Indigenous women in Ontario are on the front line of a daily battle against violence in their lives that so many Canadians don’t see and don’t understand.

As the executive director of the Ontario Native Women’s Association (ONWA) I’ve witnessed our organization grow into a force that provides a respectful safe place for Indigenous women as safety is paramount to healing and addressing violence.

From Indigenous antihuman trafficking to Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls, to domestic violence and rampant institutionalized racism the cycle of violence is real and devastating. The violence that Indigenous women battle each day is external and internal.

Through ONWA’s She Is Wise framework, we honour and acknowledge that every Indigenous woman has the potential to reclaiming her sacredness as well as the leadership role in her family and community.

In the past year ONWA served approximately 9,700 community members, delivered over 4,000 community events through 29 programs with 126 partnerships across the province. We are working to deliver transparent change that equates into not only walking the healing journey with Indigenous women but provides concrete economic savings for all Ontarians.

As of October 2018, ONWA saved the provincial government a minimum of $19 million.

Those savings included supporting mothers with 71 family reunifications. We need to put into context the fact that child welfare system costs are approximately $113 per day, $3,390 per month at a cost of $40,680 per child per year. We as an organization recognize the importance of this first relationship and bond between mother and child by keeping children within their families, but also the pressure on organizational and public resources.

We have saved the province over $6 million in costs directly attributed to helping women exit human trafficking. We saved even more in additional costs in emergency room visits, ambulance trips, nights in the hospital, long term medical care and survivor support.

My passion is creating safe spaces for Indigenous women and their families. Those safe spaces include education. From 2006 to 2016 the percentage of Indigenous women (aged 25 to 64) with at least a high school diploma or equivalency rose from 74 per cent to 82 per cent.

The percentage of Indigenous women (aged 25 to 64) with a post-secondary, diploma or degree increased from 49 per cent in 2006 to 57 per cent in 2016. These statistics reveal important and optimistic findings on the road to ending violence in the lives of our women, their children and their communities.

We need all Ontarians to recognize we are all interconnected across genders, races and religions and that ending violence and creating safer communities is the responsibility of every one of us.

On Sunday, the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, we ask that all Ontarians stand in solidarity by acknowledging the strength and courage of Indigenous women. The battle to end violence in their lives is every day.

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