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INFORMATlON TO USERS This manuscript has been mpmducd fmthe nticdih master. UMI film the text dirsdly from the original or oopy submitted- Thus, sam thesis and dissertation copies am in -face, Wk athers may be from any type of computefpn'nder- The quality of this rmpmduction k depond.nt upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indimprint, clalacsd or poor quati illustrations and photographs, @nt bkedthrmrgh, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reprodudion. In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are misshg pages, these will be Med. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g-, mags, drawings, charts) am repmduced by sectioning the original, begiming at Ihe upper lefthand comer and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps- Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduoed xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6. x W black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustmtiorrs appearing in this copy for sn addiilcharge. Cocrtact UMI directly to order. Be11 & H&I lnfonnation and Learning 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1346 USA 800.521~ WHO CAN BE A CITIZEN?: DECODING THE "LAW OF THE LANDn IN CONTEMPORARY MANITOBA POLITICS Sheila Dawn Gill A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Department of Sociology and Equity Studies in Education Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto @ Copyright by Sheila D. Gill 1999 National Library Bibliothaue nationale du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et 8ibliographic Services services bibliographiques 395 Wellingtm Street 395. rue Wel~gton Ottawa ON KlAW -ON K1AON4 Canada Canade The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accorde melicence noa exclusive licence allowing the exclusive pernettant a la National Library of Canada to Bibliotheque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distnite or sell reproduire, prEter, distn'buer ou copies ofthis thesis in microform, vendre des copies de cette these sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de microfiche/fiI.rn, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format electronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriete du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protege cette these. thesis nor substantial extracts fiom it Ni la these ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or othenvise de celle-ci ne doivent 6tre imprimes reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. ABSTRACT Who can be a citizen?: Decoding the 'law of the landn in contemporary Manitoba politics. Master of Arts, 1999 Sheila D. Gill Graduate Department of Education, University of Toronto This thesis decodes key aspects of the 'law of the land" operating in contemporary Manitoban society. Focusing on 'white' elite political performances of the official national story, I contend that (a gendered, classed, heterosexed) racism underwrites the shifting and disparate instances of what and who a Canadian citizen can be, both in the letter of the law, and in the diverse lived realities of the 1990s. Combining discourse analysis with tools of critical geography, my work speaks back to the decreed unspeakabilily of racism in Manitoba's Legislature. I contend that the 1995 prohibition on the use of the word "racist" in the House is consistent with the amnesic context of (post)colonial Canadian society and its celebrated 'anti-racist' nationalism. In response to the extremity of systemic violence experienced by First Nations peoples in the Canadian past and present, my analysis gives priority to the ordering of AboriginaVnon-Aboriginal relations in Manitoba. My heartfelt thanks go to Mom, for your diligent 'research assistance' with this project, and more important, for teaching me gentleness by example. To Dad, especially for all those kitchen table history lessons while growing up! To my brother Charlie, who feared (correctly) that I'd be a 'perpetual student'. To Rudy, for your love, patience, humour, computer skills, patience, willingness to change jobs and move across the country, patience, and your speedy absorption of poststructuralism. To Susan Braun, for giving me Rudy, and for sharing your own amazing heart. To my thesis Supervisor Dr. Sherene Razack, for your intellectual rigour and deepiysngaged political commitment. Thank you so much for your ongoing mentorship and support. My appreciation also goes out to my to my very careful Second Reader, Dr. Ruth Roach Pienon (thank you for your enthusiasm!), and to Dr. Kathleen Rockhill, who early on pointed me in the useful direction of Soja. To my O.I.S.E. friends and peers, especially the S.E.S.E. folks who have challenged and strengthened both me and my thinking, and especially to Cindy, Jennifer, Laura and Eve, for helping me find humour in our struggles. To dear friends from home (no matter where you are now), for keeping me in your hearts. Charlene, Sandy B., Leanne, Don, Mario (for the initial big push to do this!), Lorna, V., Chris, Pat, Brian- I am so blessed there are too many of you to name here! To Lynn, for always travelling several steps ahead of me, and always with great courage and wisdom. And my deepest gratitude to Baba, S. Chidvilasananda, and the Toronto Siddha Yoga Community I offer this, with my dream of a more equitable future for us all, to my beautiful Godsons Mark and Joshua. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ii Acknowledgements iii Table of Contents iv PREFACE Home and Sickness 1 Notes 6 CHAPTER ONE (Introduction) 1he Unspeakability of Racism in Manitoba's Legislature: 8 officiai stories and the 'law of the land' 8 the problem: violence that cannot be named 12 who can be a citizen? 17 (differently) imagined community 25 notes 29 CHAPTER TWO Dominant Discourses vs. Heterogeneous Zones: Social Order as a "War by Other Means" 31 introduction 31 a "thematics of power" according to Foucault 35 discourse "cuts into the form of things": a localized study of power 42 political Yext and talk": the rhetoricaldiscursive exercise of power 47 structures of domination: the racialized grammar of Canadian nationalism 51 the "law of the landn: the material-discursive nation and a critical case for space 57 conclusion 64 notes 66 CHAPTER THREE Orderly Language: Nation, Narration and Unidentified Matters of Privilege 70 introduction 70 history, or the "conversionary use of imagined realities" 74 membership: a matter of (ontological) privilege 82 decoding nationalist geographies: a localized space-myt h of origin 92 political therapy in performance: imperial travel as ontological discourse 100 conclusion 108 notes 109 CHAPTER FOUR Disciplines of Place: The Legislature and Manitoba's "Other Spaces" 112 introduction 112 disciplines of place I15 siting relations: the Legislature as heterotopia 118 superimposing de-linked sites I 132 superimposing de-linked sites II 141 conclusion 152 notes 1 53 CHAPTER FIVE (Conclusion) Notes Toward a Critical Ontology of Being a Manitoban 157 notes 164 REFERENC NEWSPAPERS 1 75 Order, please. I am requesting the honourable member for The Pas to please wlthdfaw the words complained of.--. I am requesting the honourable member for The Pas to withdm w the words complained of, If the honourable member does not respond in the manner I have requested, I will be compellied, regfew to name him- If the honourable member for The Pas does not withdraw the words complained of, 1 will have no alternative and wll have to name him. If the honou&le member for The Pas does not withdraw the words complained of, I, regmitably, wwillhave no alternative and will have to name him. I have requested, directed and instructed the member to withdraw. I, therefore, have no alternative but to name Oscar Lathlin for disregarding the authority of the Chair. -Louise Dacquay, Speaker of the House, November 1,1995 In its claim to universality and objectivity, the law effaces the being of legal agents, of principals and theiipnmrples. It effaces agency itself and so veils different agents' pleasures and sufferings, which are often causally, if silently linked. In commanding anonymously, the law hides those issuing command, just as it denies the violence it may pepeftate upon those commanded. -David Goldberg, Racist Culture, 1993 Home and Sickness I grew up in Winnipeg in the 1970s, in a largely white, mostly working and lower-middle class suburban neighbourhood. I fondly remember one of the cherished holiday pleasures my family shared at Christmastirne. Everyone packed into the old car, burdened by heavy snowboots, scarves and parkas, and we would drive downtown to see the gorgeous display of lights strung all along Portage Avenue: past Eaton's with its festive window dressings, and past the Hudson's Bay Company store, decorated like a tiered cake with a ribbon of sparkling evergreens planted along the curve of its awnings. The lights adorned block after block of Portage Avenue, from Main Street and continuing on westward through the central downtown core. Arching overhead, they bathed the dark winter streets in dazzling light and colour, and made home merry in the midst of a prairie winter. I did not give this memory much thought until many years later, when an Ojibway woman shared a perspective with me that deeply altered the meanings I attributed to the Christmas lights of my childhood. To her the annual holiday spectacle in Manitoba's southern capital spoke glaringly, yet in a code unreadable to me, of the effects of exploitative northern development carried out by Manitoba Hydro. With its mega hydro-electric projects of the 1960s and 70s waterways were dramatically altered, resulting in the flooding of her homeland and countless other northern communities and territories.