THUNDER BAY -- For most of her life Jackie Fletcher has been conditioned to remain silent about societal ills such as sexual violence
But now the 70-year-old member of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation’s Women’s Council is seeing a significant change in how those issues are addressed.
“I never thought I would see a day where there would be open dialogue about issues in our communities,” Fletcher said on Friday at the start of the three-day NAN Women’s Forum, which is being held at the Nor’Wester Hotel and Convention Centre.
“Now you’re starting to see tools to give to those people and the women are perking up and listening.”
One of those tools was unveiled in the form of their Draw The Line Campaign, an educational strategy designed to recognize and prevent sexual violence against women.
The campaign is based on the principle of identifying situations and starting conversations to create change.
Getting the issues out in the open is the first way to expose underlying causes.
“Everything that has become an issue is very pushed down and nobody talks about it. It’s like an elephant in the room,” Fletcher said.
“They’re issues we don’t talk about because it’s too painful, too hurtful but that’s the problem.”
The campaign is centred around six seemingly common scenarios and highlighting them as a form of sexual harassment, repression or other inappropriate behaviour while providing tips and suggestions about how to talk about them.
The situations include co-workers commenting on a colleague’s body, community member sending inappropriate text messages and a friend passing out on the couch at a party.
Deputy Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler said even though they may seem minor, it’s important to deal with it early.
“If it’s not addressed it can fester into something even more of a bigger issue for that individual or family. I think it’s important we provide that education and supports to address that as they come up,” Fiddler said
Fletcher added it also shows those behaviours are not normal.
“People experience this on a daily basis but don’t know what it is. If they’re being spoken to in a sexual manner and not sure what’s going on, how to they respond to it?,” she said.
“It’s a tool to let people know it’s not OK what they’re saying and doing.”
The campaign includes training for those in attendance to bring back to their communities to educate the population.
