Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) concludes summit with vision for a safe future
Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) press release ...
Aboriginal Women’s Summit Maps the Way to the Future
Yellowknife, NT (August 1, 2008) – A three day summit focused on Aboriginal women’s issues has concluded with a solid plan for action. The second National Aboriginal Women’s Summit examined more than 29 key recommendations stemming from NAWS I last year in Newfoundland and Labrador. NAWS II co-hosts Beverley Jacobs, President of the Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC), and Northwest Territories Premier Floyd Roland have emerged confident that the directions identified by grassroots Aboriginal women leaders will result in major change.
President Beverley Jacobs says, “We can start now, by educating children about Aboriginal history and culture. Languages are a critical part of our own education systems and those languages at risk of disappearing need to be protected and revitalized.
As we heard from Métis and Inuit women, the residential school apology did not apply to all Aboriginal peoples because there are some that are not part of the settlement or compensation package recently implemented. This omission must be corrected.”
“The federal government likes to manipulate the reality of what they are doing – we talked at the Summit about the real issues identified by Aboriginal women across Canada. It was our chance to tell the government what needs to be done to create real change,” added President Jacobs.
NWAC views the upcoming First Ministers’ Meeting in the fall as a key opportunity to profile the action plan set out at the Summit, including the implementation of the Kelowna Accord. The implementation of the strategic action plan will be reviewed at NAWS III, to be held in Winnipeg, Manitoba in the fall of 2009. The Government of Nova Scotia announced that it will host NAWS IV, demonstrating the commitment of provincial and territorial governments to this process. The federal government has demonstrated it is committed to these Summits.
The Native Women’s Association of Canada is an aggregate of 13 native women’s organizations and is the national voice of Aboriginal women in Canada.
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For further information:
Joshua Kirkey, Media Coordinator
(613) 290-5680 mobile
(613) 722-3033 ext. 231
jkirkey@nwac-hq.org
or
Rob McDonald, Team Lead Communication & Education
(613) 850-6922 mobile
(613) 722-3033 ext. 252
rmcdonald@nwac-hq.org