Women's shelter at Natoaganeg will serve all of N.B.'s First Nation communities

In the future, Anita Boyle hopes to see empty beds at the women's shelter at Natoaganeg First Nation. 

She said empty beds would signify that there was enough awareness in the community around intimate partner violence that there would be very little of it. 

Boyle is the executive director for Nignen, a shelter that is scheduled to be completed by fall 2023 and serve 15 Mi'kmaw and Wolastoqiyik communities. 

Nignen means "our home." 

"The security and the privacy and the confidentiality that will be part of our centre's policies and procedures would be a strong indicator that our place, our haven, our home is a safe haven and that women will be protected there," said Boyle, who is from Metepenagiag First Nation. 

On Thursday, a sod-turning, or groundbreaking, ceremony was held at Natoaganeg to signify the beginning of building a new project. Following this ceremony, a vigil was held for missing and murdered Indigenous women. 

Boyle said the ceremony and the vigil were connected because they are really focusing on violence, the impact of which ties into missing and murdered Indigenous women.

She said the evening was "fulfilling" and left her with a "very beautiful feeling."

What will the shelter entail?

She also hopes the services of sexual assault nurse examiners (SANE) will be available for the shelter so women can be seen on-site instead of having to be taken to hospital. 

Boyle said she's seen the news around SANE nurses quitting, but said the government needs to find a way to make women's health and safety an urgent need. 

The building itself will be around 11,000 square feet, said Boyle. It will have room for programming like workshops, a children's play area inside and out, a cultural room, a nurse examination room, counselling rooms, meeting rooms and administrative spaces. 

Boyle said there will be four rooms for single women to stay in and four spaces with two bedrooms and their own bathrooms, which she said would be perfect for families coming in. 

Funding for the shelter is coming from an $85-million investment from two federal government departments over a five-year period to build 12 new shelters on First Nations in Canada, said Boyle. Along with construction costs, she said the government is also putting aside money for the shelter's operation.

Understanding violence and the First Nation experience

Boyle said while there is a women's shelter in Miramichi, Nignen is the first Indigenous shelter on First Nation land in New Brunswick. 

She said intimate partner violence is a national issue, in communities that are Indigenous or non-Indigenous, and there are often no places for these women to go, so they return home where the violence takes place. 

She said a next step after the shelter would be some type of transitional housing for women so they don't have to return home. 

Boyle said one of the other existing gaps when it comes to domestic violence is awareness, including how to understand it in the context of the First Nation experience.

"The roots of violence in our communities are deeply rooted in colonization," she said. "We want to be able to provide workshops and healing sessions for women so that they can gain a deeper understanding of, you know, what this is and free themselves from assuming any responsibility for the violence that's directed to them."