Indigenous women are three times more likely to experience domestic violence than non-Indigenous women, and three times more likely than non-Indigenous women to be killed by someone they know. Too many of our wives, daughters, sisters, aunties, mothers, grandmothers are not safe in their own home. Too many have been murdered or are missing. It is time for us to change this.

This cycle of violence came from residential schools, racism against our Peoples, and colonization. It was never in our culture to do violence to the women and children in our families and communities, it was always our responsibility to protect them.

Many efforts, projects, and strategies are now under-way throughout the country to change this reality, but we can and need to do more. Silence is not good enough, and simply being a non-abuser is not good enough. We must speak up and take action, and we need to support each other as Indigenous and non-Indigenous men.