Section 1, pages 89 to 320, of Volume 1a is named Establishing a New Framework. Introductory reflections and summaries of the compelling first four chapters are posted in June and July blogs.
They are:
- Centring Relationships to End Violence,
- Indigenous Recognitions of Power and Place,
- Emphasizing Accountability through Human Rights Tools, and
- Colonization as Gendered Oppression.
Section 2, pages 321 to 722, is Encountering Oppression and four chapters outline sub-sets of the rights to be restored. These are: Right to Culture, Right to Health, Right to Security and Right to Justice.
Nine types of abuse have been identified: physical, sexual, emotional, psychological, spiritual, cultural, verbal, financial, and neglect.
For indigenous people, violence is experienced as structural, systemic, and institutional – part of how they encounter everyday life.
Pathways that maintain colonial violence include:
- historical, multi-generational, and inter-generational trauma,
- social and economic marginalization,
- institutional lack of will, and
- patriarchy and misogyny that ignore that agency and expertise of Indigenous women and gender diverse.
Historical trauma is cumulative, meaning that its effects are passed on and recycled within communities. Human rights – specifically equality, non-discrimination, participation, and inclusion – have not been extended to Indigenous people.
The next four chapters will explore how these rights can be restored.
