Native leaders call for mindshift to combat violence against native women

Breaking the cycle of violence against native women will require a giant mindshift that includes rethinking approaches to the environment, language and human rights, several prominent aboriginal leaders said Tuesday.

With statistics pointing to alarming rates of sexual violence on Canada's reserves, delegates at an international conference for native women say fundamental cultural changes are needed before those numbers begin to drop.

"It's a constant struggle to have to address these issues in our community," Beverley Jacobs, president of the Native Women's Association of Canada, said as more than 250 native women from 17 countries gathered at the Kahnawake Mohawk reserve for a meeting of the Indigenous Women of the Americas.

"Women have been specific targets of violence since colonialization."

LINK: Canada East