Violence against women will be the topic of forums with all levels of government in the fall in Burns Lake.
Director of the Carrier Sekani Family services Mary Teegee says the forums will help create an action plan to deal with violence against women.
“I really don’t want to waste time just talking about it. I want action out of this forum and commitment out of different levels of government,” says Teegee. “How can we all work together to provide services within that municipality, within that area, to ensure that the young women and girls that are being violated have access to the services and receive the services they require.”
That means chiefs, the mayor of Burns Lake, provincial and federal officials will all work together on this.
Teegee hopes they can commit to some improvement of services for women fleeing abuse, as well as preventing violence from happening in the first place.
Teegee says a lot of research on their behalf will be going into the forums.
“It will be one of the first of it’s kind where there is an action plan to deal with sexual violence in BC, so I’m really excited to see what comes out of this.”
The provincial government spent 30 thousand dollars last year for the forums.
They’ll be held in Burns Lake October 12th and 13th.