TRAINING SUMMARY
AUTHOR:
TOPIC:
DATES:
Tara Lyons
Lateral Violence Workshop, Rod Jeffries
June 12, 2006
Rod began by giving us examples of lateral violence which he explained is a result of oppression. We
take oppression out on each other because we can’t give the oppression back to the oppressor. It’s about
an oppressed group turning on itself and a way of gaining power back when you are feeling powerless.
He focused on gossip as a central means of lateral violence. Lateral violence focuses on negative
qualities and is part of trying to take power over other people.
Lateral violence is linked to trauma, specifically the trauma resulting from residential schools and the
ensuing shame. People leaned to hate their traditions, their people, the colour of their skin and this
shame continues through acts of lateral violence.
Through grief work, Rod said, we can change the harmful things going on: substance abuse, domestic
violence. He says these acting out behaviours are a result of unresolved grief and trauma. He also talked
about how drinking and drug use have become normalized. Talking about normalization, he said that
gang rape is normalized in some communities; it is seen as a right of passage for young women. I found
this upsetting and I haven’t heard about this before.
Examples of lateral violence:
Gossip
Shaming
Bloodism (C-31)
Blame
Isolation
Criticism
Manipulation
Nepotism
Silence
Tokenism
Trauma is related to losses of:
Language
Dignity
Land
Culture
Family
Identity
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Purpose
Responsibility
Self-government
Innocence
Pride
Roots of lateral violence:
Colonialism
Cultural oppression
Unresolved trauma
Forced change
Historic trauma
Learned helplessness
Impacts of lateral Violence on communities:
Fear
Bullying
Unhealthy boundaries
Children learn unhealthy behaviour
He says we need to understand trauma, historic trauma and its impacts. He suggests developing a trauma
lifeline for your self and/or community.
Healing:
-is about taking our power back
-can never be accomplished by yourself
-is a recovery of awareness
-is a re-owning of one’s life experiences
-is a discovery of true self
Someone spoke of a new syndrome: broken heart syndrome. Has anyone heard of this?
He talked about the problems of Aboriginal organizations/agencies (he named the 5 as examples)
working in silos and being competitive and territorial. He sees this competition and territoriality as
lateral violence.
We broke into groups to brainstorm about strategies to address lateral violence. It seemed like we missed
the point since all groups talked about educating others, and he emphasized changing our own behaviour.
He also suggested:
-celebrating self and each other
-speaking our truth, without judgment or blame
-addressing our trauma and shame
-breaking the silence
-focusing on our strengths
-setting clear boundaries
-strengthening our families (we didn’t discuss how to do this)
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-creating posters (A group he worked with in the North created posters about lateral violence.)
He emphasized focusing on what feelings drive us towards acts of lateral violence and to ask what this
feeling is connected to in our lives.
We did this really powerful exercise re-enacting Aboriginal culture and traditions before contact and
after. Culture and spirituality were placed at the centre and children, me being one, were situated around
traditional spiritual objects in the centre of the floor. Behind us were the mothers, followed by the
grandmothers in the next circle. The final circle was comprised of warriors. People in each circle spoke
of how they felt in their role. As a child it felt safe and nurturing. Then he removed the children from the
circle (representing residential school scoops) and people in each circle spoke of how they felt. We then
re-arranged the room to show the current structure: rows with backs to each other with men at the front,
grandmothers and two-spirited people off to the side and children in the back wandering around lost
with our head’s bowed in shame. It was powerful to feel the change between the two positions.
The workshop made me think about my family, particularly my First Nations family and how grief and
historical and personal traumas play into and affect our lives and relationships. Unfortunately, we didn’t
spend much time talking about strategies in the workshop.
I also found that despite his emphasis on strengths we spent most of the day talking about what is wrong
with Aboriginal people, communities and organizations. At one point he put up a list of ‘unwritten rules
that drive our communities’. This list included:
-immediate gratification
-don’t get involved
-women are sexual objects
-money is power
-stay ahead at all costs
He said the list was compiled by children, his point being that children are being taught negative
behaviours through example. It seemed that he and others in the workshop talked a lot about the ‘Indian
with his hand out’. This is a powerful stereotype that is so often used against Aboriginal people and I
was surprised we didn’t talk about how perhaps we engage in lateral violence by relying on these
stereotypes that were being invoked. He said that all of these problematic behaviours are a result of
historical trauma, but we didn’t talk about how it is not only Aboriginal people, communities, and
agencies that need to change, but the larger structures as well. Aboriginal agencies are within the
Canadian governmental structure which demands that they compete for resources. Absolutely, there are
ways to work together, but sometimes it felt like it was all up to Aboriginal people to change in some
way.
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