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Warrior Women: Indigenous Women's Anti-Violence

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Warrior Women: Indigenous Women's Anti-Violence WARRIOR WOMEN: INDIGENOUS WOMEN’S ANTI-VIOLENCE ENGAGEMENT WITH THE CANADIAN STATE by Robyn Sanderson Bourgeois A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Social Justice Education University of Toronto © Copyright by Robyn Sanderson Bourgeois, 2014 Warrior women: Indigenous women’s anti-violence engagement with the Canadian state Robyn Sanderson Bourgeois Doctor of Philosophy Department of Social Justice Education University of Toronto 2014 Abstract This study examines indigenous women’s involvement in state-sponsored anti- violence responses since the 1980s. It focuses on three fields of political engagement: (1) the Canadian state politics of family violence; (2) the Native Women’s Association of Canada’s (NWAC) “Sisters in Spirit” (SIS) initiative and the politics of missing and murdered Aboriginal women and girls; and (3) the politics of prostitution and the Missing Women Commission of Inquiry. Overall, I argue that despite navigating a complex and colonizing political terrain largely out of their control, indigenous women have been “warrior women,” advancing strong anti-colonial anti-violence responses that support the end goal of ending violence against indigenous women and girls in Canada. I also explore how indigenous women have sometimes employed political discourses and strategies that while appearing to offer a valid pathway of resistance, replicate dominant discourses and strategies and, thus, serve to undermine these efforts by securing the colonial Canadian state’s authority over indigenous peoples and territories and, therefore, the persistence of violence against indigenous women and girls in Canada. To reinforce both of these claims, this study ii addresses reception: that is, I argue that the Canadian state’s responses to violence against indigenous women and girls have been driven by self-interest and state political agendas which, because of the adversarial nature of colonial domination, rarely coincide with the interests or needs of indigenous women and their communities. Furthermore, I show that the state’s response to indigenous women’s anti-violence resistance can be favorable when it can be reconciled with its self-interest and political agendas, but quickly moves to appropriation and suppression if these anti-violence politics threaten Canadian state dominance. iii Acknowledgements This thesis is the outcome of a remarkable personal journey, but one that would not have been possible without the tireless and unwavering support of many. To each of them I wish to offer my most heartfelt gratitude and respect. It has truly been an honour to be mentored by my supervisor, Dr. Sherene Razack. She gave selflessly of her expertise and experience; and like a patient midwife, she nurtured me and this thesis through a long and sometimes difficult and painful birth. Thank you Sherene for always believing in me, and always believing in this thesis. Dr. Jean-Paul Restoule went above and beyond as a member of my doctoral committee, and his support literally changed the course of my life. Thank you Jean-Paul for being the first to hear my truth and showing me it was ok to speak it. Chi-Miigwetch! Thank you to Dr. Martin Cannon for serving as my third committee and providing feedback on the development of this thesis. It was an honour to have Dr. Joyce Green serve as an external examiner, and Dr. Abigail Bakan serve as internal-external examiner for this thesis and its defense. Thank you for your careful reviews of my thesis, your insightful suggestions for future development of this work, and your support and encouragement. None of this would’ve been possible without the generous support of my family. Thank you to my children, Raylena and Marvel, for sharing me with this thesis. I love you both with all my heart. Thank you to my partner, Aaron M. Henry, for bringing laughter permanently into my life. The joy you bring me nurtured my soul through the darkest days of writing this thesis. Thank you to the Henry clan – Mike, Janace, Ciss, Matt, Sloan, Bobby, Alicia, and Reggy – for adopting me as family and providing me with a home away from home. A special thank you to Janace and Alicia for providing essential childcare and house cleaning services while I worked on this thesis. Thank you to my thesis buddy Adrianne Lickers for loving me and supporting me unconditionally. Thank you to Momma Kitty Lickers for taking me under your wing and loving me like one of your own. Thank you to my dad, Lawrence Bourgeois, for always believing I was something special and pushing me to be the best Einy I could be. Thank you to my brother, Brad Bourgeois, for always being so proud of me! I hope you know how proud I am of the man you are becoming. Much love to Avalon Bayliss for being an ardent supporter! Thank you to my nieces – Emily, Brooklyn, Madi, Elexciss, and Myiah – for all their love and support. Finally, I want to offer the deepest gratitude to my mom, Jane Bourgeois, for being my biggest cheerleader and as invested in this thesis as I was. I couldn’t have done this without you Mom, and it is to you that I dedicate this thesis. Thank you for sharing this experience with me. Thank you to Sumaya Ahmed, Josephine Chan, Laura Holland, Kate Rexe O’Connor, and Thomas Saczkowski for reading and providing feedback on draft chapters of this thesis. Much gratitude to Christine Andrews for providing transcription services, and thanks to the Women Gender Studies Institute (WGSI) of the University of Toronto for the research assistantship funding that made this possible. Thank you to Wayne Ashton, Shalla Baran, Sherri Battagin, Black Coffee Poet, Angelo Cerase, Christina Coolidge, June Garcia, Tim Gauthier, Katharine Irngaut, Fred Kimber, Dr. Rauna Kuokkanen, Brynne McCleod, iv Michaela McMahon, Alisha Mills, Dr. Lena Palacios, Naomi Peters, Tanya Todd (a.k.a.: Mackerel Wife), Celina Westoby, Jaime Wood, and Allison Zumbo for your friendship and support! Thank you to Dr. Nancy Netting for being an important mentor and supporter throughout my academic career. Many thanks to my colleagues at OISE/UT, especially Dr. Lynn Caldwell, Carol Lynne D’Arcangelis, Tammy George, Dr. Carrianne Leung, Dr. Sheryl Nestel, and Shaista Patel. Thank you to my students for bringing so much joy into my life! This thesis benefitted from the generous financial support of several institutions. Thank you to the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada for providing a three-year Canadian graduate scholarship. Thank you to the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education and the University of Toronto for funding through the Academic Excellence Award. Thank you to the School of Graduate Studies of the University of Toronto for providing a travel grant that made my fieldwork in Vancouver possible. Finally, I want to express my deepest gratitude to those “warrior women” who participated in this study: Fay Blaney, Jessica Yee Danforth, Marlene George, Laura Holland, Carrie Humchitt, Beverly Jacobs, Kate Rexe O’Connor, Gladys Radek, Skundaal (Bernie Williams), Waabnong Kwe (Amber O’Hara), and those who participated anonymously. It has been the highest honour to learn from such warriors. This thesis is an honour song to all indigenous women and girls. It is an honour song for the missing and murdered, and those who have and continue to be brutalized by all forms of violence. It is an honour song for all survivors of violence, including families, friends, and communities. It is an honour song for the indigenous “warrior women” who fight at the frontlines of the battle against violence against indigenous women and girls. It is also a prayer for our daughters and grand daughters: may we keep up the fight so that they might know a future without violence. v Table of Contents Abstract……………………………………………………………………………...........ii Acknowledgements ……………………………………………………………………...iv Table of Contents…………………………………………………………………...........vi List of Appendices………………………………………………………………............vii Chapter One – Warrior women: An introduction…………………………………….1 A women’s warrior song: Indigenous women’s contemporary anti-violence resistance…1 Indigenous women and the Canadian state: Framing the current study ……………….....6 Statement of thesis and outline of chapters………………………………………………11 Notes on terminology and usage…………………………………………………………15 Chapter Two – Indigenous women and state-sponsored anti-violence responses: Theoretical foundations, methodological approaches……………...18 Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………...18 Governmentality – Theorizing the state as an expression of power……………………..19 Settler colonialism and governmentality: Dominating indigenous peoples and lands…..28 Our [stolen] home and [on] native land – The contemporary Canadian state as a settler colonial state…………………………………………………………………………..35 Partners in settler colonial crime: The Canadian state politics of neoliberalism and neoconservativism…………………………………………………………………….50 An abusive state: The contemporary Canadian state and violence against indigenous women and girls………………………………………………………………………56 State-sponsored anti-violence responses…………………………………………………66 Theorizing indigenous women’s political anti-violence resistance……………………...75 Studying indigenous women’s anti-violence engagement with the Canadian state: Research design and methodology …………………………………………………...80 Chapter Three – “All my relations”: Indigenous women and the state politics of family violence………………………………………………………..95 Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………..95 Theorizing
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