SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
At a vigil honouring missing and murdered aboriginal women, Dene National Chief Bill Erasmus said aboriginal girls and women shouldn't go out alone on city streets at night.

Dene National Chief Bill Erasmus, seen here to the left of Josephine Mackenzie, said to a group gathered for the Sisters in Spirit vigil – held outside city hall last week – he thinks aboriginal women and girls need to stay off the streets at night in order to ensure their own safety. - Evan Kiyoshi French/NNSL photo

Erasmus spoke to a group gathered for the 10th anniversary Sisters in Spirit vigil held Oct. 2 outside city hall. He said he attended hearings on missing and murdered indigenous women in Ottawa last year and he's come to the conclusion that aboriginal women shouldn't be on the streets by themselves at night.

"People might disagree with me but, for example, I met the (16-year-old) girl that was beat up in Winnipeg and brutalized and so on, and thrown into the river. She came out of the river, it happened to her again and they threw her back in the river. That happened late at night. What was she doing out by herself? That's one of the things that I think about."

Erasmus said he's concerned when he sees women alone while he's travelling around the country.

"I land late, 11 o'clock - midnight, and I'm trying to go to my hotel. By the time I get there I see young girls walking down on the street. And I think, 'Good God, what are they doing?' They're by themselves. We've got to be responsible for ourselves, we have to look after our young girls, our own people," he said. "We have to tell them, get off the streets at a certain time."

Sandra Lockhart, an aboriginal women's rights activist who served as master of ceremonies for the vigil on behalf of the Native Women's Association of the NWT, said she disagrees with Erasmus. Lockhart said she has had scares of her own. She had a violent experience herself once but when she reported it she was shamed; her 12-year-old daughter recently told her she was followed home by a mysterious blue van.

"We want to take back the streets," said Lockhart, adding her daughter shouldn't have to fear being out by herself.

"Never in my life did I ever think that my girl needs to get off the streets," she said. "There has to be a heck of a lot of work going into how we look at women. Why can't we give respect to aboriginal women? What have we ever done to you?"

Lockhart said she'd like to see governments putting together committees made up of aboriginal women who will be able to speak directly to the issue.

"Please open the doors to aboriginal women to having our voices heard at these tables," she said. "Bill, put together a women's committee on your Dene Nation. If you want it to work you've got to have us at the table."

On Monday, Lockhart said she is upset with Erasmus, although he did preface his words with a disclaimer, warning that not everyone would agree with what he had to say. She said only he can explain what he meant by his comments.

"I felt betrayed," she said.

She said his comments show that more education needs to happen to help even government leaders understand the scope of the problem.

Reached Monday, Erasmus said he holds his position on the advice of women.

"This is what I'm hearing from women," he said. "We have to focus on prevention and part of that is women have to protect themselves by being together if they're out late at night. Young people think nothing is ever going to happen to them in a negative way. They're out there and obviously things are happening."

He's not blaming murdered and missing aboriginal women for their problems, said Erasmus.

"I'm not blaming them," he said. "We all have to be more responsible. Sometimes the choice might be not to go out."

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