It has been designed to assist these types of front-line community workers to understand the context of sexual abuse in Aboriginal communities and why many current approaches to dealing with the problem are not working. The manual offers a brief introduction to community-based approaches to dealing with abuse and provides several examples of successful models currently being used. It then provides guidelines for facilitating disclosures of abuse and investigating allegations. Finally, some suggestions and guidelines are offered for planning the healing and restoration of balance which needs to occur after a disclosure of abuse. Part I of the Manual addresses many of the background issues surrounding abuse.
Abuse can be physical, sexual, verbal, psychological or even spiritual.
The current legal environment in Canada presents a set of problems for many Aboriginal communities. The cultural inclination of most Aboriginal communities is to view sexual abuse as a sickness needing healing, and not as a crime that calls for punishment. Victims often don't want to disclose patterns of abuse if it means that their relatives will have to go to jail. This hesitancy usually allows the abuse to continue in some way. Communities do not believe that a legal solution is really a solution at all.