Aboriginal women gather to devise 10-year plan to combat violence

Native leaders and some premiers have gathered in western Newfoundland for the first national aboriginal women's summit in the hope of devising a long-term strategy to end a cruel cycle of poverty and violence.

Beverley Jacobs, president of the Native Women's Association of Canada, said Wednesday she hopes to strike a 10-year plan that would outline ways of reducing the number of aboriginal women who are sexually assaulted, go missing or are murdered.

"It's a crisis situation that we're in right now, where there's over 500 missing and murdered aboriginal women in the last 15 to 20 years," Jacobs said in an interview.

LINK: Holly's Fight For Justice

LINK: NWAC