigenous people, she says. That includes drug and alcohol abuse, as survivors try to numb their pain.

"I want people to be mindful, if this is indigenous kids or young adults or adults who are doing (crime), to be mindful of where we're coming from," she said.

Cli shared that she also struggled with alcoholism in the 70s in an effort to deal with the abuse she experienced.

"Somehow, we managed to make it through . In order to fix it, we have to talk about the root cause," she said.

"My saving grace was to talk about it. Every time I talked about it, the less I felt the shame, the less I felt that I was powerless. I had to build myself up.

"Despite everything I've been through, I'm still here. So it is possible."

Cli said the problems Fort Simpson has been experiencing over the past summer months draw directly from the cycle of abuse experienced by many indigenous people.

"It's a vicious cycle and people are not addressing that," she said.

"I've heard non-indigenous people threatening to physically harm adults because they're not watching their children - but you're just perpetuating that same violence."

Although some levels of abuse - physical abuse in particular - have become more acceptable to talk about, Cli said the one aspect of intergenerational trauma where people still remain silent is the sexual abuse experienced by many.

"People don't want to talk about that but that's the cold hard truth. Until people can overcome or somehow work through themselves to get through that - I'm not saying you will ever forget, because I've never forgotten," she said.

"But we have to really start talking about that, because that's going to get us out of where we are today. That's going to heal the real, true, deep wounds."

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