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WORKING AS A SERVICE PROVIDER IN MOOSONEE AND MOOSE FACTORY HERE TO STAY, GONE TOMORROW: WORKING AS A SERVICE PROVIDER IN MOOSONEE AND MOOSE FACTORY By JENNIFER MARIE DAWSON, B.A. A Thesis Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies in Partial FulfIllment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts McMaster University (c) Copyright by Jennifer Marie Dawson, September 1995 MASTER OF ARTS (1995) McMASTER UNIVERSITY (Anthropology) Hamilton, Ontario TITLE: Here to Stay, Gone Tomorrow: Working as a Service Provider in Moosonee and Moose Factory AUTHOR: Jennifer Marie Dawson, B.A. (McMaster University) SUPERVISOR: Professor Wayne Warry NUMBER OF PAGES: iv, 264 11 ABSTRACT The experience of a service provider living and working in Moosonee and Moose Factory is largely determined by whether the individual is Cree and from these communities, or is non-Native and from "the south". This study examines these experiences in terms of stress and coping, loosely adopting and occasionally critiquing Lazarus and Folkman's (1984) definitions of these concepts. The cultural and historical factors which influence stress and coping are emphasized without denying the importance of contemporary circumstances in these politically and socially turbulent communities. Non-Native or "southern" service providers are outsiders. They are kept at a distance both by their own interpretation of and reaction to "difference" and by others who are suspicious of their motivations and commitment. Some cope with their outsider status by reinforcing it; they withdraw from active personal and professional participation in community. But instead of refusing to change and clinging desperately to what is familiar, those southerners who have remained the longest in these northern locales are willing to acknowledge the relevance and rewards of different ways of living and working. Native or "local" service providers are insiders, connected to community through blood ties, long term residence and identity as Cree and are therefore vulnerable to demands, criticism and the same struggles with identity experienced by all Aboriginal people. Coping takes the form of investing in community, co-workers, family, self and Creator in order to regain a positive identity and strengthen supportive relationships. A tendency to escape stress through leaves of absence and changing jobs becomes a short­ term coping alternative. Based on these findings I offer recommendations aimed at enhancing the coping of local and southern service providers, in order to improve quality of life for helpers and quality of service for residents. 111 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to acknowledge the Northern Scientific Training Program and the Canadian Federation of University Women for their generous support of this research. My deepest and warmest thanks go to Shirley Wesley, for her friendship, generosity, wise counsel and willingness to house me during two summers of research. Meegwetch. I also wish to thank Dr. Wayne Warry for his support and especially his valuable comments on the first draft of this oh-so long document. Thanks to Dr. Richard Preston for his encouragement, shared resources and willingness to do combat with my vorpal blade ("snicker-snack" !), and to Dr. Matt Cooper who spoke to me about my research when everyone else said "show me something written". To Rosita Jordan, Cookie Brymer and Janis Weir-thanks for being so understanding of my incompetence with forms and machines and tolerant of my endless stream of questions! Thanks to Kathryn for friendship shared (and cookies and clothing, too!), to Lisa for companionship in the field, to Theresa for words of support and dinners at the Mai and to all my fellow students for chats and spats and beers with peers! Thanks to Mom, Dad, and Fiona for all their babysitting during the final stages of writing and revisions. Finally, I must thank Mark-whose patience, tolerance, sense of humour and skill at formatting have sustained our partnership--and Emma-whose arrival may have delayed this thesis but has enriched my life beyond measure. IV TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract .............................................................. iii Acknowledgements ................................................ iv Chapter One: Beginnings and Basics ..................................................... 1 Methodology ............................................... 4 The Communities ......................................... 6 The Sample ................................................ 8 Theoretical Issues ......................................... 12 Chapter Two: A Background to Service Provision in Moosonee and Moose Factory ............................................. 26 Health Care in Moosonee and Moose Factory ......... 26 Policing and Other Related Services .................... 39 Child Welfare and Other Social Programs ............. 43 Service Provider Networks and Committees .......... 46 Chapter Three: The Southern Experience of Stress ....................................... 49 On the Outside Looking In: Difficulty Integrating ..... 50 Cultural Difference ........................................ 64 Inability to Effect Change ................................ 79 Experiencing Prejudice ................................... 83 Rusting Out: Limits to Skills and Advancement.. ..... 93 Chapter Four: Coping: The Southern Answer. ........................................... 100 Remaining Distanced: Hobbies .......................... 103 Contact with Home: "Getting Out" ...................... 107 Accepting, Adjusting, Adapting, Adopting: "When in Rome" .......................................... 111 Getting Real and Letting Go ............................. 122 Chapter Five: The Local Experience of Stress ............................................ 132 Community Expectations ................................. 133 Dependence on Us, Dependence on Them............. 150 Lack of Support: Putting Up with Being Put Down .. 158 Too Close For Comfort: Separating Personal from Professional Life........... 167 Ethnostress ................................................. 173 Chapter Six: Coping: The Local Answer. ............................................... 185 Taking Advantage of Insider Status ..................... 188 Seeking a Sense of Self.................................. 206 Spirituality ................................................. 211 Contact with Culture: "Getting Out" .................... 215 Leaves of Absence and the Informal Job Rotation .... 219 Someone to Lean On: Seeking Support.. .............. 226 Chapter Seven: Recommendations and Conclusions ..................................... 237 Bibliography ........................................................ 254 DISCOVERY I seek the knowledge Of the ancient ones. To hear the tales Of how we came to be And why we do what we do And to know right from wrong. To understand my relationship With Mother Earth and Father Sun And All. I seek the knowledge Of the modern scholars. To gain the knowledge That will advance us And allow us To guide our destiny In the way we know is right, With harmony. I seek the know ledge That binds our past To our future. And when the knowledge Is found I will have discovered The greatest discovery I will have discovered Myself. Michael D. A vritt San Felipe Pueblo from: Two Cultures Meet: Pathways to American Indian Medicine edited by Larry P.Aitken and Edwin W. Haller SO, WHEN ARE YOU GETTING OUT? So, when are you getting out? It must be cold and without... Family, theatres, restaurants, stores. You must be awfully bored! I patiently explain ... Hoping this doesn't sound insane- Jockville, Edgars, S&M, Goose Creek Subdivision, Jim McGlynn, Cranberries, Geese Tundra, one sided trees, Dashing into Hudson's Bay- Yes-past your knees! Housing, the roads, Flurry white beasts, Blown over by the wind, A and B Block feasts. White outs, camp outs and the Northern Lights. Dances, theme parties, frozen water pipes. Caribou, rocks, beluga whales, Waiting for the plane and train, Picking up the mail. Curling, swimming, Living by the sea, Bingo and hockey games with a very short referee. Open doors, two stores and forty-five below, Sun dogs, permafrost and the mosquitoes. Frank, Emma, Yankee Bill, Merv and Sue. Pat and Bob, Plywood Pete, Liz-yes-Taylor, too! Windchills, big white boots, coloured northern coats, Calm Air, keys in cars, Community Channels personal notes. Geronimo, Shady, Brian, and Winnie the Pooh, Kenny, Charlie, Murtle, Herb­ just to name a few. So, my southern friend­ When are you getting out? Karen Ingebrigtson from: Northern Perspectives: Practice and Education in Social Work edited by Margaret Tobin and Christopher Walmsley RECALLING RESEARCH Early morning. Most days I walk to work, Shoulders bent under weight of laptop, Followed by dogs, hounded by bugs, Honked at by construction workers: "Want a ride, honey?" They yell. Sometimes I accept, Sometimes they leave me Lost and choking in a cloud of dust. I never seem to get the outer-wear right. I'm the girl who scuffs to work in raincoat and rubber boots Predicting showers and getting a sunburn. I'm the girl who wears big earrings And lots of black. I walk fast. I get teased. Sometimes I tease back. The water taxi. Big earrings are bad news in a big wind- I learn to pocket them and preserve my lobes, The old driver and I exchange a smile. Happily, the tide is out Longer to enjoy wind in hair, water splash, reed heads dancing. I say "wachay" when I get on and "meegwetch" when I get my change. He teaches me to say "it's a beautiful

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