The Regina Native Women's Group (1971-1986)

LIBERATING COMMUNITY EDUCATION AND SOCIAL CHANGE : THE REGINA NATIVE WOMEN'S GROUP (1971-1986) A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Education in the Department of Communications, Continuing and Vocational Education University of Saskatchewan by Anne-Marie DiLella Saskatoon, Saskatchewan c . 1989 A . DiLella 0 The author has agreed that the Library, University of. Saskatchewan, may make this thesis freely available for inspection . Moreover, the author has agreed that permission for extensive copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the professor or professors who supervised the thesis work recorded herein or, in their absence, by the Head of the Department or the Dean of the College in which the thesis work was done . It is understood that due recognition will be given to the author of this thesis and to the University of Saskatchewan in any use of the material in this thesis . Copying or publication or any other use of the thesis for financial gain without approval by the University of Saskatchewan and the author's written permission is prohibited . Requests for permission to copy or to make any other use of material in this thesis in whole or in part should be addressed to : Head of the Department of Communications, Continuing, and Vocational Education University of Saskatchewan SASKATOON, Canada S7N OWO ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my committee, Robert Carlson, chairperson . Irene Poelzer, co-chairperson and Adrian Blunt for the encouragement, advice and continued guidance given by them during the researching and writing of this thesis . There are others to whom I would like to extend my gratitude . I would like to thank Michael Collins, who participated on the committee during the early stages of the thesis, for his continued interest in my area of research . I would like to . thank those members of the Regina Native Women's Group for their interest and participation in this research : Donna Pinay, Debbie Pinay, Rhoda Fisher, Sue Deranger, Pat Desjarlais, Wendy Lavallee, Eileen McAllister, David Pawliw, Leona Blondeau, Georgina Fisher and Ruth Blaser . I would like to thank Diana Ralph, whose friendship and unending encouragement gave me the strength to challenge difficult times and to complete this thesis . Much thanks is also extended to my friends and colleagues in the Grad room : Jan MacKenzie, Margaret Thompson, Dilys Collier and Lois Berry . I would particularly like to thank Madeleine Butschler and Don Plum for sharing with me their thesis experiences over lunches and coffee . I would like to express my appreciation to my immediate family, Ann and Alfred DiLella and to my brother and three sisters . Their support and love were indispensible to iii the completion of this thesis . Finally, would like to express my gratitude to those who partook in the word processing . Shirley Vizer spent many long dedicated hours on the computer reading, editing and typing . She worked with me during panic deadlines and helped to motivate me when I thought the thesis would never reach completion . Also much thanks to Ken Collier who helped me with the word processing during the final stages of this thesis . iv ABSTRACT This thesis examines and interprets a social movement organization, the Regina Native Women's Group, as an organization that uses liberating community education as a method of improving the social, economic, cultural and political conditions of Native women and their families in the city of Regina . The study focusses on the issues of the housing and community-living crises that developed in Regina during the 1970's to portray the Group's utilization of liberating community education . The study examines factors such as racial and gender oppression, co-option by the state and dilemmas within the Regina Native Women's Group that often hindered it from obtaining social change . As well, the support that the organization received from grassroots organizations and society's institutions that enabled change to occur is also examined . v TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii ABSTRACT v TABLE OF CONTENTS vi CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1 II . ADULT EDUCATION AND SOCIAL MOVEMENTS 13, III . THE CANADIAN NATIVE WOMEN'S MOVEMENT : AN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE 52 IV . COMMUNITY EDUCATION AND SOCIAL ACTION : THE HOUSING AND COMMUNITY-LIVING CRISIS 96 V . THE STRUGGLE FOR SOCIAL CHANGE 141 VI . SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 193 APPENDIX . 211 SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 218 vi CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION The Native Women's Movement emerged in Canadian society during the 1960's . To date no research has been conducted on this movement, nor has it been acknowledged as a social movement in Canadian society that advocates the use of education as an agent for obtaining social change . The intent of this thesis is examine and interpret one of the Movement's organizations, the Regina Native Women's Group, as an organization that uses liberating community education as a method of improving the social, economic, cultural and political conditions of Native women and their families in the city of Regina . Community education delivered through state institutions is not always relevant to certain sectors of the population such as the working class, poor and some minority groups . When programs and services are irrelevant, people tend not to participate in the democratic processes of community life that may enhance personal growth and community advancement . The lack of involvement by certain sectors of the population is often a result of institutions of the state and society failing to recognize inequities in terms of income, access to educational opportunities and political power . The inability to acknowledge discrepancies in society often results in the state and its institutions failing to meet the needs of 1 2 oppressed groups and serving mainly those who profit from the status quo . Where state institutions have failed to meet the needs of the working class, poor and minority groups, a radical approach to community education has at times been used to inspire people to participate more fully in community life for the purpose of improving the quality of their lives . In this approach adult education is the "arm of radical social action" 1 and becomes a "radical force seeking to make a major impact on society ." 2 At the foundation of this approach there is a belief that adult education has a role as instigator or supporter of change . Community education used as a vehicle to initiate social change is referred to in the literature of adult education as liberating community education . It is a process or a practice whereby oppressed groups and educators work together . They mobilize and organize themselves to challenge what they view as the injustices of the social order . The process of becoming aware of one's situation in the social and historical environment has been termed conscientization . 3 Adult educators who work for the liberation of the oppressed believe that conscientization makes personal and collective liberation possible . As the oppressed become aware of the injustices inherent in the social order, they develop a critical perspective . This understanding of reality empowers oppressed groups to take action to challenge institutions of the state 3 and of the society and to work for reforms that will improve the quality of life . Liberating community education is used to confront the injustices resulting from such social realities as racism, sexism, unemployment, inadequate housing, limited recreational opportunities and cultural impoverishment . Community education and community action are intertwined in this approach to the pursuit of social justice . Community members direct the processes that lead to the establishment of programs and services to meet community needs . Educational resources and services are mobilized to inform, strengthen and develop processes and programs that will bring about desired social change . Community education is the educational process participants engage in to identify needs, work out problems, mobilize resources and plan programs that will initiate changes for the improvement of community life . This process helps to "promote, sustain, support, and maintain community . action ."4 Community action is the strategies, programs and services developed . from the educational process of people acting in concert to obtain social change . Community education, used as a vehicle to alter the structures and attitudes of society for the purpose of obtaining improvements in the quality of life for a disadvantaged group, is not a new phenomenon . Where community education is used to empower groups to take action to obtain social change, it is associated with a grassroots social 4 movement . It is a community education movement that is closely linked to organizations at the community level . Together the campaign and its organizations work at obtaining change . The movement provides a philosophy and an evangelical fervour, mobilizes individuals to become committed, develops solidarity and inspires action at the community level . The movement's organizations attempt to educate its participants and society about the issues of concern and initiate action to obtain the desired change . Examples of social movements that use education as an agent for social change are found throughout the history of adult education . The folk high school movement that began in Denmark in 1844 championed the cause of the people in their struggle against foreign landlords and against the aping of these foreigners by the indigenous nobility . Throughout the nineteenth century twenty-six such schools taught Danish history, religion and language to preserve Danish culture against the inroads of the German invaders . The schools adopted unconventional means of educating their participants . Learning was carried out through group dialogue to enable people to become aware of injustices and to take action against' an oppressive system . 5 Many of the principles of the folk school movement were adopted by Myles Horton, an educator who taught among the poor in the southern United States .

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