Until recently, the nature and level of care and assistance received by First Nations, Metis and Inuit women in the Yukon was “all over the map”. Due to the existence of “negative social responses” to those who report violence, many Indigenous women choose to deal with complex violent situations on their own. Together for Justice provided a forum for exploring the cross-roads of gender, race and colonialism to better understand and stop the violence against Indigenous women in the Yukon.

The Liard Aboriginal Women’s Society (LAWS) was established in the Kaska Territory as a non-profit society in 1998. What began as a small circle of women from the Kaska Nation concerned with community healing, evolved over time to developing and offering a comprehensive community transformation process.  LAWS recognized a critical need to provide opportunities for Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) members to hear from Kaska women, other community members, service providers and government agencies about violence and how it could be addressed.