Pipelines, and Indigenous Women

A Critical Analysis of Contemporary Discourse

lana ray

L’auteure emploie une analyse critique facilitated by the scientific revolution tion we are able to see how this strategy et écoféministe pour examiner le discours and predicated by philosophers such of domination plays out. While there contemporain présent dans la prostitu- as Descartes, nature became under- is no consensus by academics and the tion et la construction des oléoducs. Elle stood as a source of raw material. As public that oil and pipeline develop- démontre que ce qui apparaît comme such, the land was no longer eligible ment and prostitution are in fact forms un discours éthique basé sur les droits for ethical consideration and thus of violence, applying Andrea Smith’s de la personne, c’est en fait une stratégie subject to violation and exploitation. understanding of violence, which is cachée qui perpétue la domination sur Since then, other scholars have structured around power relations, les autochtones et sur leurs terres. demonstrated the persistence of including the power to control some- these ideologies. For example, one’s life (120), we can see how they Rauna Kuokkanen suggests that Katherine Toland Frith, through her can be characterized as such. sexual and physical violence, which examination of popular advertising, she characterizes as the most severe demonstrates the link between the Land and Women Are manifestations of oppression for oppression of nature, the oppression Characterized as Object women, must be examined as part of women, and claims of techno- of a “larger framework and ideologies logical superiority (195). She too Oil and pipeline development, as well of domination” so that they may be explains that nature, which was once as prostitution commoditize land fully understood (238). Eco-feminist considered sacred, became character- and women. In relation to prostitu- scholarship has carried out this exer- ized as nothing more than a machine. tion, points out that cise, exposing the ideologies necessary Once desecrated, nature was cast as commodification is a severe form to initiate and perpetuate violence something that was dangerous and of objectification that disassociates against women, and through this polluted. This allowed for the sanc- women from their bodies, ultimately process have directly linked violence tioning of patriarchal ideologies and rendering the body as a “thing” (cited against women to resource develop- dominance over women, animals, in Sutherland 141). In oil extraction ment (e.g. Frith; Shiva; Smith, A.). and lands. As evidence, she points to and pipeline development, oil is It has now been almost three de- truck advertisements boasting about disassociated from the land allowing cades since Vandana Shiva argued that men’s ability to tame any terrain and it to be extracted at an alarming a major shift had occurred to support ads that equate women to nature, rate. According to the Alberta En- western , as the sanctity of in the form of playboy bunnies and ergy Regulator, in 2014 production life was substituted for the sanctity foxes, among other things (Frith). (mined and in situ) reached about 2.3 of science and development (xii). Through an examination of oil and million barrels per day (Government Through this shift, which was largely pipeline development and prostitu- of Alberta).

VOLUME 33, NUMBERS 1,2 107 As Objects, Land and Women Are of crime (Phoenix), while men who from the Alberta oil sands to the Denied Ethical Consideration solicit women are considered to be Maritimes, there are 52 First Nations Because land is characterized as a engaged in “high-risk” sex acts on communities and 75 towns (Council “thing,” instead of an interconnected the presumption that women in the of Canadians), with First Nations living system, discourse surrounding sex trade are drug users and/or are being approximately eight times more environmental responsibility is cur- engaged in unprotected sex. Akin likely than other communities to be tailed. Examples include an inter- to the trend of under policing, Ab- on or near the proposed pipeline route view with a pipeline executive who original women are also more likely (Ray “Pipeline Development”). The attributes the higher levels of cancer to be over policed exacerbating this disproportionate impact of oil and in Fort Chipewyan to the fact that issue. For example, 34 percent of pipeline development on Indigenous “everyone there smokes and drinks, incarcerated women in Canada are communities, as Andrea Smith notes, [the] high radon gas exposure from Aboriginal, and in the last decade it just one instance of the widely the surrounding uranium minds, the increase in Aboriginal women documented vulnerability of margin- and the number of elderly residents” serving federal sentences has almost alized communities to environmental (Wyatt 64); and, the ongoing debate doubled in comparison to a less than destruction. The Church of Christ’s among regulators, government, and 30 percent increase for men during Toxic Wastes and Race 1987 report, companies about the appropriateness the same time period (Committee on as cited in Smith, found race as the of factoring climate change in pipeline the Elimination of Discrimination most statistically significant variable approval processes (e.g. Bakx). against Women 28). when locating commercial hazardous For women involved in prostitu- In the case of land, particularly in waste facilities (55). tion, their extreme treatment as a the north, landscapes are cast as “ac- A similar trend in regards to over- “thing” can be seen through under tive, wild, untamed, and often harsh representation exists for prostitution policing and disproportionate rates and even penetrative,” in need of con- as it is estimated that in Western of violence. When crimes have been quering by male tourists (Pritchard Canada the majority of women in committed against women involved and Morgan 897). More covert the sex trade are Aboriginal (Tot- in prostitution they are more likely to examples include public education ten and NWAC 14). Additionally, be unpursued and to go unpunished materials on bear safety or safe fish Aboriginal youth in Canada are (Phoenix; Sherman et al.). Between consumption which largely negate the thought to be overrepresented in 1991-2014, 34 percent of homicides structural and human-based reasons prostitution at rates of 14 percent of women in the sex trade remained (e.g. pollution, deforestation, envi- to 60 percent (Assistant Deputy unsolved in comparison to 20 percent ronmental policies) for the safety risk. Ministers’ Committee, 2001, cited in of homicides of women who were not While the above connections I Sethi) and 2006 Census data shows involved in the sex trade (Rotenberg). have made between prostitution, that despite comprising 3 percent of Moreover, being Aboriginal com- oil and pipeline development, and the adult population, 50-70 percent pounds under policing (e.g. HRW) domination are not new, they pro- of is engaged in by and the risk of violence. A study of vide a framework for understanding Aboriginal peoples in some cities (CE- 105 Aboriginal women involved in how both prostitution and oil and DAW). In the context of oil resource the sex trade found that they were pipeline development (re)assert do- development, this overrepresentation subject to extreme and frequent acts minion over Indigenous women and of violence may be even more severe, of violence (Farley et al.), whereas, land through their dehumanization, as one study found that in areas of between 1997 to 2014, Aboriginal objectification, secularization and Alberta where oil and mining flourish, women were over represented among othering, and thus are acts of violence. there is a higher density of Aboriginal homicides of women involved in the girls being trafficked (Sethi). sex trade, comprising over one third Oil and Pipeline Development, Andrea Smith illuminates this of homicide victims (Rotenberg). Prostitution, Indigenous Women, overrepresentation and the potential and Land correlation between oil and pipeline Women and Land Are Cast as Indigenous women and land are development and sexual exploita- Dangerous and in Need of disproportionately impacted by both tion of Indigenous women through Domination pipeline development and prosti- unpacking the relationship between Evidence of this can be found in tution. On or near the previously sexual violence and colonialism. She the over-policing of women involved proposed Energy East pipeline route shows that sexual violence elicits a in prostitution as the perpetrators that would have carried bitumen dominant response that is necessary

108 CANADIAN WOMAN STUDIES/LES CAHIERS DE LA FEMME to colonize people and lands, and women face and Mother Earth being oral communication present in social extract resources. In this worldview, continually subject to intrusive and and political environments enact and Indigenous women and the land are violent large-scale extractive activities. reproduce dominance, inequality, both seen as “inherently rapable” We are prime targets in the pursuit and power abuse (Dijk 352). The (10). This stance is shared by Robyn of domination: use of CDA within an Indigenous Bourgeois who posits that sexual context is particularly valuable. exploitation and violence against Indigenous women common- Critical Discourse Analysis asserts Indigenous women is necessary for ly experience human rights that recipients of discourse tend to the continuation of settler colonialism violations at the crossroads of accept the information provided to in which Canada has a vested interest. their individual and collective them. This is especially true if it is

While the connections … made between prostitution, oil and pipeline development, and domination are not new, they provide a framework for understanding how both prostitution and the oil and pipeline industry reproduce power constructs that elevate men above Indigenous women and land, and thus are acts of violence.

In addition, a study conducted by identities. Environmental pol- from a source deemed trustworthy, Melissa Farley and colleagues found lution and the destruction of if people are unaware of the larger that 62 percent of participants (who ecosystems are good examples context of the issues, and if it does were Aboriginal women involved of such violations, as they un- not contradict personal beliefs and in the sex trade), saw a connection dermine indigenous peoples’ experiences (Nesler et al. cited in between prostitution and coloniza- control of and access to their Dijk 357). tion, and felt that the devaluation lands and resources and often For many Canadians, there is still a of women in prostitution and the compromise women’s ability to lack of awareness about the structural devaluation of Aboriginal peoples take care of their children and and historical oppressions that have were one in the same. families due to health problems, occurred within the country, and as As an Anishinaabe woman, the contamination, displacement, a result lack context surrounding the link between violence, Indigenous and increased violence. (Kuok- tensions that exist between Indige- women and resource development kanen 231-2) nous-settler relations (See Godlewska, comes as no surprise to me. From an Moore, and Badnasek; Sloan Morgan Anishinaabe worldview, the earth is Having shown that prostitution and Castleden). Monique Woroniak our mother, and we, as women, share and oil and pipeline development and David Camfield note that this much in common with her. What I reproduce power relations that are tends to be true even in struggles have been taught is that akin to Moth- essential to dominate women and against capitalism, which all too often er Earth, we have responsibilities as land, respectively, I will use critical lose sight of struggles against colo- life-givers, caretakers, and teachers discourse analysis to identify and nialism. Further to this, encompassed within our own communities and expose covert themes of domination in the term “white fragility,” many nations. With these responsibilities, which attempt to situate prostitution Canadians possess an expectation Indigenous women and Mother Earth and oil and pipeline development of racial comfort alongside a low are integral to the governance and as an antithesis to domination and tolerance for racial stress (DiAngelo) wellness of Indigenous communities. violence, in turn necessitating further and take for granted a certain set Historically Indigenous women held violence and settler colonialism of ideologies and worldview which power related to the distribution of are privileged within our society. resources like Mother Earth, howev- Critical Discourse Analysis Indigenous scholars such as Linda er, both are increasingly challenged Tuhiwai Smith have pointed at the in their role to govern as evidenced Critical Discourse Analysis was academy’s euro-centricity and urged in the disproportionately high rates formed to provide a mechanism to the Indigenization of the academy. of violence and poverty Indigenous study the ways in which written and While as an approach, CDA re-

VOLUME 33, NUMBERS 1,2 109 mains relatively flexible, a fundamen- of the objectification and essentialism Premier of New Brunswick, Frank tal requirement of Critical Discourse that critics of eco- have McKenna had said that the then Analysis is the recognition that un- warned about (Carlassare). Vanessa proposed Energy East pipeline route derlying assumptions and structures Watts expands on this argument in to transport bitumen “helps Eastern must be exposed and become explicit. her discussion about Haudenosaunee Canada rid itself of its dependency on Thus, critical discourse analysts ac- and Anishinaabe creation stories foreign supplies of oil that often come knowledge that nothing, including which ingrain within a worldview the from countries with considerable in- scholarly discourse, is without value. concept of land as feminine: stability and values that are not ours” Instead of ignoring inherent struc- (Np). In this juxtaposition, Canadian tures, analysts make their role explicit However, essentializing catego- oil sands operations are characterized and seek to understand, expose, and ries of Indigenous cosmologies as “just, legal, and fairly monitored” resist social inequality (Dijk 352). should not be measured against (Wyatt 45). This approach is consistent with the products of EuroWestern Fraser, Mannani, and Stefanick an Anishinaabe relational worldview mistakes. Nor should Indigenous identify a similar argument in a 2011 in which it is customary to share peoples be the inheritors of these Fraser Institute report. The report your social location when engaged mistakes. Rather, to decolonize positions Canadian oil as a more in knowledge production and dis- or access the pre-colonial mind, ethical choice, based on a number semination so that others can situate our histories (not our lore) of indicators including rights and what you have shared within a web should be understood as they freedoms, claiming that Canadian of relationships (Ray and Cormier). were intended in order for us women are “free,” unlike Iranian I have approached this analysis as an to be truly agent beings. To dis- women (175). The authors argue Anishinaabe woman whose Tradi- engage with essentialism means that this is presumptuous and does tional territory encompasses lands we run the risk of disengaging not mean that oil production has a on and surrounding Lake Superior. from the land. (31-32) differential impact on the equality of Opwaaganasiniing has been subject women around the globe. They point to numerous current and proposed A Critical Analysis of to similar performances by Iran and development projects, including the Contemporary Discourse Canada on various equality indicators previously proposed Energy East such as levels of education, health pipeline. This pipeline would have Through a critical analysis of dis- service delivery, and labour oppor- run directly through my Traditional course related to prostitution and tunities as well as reported accounts territory, infringing upon my In- oil and pipeline development, I have of male-dominated organizational digenous rights. I have experienced identified the following three themes: cultures in the pipeline industry, and multiple expressions of violence and 1) The domestic nature of Indigenous documented gender inequality related have observed multiple expressions women’s bodies and lands makes their to wages and flexibility for childcare. of violence through my work with use ethical; 2) The use of Indigenous Characterizing this androcentric an Indigenous women’s organization. women’s bodies and lands supports culture as “frontier masculinity,” I have also had access to privileged self-determination; and, 3) Pipelines Sara Dorow explains that gendered information about the violence expe- and prostitution enrich the lives of practices and normative kinship are rienced by Indigenous women who Indigenous women. I demonstrate paramount to the business of oil ex- are involved in the sex trade. that these themes, while covert, traction, and that oil companies may For these reasons, I have found presented through an ethical and be well aware of such (276). The Big the theoretical underpinnings of rights-based framework, perpetuate Spirit Campaign, for instance, links eco-feminism, which identify women the domination of Indigenous women family and community prosperity to as synonymous with land, resonant and lands. oil to counter the “negative reputation and have used it in my analysis. As Fort McMurray had gained as a barely I have shown elsewhere (Ray I Am The Domestic Nature of liveable boomtown of raucous single Turtle Woman), in the Anishinaabe Indigenous Women’s Bodies and men” (276). worldview, the role of life-giver, both Lands Makes Their Use Ethical The corollary that domestic is eth- biologically and metaphorically, is a A strategy used to support oil and ical can also be found in the sex trade sacred and spiritual responsibility. pipeline development in Canada is as Aboriginal women’s experiences in Only when this is understood outside to position Alberta oils sands in jux- prostitution are often approached of a relational worldview is it in danger taposition to foreign oil. The former through a choice-based lens as a means

110 CANADIAN WOMAN STUDIES/LES CAHIERS DE LA FEMME to forward a rights-based agenda: cluding Canada’s absence of measures meeting was entirely focused on in- to alleviate poverty and address the ternational , and when While we might understand socio-economic status of Indigenous I began to speak about Indigenous the historic factors, including women which “significantly con- women I was told that it was outside of policies, stereotypes, and the tributes to the perpetuation of their the confines of our discussion despite dehumanization of Indigenous vulnerability to prostitution and its the fact that most sex trafficking cases people, as conditioning the negative effects” (CEDAW 30-31). in Canada are domestic. overrepresentation of Indige- A choice/rights based discourse par- Whether it be oil and pipeline de- nous women in sex work, we adoxically also attempts to propose a velopment or prostitution in Canada, cannot see these things as pre- solution within the structure of the the common discourse put forward is

Indigenous women’s experiences become conflated with all experiences in the despite the fact that Indigenous women are over represented in extreme forms such as street prostitution, are more likely to experience violence or be murdered while in the sex trade, and are subject to severe forms of systemic oppression which greatly limit choice.

determining or overdetermining liberal democracy (Trauger), which that both are ethical because they oc- Indigenous women’s fates such gains its legitimization through settler cur in a context (Canada) that respects that they become stripped of colonialism and the domination of individual rights and agency. This their agency. (Hunt 35) women and lands. in turn provides justification for the Consequentially, transformative occupation of Indigenous lands and I contend that this choice/rights based change is unforeseeable and the women in ways that are increasingly approach situates Indigenous wom- thought of domestic trafficking be- violent. When we put this rhetoric en’s experiences in the sex trade as eth- comes inconceivable. Despite the fact within a larger socio-political context ical. In doing so, Indigenous women’s that Aboriginal women are at a greater we see how in fact the opposite is experiences become conflated with all risk of being sex trafficked, they are true and that freedom and agency are experiences in the sex industry despite often not viewed within this lens (Sik- severely constrained, perpetuating a the fact that Indigenous women are ka 1-2). In Farley et al.’s study of Ab- cycle of domination. over represented in extreme forms original women in the sex trade, half such as street prostitution, are more of the women who participated were The Use of Indigenous likely to experience violence or be found to meet the legal definition of Women’s Bodies and Lands murdered while in the sex trade, and sex trafficking. Moreover, Canada Support Self-determination are subject to severe forms of systemic has been critiqued internationally for As an intensification of the above, oppression which greatly limit choice. insufficiently addressing the issue of this theme presents the option to Anette Sikka explains that the trafficking of Indigenous women in see the use of Indigenous lands and overrepresentation of Aboriginal their National Action Plan to Combat women as an expression of “self-de- women in the sex trade is viewed as a Trafficking (e.g. CEDAW) while as termination” and “nation-building.” “natural consequence of her life story” of 2016, Ontario was still without a Claims of prostitution as self-deter- when in reality it is directly related provincial trafficking strategy despite mination can be found in Aboriginal to the systemic oppression Indige- having high rates of violence against and outreach program that nous peoples have faced, including Indigenous women and the highest operate under a sex workers’ rights colonization, residential schools, number of trafficking offences in framework that claims a place in and community breakdown (1-2). the country (ONWA). My own the broader struggle for Indigenous In addition to denying the structural observation also corroborates this rights, self-determination and sov- role that Canada has played in the understanding. On one occasion, I ereignty (Muelen, Lee, and Durisin domination of Indigenous women, attended a provincial-level meeting cited in Hunt 91). For example, the this discourse makes the continued on sex trafficking and was the only Native Youth Sexual Health Network complacency of the state invisible, in- Indigenous person in the room. The notes that “self-determination exists

VOLUME 33, NUMBERS 1,2 111 in the everyday work of tution enact traditional Indigenous First Nations in those treaties histor- our bodies,” whereas the organization beliefs about sex such as openness ically were never fully honoured and POWER and Maggie’s state that sex and autonomy, and in the process remain unhonoured today. work can “restore a sense of auton- re-assert a traditional identity work Contrary to this discourse, pipe- omy to those who have experienced to naturalize the embedded hierarchy line and oil companies and/or energy certain forms of oppression” (3). In of power Not only does this discourse regulators have faced numerous an extension of this discourse, the neglect the drastic changes in gender legal challenges by First Nations on agenda of nationhood is sometimes relations and Indigenous-settler the grounds of their infringement tied to cultural identity, enacted in relations shaped by patriarchal colo- on Aboriginal, Treaty and/or Title the sex trade by the display of cultural nization and insinuate culture as the rights (e.g. Tsleil-Waututh Nation; traits such as autonomy and openness. reason for the over representation of Aroland First Nation; Ginoogaming As demonstrated above, social Indigenous women in the sex trade it First Nation) and the freedom for and political structures have placed also distorts Indigenous concepts of Indigenous peoples to assert agen- constraints on Indigenous women sexuality with western patriarchal val- cy in relation to oil and pipeline that make choice difficult, let alone ues. This negatively impacts cultural development in their territories is self-determination. Melissa Farley sovereignty-an arguable precursor severely constrained. The two exam- (“”) explains that and necessity for self-determination ples that follow clearly demonstrate the conditions required for genuine (Gross). how Indigenous peoples, contrary consent include physical safety, equal Joe Dion, a member of Frog Lake to claims of self-determination, are power, and viable alternatives that First Nation and oil producer puts forced to negotiate the protection are rarely present. Aboriginal women forth a nation-building argument of their Aboriginal, Treaty, and Title are particularly impacted as they are in relation to oil and pipeline de- rights in the face of oil and pipeline more likely to experience extreme velopment: “We’ve got to have this development in a precarious and poverty and are disproportionately access so we can build this country, severely constrained state: represented in street prostitution, at and this is a time for First Nations times comprising more than 70 per- to take lead. And we will” (Canada’s The previous Conservative cent of the population. In reality, the pro-pipeline). In a similar vein, Government’s Anti-Terrorist Act false “choice” paradigm is oppressive Frank McKenna has proclaimed (Bill C-51), which was supported to Indigenous women and detracts that the Energy East project is the by the Liberal party, passed under from the larger social and political new Canadian railway, and “nation the premise that it would work structures that re-create power rela- building at its very best.” McKenna’s to protect Canadians and assure tions (Smith, A. 100). reference to the railway is telling be- their freedom yet it has been Instead of promoting self-deter- cause of its historical role in “nation repeatedly cited by Indigenous mination, the sex trade has been building” through dominance over a activists as a mechanism to “stifle a site where the ongoing legacy of particular group or land. In 2006, the opposition to oil pipelines” and colonization continues. The over then Prime Minister, Stephen Harper suppress assertion of Aboriginal representation of Indigenous women issued an apology to the families of and Treaty rights. (“RCMP in the sex trade supports a hierarchy Chinese workers for practices that planning”) (Barry). In this hierarchy of race, were racist and exclusionary. During Indigenous becomes the consumed the construction of the railway, These concerns are warranted as and non-Indigenous the consumer. Chinese workers were brought to the Bill “criminalizes protests that Such an arrangement is a necessity Canada and faced low wages and may be seen as interfering with ‘the of settler colonialism and is one that unsafe working conditions, which economic or financial stability of has been central to the ongoing oc- injured and killed hundreds. Once Canada’” and has already been assert- cupation of Indigenous lands by the the railway was complete, and there ed in relation to First Nation protests Canadian State (Bourgeois). Through was no longer the same need for over oil development (“RCMP plan- this discourse of self-determination, immigrant labour, a head tax was ning”). Precluding the bill, project this hierarchy of power becomes nor- imposed on Chinese people to re- SITKA became operational in 2014. malized and Indigenous women are strict immigration (Oh). The railway Under the purview of the RCMP, the positioned as complicit in the settler also facilitated expansion and was a project investigated and catalogued colonial project. key stimulus for the treaty-making 313 Indigenous activists based on a Furthermore, claims that prosti- process. The agreements made with “perceived potential threat that their

112 CANADIAN WOMAN STUDIES/LES CAHIERS DE LA FEMME expression might pose to the state” Underdevelopment references the skills training programs (Lahey cited (“CJFE condemns project SITKA”). notion that Indigenous peoples and in Fraser, Mannani and Stefanick). In some instances, profiles which lands are lacking in some degree. In reference to my own community included detailed personal informa- Conceptualized as an individual and the previously proposed Energy tion such as photographs, birthdates, deficit, this “lack” can be attributed to East pipeline, TransCanada cites phone numbers, email addresses, structural inequities and/or cultural its commitment to “community vehicles driven, and mobility were differences that Eurocentric thinking investment, capacity development, created and likely shared among law devalues. Corporations want to ap- and economic opportunities.” Yet enforcement and industry partners propriate Indigenous lands that from the pipeline, if it had moved forward, (“RCMP tracked”). their perspective are not properly “de- could have jeopardized our commu-

In oil and pipeline and prostitution discourses of nation building and self- determination one must pose the critical question of whose nation building and self-determination interests are being served. Such discourses … conceal the domination of Indigenous women and lands by the settler state, reproducing the conditions necessary for settler colonialism to persist.

In oil and pipeline and prostitu- veloped” or not “properly subdue[d],” nities’ ability to participate in tourism tion discourses of nation building (Smith, A. 56) and Indigenous and the enviro-tech industry which and self-determination one must peoples want to ensure that the land were identified as high investment pose the critical question of whose remains suitable for hunting, fishing, opportunity areas in an economic de- nation building and self-determina- and other sustenance purposes. We see velopment feasibility study (Millier, tion interests are being served. Such this in Indigenous peoples’ opposition Dickinson, Blais Consulting). discourses only work to conceal the to pipeline development throughout Dependency theorists are among domination of Indigenous women Canada because of the direct impact the many who have critiqued a and lands by the settler state, repro- it can have on forest and freshwater modernist approach to community ducing the conditions necessary for foods and quality of life. development, and have showcased settler colonialism to persist. A strategy to address this per- how neoliberal conceptions of devel- ceived “underdevelopment” is to opment have dismantled community Pipelines and Prostitution Enrich cast Indigenous peoples themselves economic and governance structures the Lives of Indigenous Women as “underdeveloped” in an attempt and placed communities in a state of Common discourse positions oil to facilitate a paradigm shift that dependency. Brenda Parlee explains and pipeline development as an mandates compliance with resource that Indigenous communities in economic stimulus that enriches development. This is commonly Alberta suffer ecologically and so- the lives of Indigenous peoples and pitched as the need to build capacity cio-economically at a disproportion- communities. I observed this first and stimulate job creation for Indig- ate rate due to resource development hand at pipeline development en- enous peoples. For example, one oil and through her use of a capitals gagement sessions which promised executive characterized Aboriginal framework to examine the impacts jobs, both direct and indirect, as peoples as lacking “business skills” of the oil industry on Indigenous well as the potential for political and “right-brained,” while another communities in North Alberta, leverage and infrastructure dollars referred to a job creation opportunity concludes that characteristics of the to address failings among other as “affirmative action for Aborigi- “resource curse,” an inverse relation- industry partners and government. nals” (Wyatt 46-7). Like Indigenous ship between resource abundance and While at face value this discourse peoples, women are also viewed as community economic development appears to advocate for a basic underdeveloped, with economic and growth, are present (433). standard of living for Indigenous opportunities in the oil industry Like oil and pipeline development, peoples, clandestinely the narrative dependent on additional education, prostitution is also framed as a way for reads that Indigenous peoples and childcare, healthcare, transportation, women to enrich their lives by earn- lands are underdeveloped. housing, employment equality, and ing a wage, “sex work can empower

VOLUME 33, NUMBERS 1,2 113 women…by providing them financial someone access to your body in References security” (POWER and Maggie’s 3). exchange for food to eat or a place Popularized is the argument that to sleep. In both scenarios violence Bakx, Kyle. “NEB changes stance, the sex trade allows women to have is conditioned as a predicate of life may consider GHGs in pipeline job flexibility and earn money in a enrichment, including fulfillment of proposals.” CBC News, 14 short amount of time. This discourse basic needs. November 2015. Web. 14 Nov. negates the conversation that society 2015. has created a hierarchical system Conclusion Barry, Kathleen. The Prostitution of that deems certain segments of the Sexuality. New York: New York population as “underdeveloped.” From an Anishinaabe point of view, University Press, 1995. Print. Nuclear energy has employed similar women and land hold innate value. Bourgeois, Robyn. “Colonial messaging, insisting that if not for Both are considered sacred and we Exploitation: The Canadian State nuclear energy “life [would be] full have a responsibility to treat them and the Trafficking of Indigenous of drudgery” for women and “lives with the utmost respect. To support Women and Girls in Canada.” would be miserable (or more misera- and perpetuate this understanding, UCLA Law Review 1426 (2015): ble) for those who are considered less the Anishinaabek as well as other 1426-1463. Print. than equals (Nelson 295). Indigenous peoples had extensive “Canada’s pro-pipeline First Nations.” This stance induces Indigenous social structures and traditional BBC, December 7, 2016. Web. 15 women’s susceptibility to exploitation economies in place. However, these Jan. 2018 and domination. The coupling of were disrupted with the onset of Carlassare, Elizabeth. “Essentialism social hierarchy with the legitima- colonialism. The capitalist economy in Ecofeminist Discourse.” Ecology: tization of prostitution as a source today requires the persistence of patri- Key Concepts in Critical Theory. Ed. of income provides a framework for archal and colonial relations to sustain Carolyn Merchant. New Jersey: social coercion in which marginal- continuous growth. Continuing the Humanity Books, 1994. 220-234. ized groups, including Indigenous dispossession, poverty exploitation, Print. women, are placed into a category and degradation of women and land Chignall, Selina. “Ambrose says where prostitution becomes their are essential for this project (Shiva 11). Energy East pipeline debate most acceptable and viable option The state also has a vested interest, is ‘affecting national unity.’” for economic stimulus. For example, as its legitimacy is predicated on the iPOLITICS, 25 January 2016. in Germany women were concerned domination of Indigenous women Web. 13 Jan. 2018. that they would lose their welfare and lands. “CJFE condemns project SITKA, benefits if they were unwilling to Prostitution and oil and pipeline targeted surveillance of Indigineous work in the sex trade (Hall cited in development function as sites that land leaders.” Canadian Journalists Farley and Lynne). support the practice of dominance for Free Expression, 09 Nov. 2016. While in public discourse the word and thus violence. Through discourse Web. underdeveloped is replaced by buzz analysis, I have shown that a covert Committee on the Elimination of words such as “capacity building,” process of power reproduction can be Discrimination against Women “financial security,” “community in- masked and facilitated by invocations (CEDAW). “Report of the In- frastructure projects,” “impact benefit of “ethics,” “rights,” and “enrichment quiry Concerning Canada of the agreements,” or “empowerment” the and capacity.” Thus, such discourse Committee on the Elimination of bottom line is that Indigenous wom- must be understood and examined Discrimination against Women en, land, and communities are seen within a historical and wholistic under Article 8 of the Optional as “deficient” or “underdeveloped,” framework that recognizes social and Protocol to the Convention on and as such are not innately deserv- political power. the Elimination of All Forms of ing of the security and benefits that Discrimination against Women.” the majority of Canadians naturally Lana Ray is an Anishnaabe woman 2015. United Nations. Web. enjoy. This could be in the form from Opwaaganasiniing. She holds a Council of Canadians. “Will your of providing companies consent to Master’s Degree in Public Health and community be affected by the engage in resource development on a PhD in Indigenous Studies. She is an energy east pipeline?” Web. 25 traditional lands to gain access to Assistant Professor in the Department Jan. 2016. basic infrastructure such as roads or of Indigenous Learning at Lakehead DiAngelo, Robin. “White Fragility.” clean water, or it could mean giving University. International Journal of Critical

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