A local counselling and support centre is reaching out to victims of sexual assault in the Métis community.
Last October, the Dragonfly Counselling and Support Centre, a non-profit that provides specialized counselling and support to individuals and families affected by sexual assault, began groundwork on a Métis-based project through an RCMP grant worth $9,400.
The project is a part of a move by the centre, which opened in Bonnyville in 2015, to expand from offering counselling services to promoting awareness of sexual assault issues and informing victims about available resources.
On Jan. 19 at the French cultural centre, Métis elders and Karen Collins, president for Zone II regional council of the Métis Nation of Alberta, gave a presentation about Métis history, culture and protocols to local support services such as the RCMP, as the first step of the project.
“I think this is a really great movement in working together, sharing and gaining perspectives of other nations of people and each others as human beings,” said Linda Boudreau Semaganis, a Cree Métis elder who spoke about Métis culture.
She added, “Victimization is intergenerational and unless we resolve those intergenerational traumas we're always going to be victims. I'd rather see people be achievers and survivors, not victims.”
In addition to supporting the Bonnyville and Cold Lake area, the centre also serves Zones 1 and 2 of the Métis Nation of Alberta, which covers Bonnyville and Lac La Biche.
“Everyone jumped on board and created this project and it's turned out really well,” said Mereline Griffith, a capacity builder specialist at Dragonfly. “Everyone's embraced it and, of course, the end result is we want to bring to the Métis people, through this project, an awareness of sexual assault issues, the resources available to them and how to access them.”
She added, “Now that we've had these sessions our next step is going to be bringing the leaders, service providers and teachers from the Métis communities together and we will present to them, and the RCMP will speak from a legal perspective about sexual assault.”
The centre also wanted to ensure Métis residents were consulted properly so that information on minimizing risk to potential victims was shared in a culturally sensitive way.
“You can only work well with someone when you understand who they are, so we're really happy with this opportunity,” Collins noted. “We're more than excited to be a part of it.”
Bonnyville RCMP S/Sgt. Luis Gandolfi said working with indigenous communities is an RCMP priority not only at the local level, but also nationally.
“Our commissioner and all of the leadership throughout the organization have made it a priority to stay connected and try and improve relations wherever we can with indigenous people.”
Gandolfi added, “There's very few things in society that are more damaging than sexual assault and an organization like Dragonfly is desperately needed in our area.”
After a presentation by Semaganis on Métis history and culture, Collins spoke to the audience about the political structure of the regional council and the Métis Nation of Alberta.
For the second part of the program, the Dragonfly centre will in turn do a presentation for the Métis community at the French cultural centre on Feb. 23. For more information about the Dragonfly centre visit http://www.thedragonflycentre.com.
