WORK, INCLUSION and 2SLGBTQ+ PEOPLE in SUDBURY and WINDSOR Suzanne Mills Mcmaster University
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WORK, INCLUSION AND 2SLGBTQ+ PEOPLE IN SUDBURY AND WINDSOR Suzanne Mills McMaster University Benjamin Owens McMaster University Adrian Guta University of Windsor Nathaniel Lewis University of Southampton Natalie Oswin University of Toronto July 15, 2020 Research partners: Adriane Paavo, United Steelworkers Sarah McCue, Unifor Mélodie Bérubé*, Sudbury Workers Education and Advocacy Centre Paul Chislett, Windsor Workers Education Centre Community advisors & contributors: Bobby Jay Aubin, Derrick Carl Biso, Dani Bobb, Vincent Bolt, Lynne Descary, Debra Dumouchelle, Dana Dunphy, Mel Jobin, Paul Pasanen Research assistance: John Antoniw*, Lee Czechowski, Angela Di Nello, Laurel O’Gorman*, Leah McGrath Reynolds, Kai Squires Special thanks to Randy Jackson * also worked as community advisory committee members Graphic Design: Mixtape Branding/Ryan White, R.G.D. WORK, INCLUSION AND 2SLGBTQ+ PEOPLE IN SUDBURY AND WINDSOR Table of Contents CHAPTER 1: Introduction ............................................................................................................... 4 CHAPTER 2: Methods and sample .............................................................................................. 6 2.1 Research partners and community engagement .............................................................. 6 2.2 Language .............................................................................................................................................. 6 2.3 Data collection ................................................................................................................................... 6 2.4 Analysis .................................................................................................................................................. 6 2.4.1 Internet survey ................................................................................................................................... 6 2.5 Who we heard from ..........................................................................................................................7 2.5.1 Survey ......................................................................................................................................................7 2.5.2 Interview participants ..................................................................................................................... 9 CHAPTER 3: Community .............................................................................................................. 10 3.1 Isolation and disconnection ........................................................................................................10 Box 3.1 Racialization and acceptance ...................................................................................... 11 3.2 Feelings of connection, support and change .....................................................................13 3.3 The push-pull of larger centres .................................................................................................13 CHAPTER 4: Where are people working and why are they working there? .................14 4.1 Occupations and industries ........................................................................................................14 4.2 Job characteristics ..........................................................................................................................15 4.3 Choosing supportive industries and workplaces ..............................................................16 4.4 Employer discrimination and the labour market ..............................................................16 Box 4.1: Transgender workers in the labour market .........................................................18 CHAPTER 5: Experiences at work .............................................................................................20 5.1 Comfort at work and ‘outness’ .................................................................................................20 5.2 Discrimination at work: dress codes and bathrooms .....................................................22 5.3 Homophobia and transphobia at work.................................................................................22 CHAPTER 6: Mental health ..........................................................................................................26 6.1 Self-reported mental and physical health ...........................................................................26 6.2 Work and mental health ..............................................................................................................26 6.2.1 Workplace characteristics ...........................................................................................................27 6.2.2 2SLGBTQ+ identity and work ....................................................................................................28 6.3 Coping strategies ............................................................................................................................29 CHAPTER 7: Unions and employers .........................................................................................32 7.1 Where would you go for help with discrimination? ........................................................32 7.2 Union experiences ..........................................................................................................................33 7.3 Employer experiences ..................................................................................................................34 CHAPTER 8: Recommendations ................................................................................................36 8.1 Recommendations for employers ...........................................................................................36 8.2 Recommendations for unions ...................................................................................................37 8.3 Recommendations for community organizations ...........................................................37 8.4 Recommendations for everyone .............................................................................................37 Literature cited ................................................................................................................................38 3 WORK, INCLUSION AND 2SLGBTQ+ PEOPLE IN SUDBURY AND WINDSOR CHAPTER 1 Introduction Two-Spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and Windsor’s population is 329,144 (Statistics Canada, 2017b). other gender and sexual minorities (2SLGBTQ+) are often Historically the meeting place for the Three Fires Confederacy depicted in the media as white-collar workers who live in of First Nations, comprised of the Ojibway, the Odawa, and the large metropolitan centres. Consequently, the experiences Potawatomie, Windsor’s colonization by francophone settlers of working-class people, as well as those who live in smaller began in the 1700s. Subsequently, it was a site of skirmishes industrial cities are generally absent from stories about in the War of 1812, it was the entry point of the Underground 2SLGBTQ+ lives and livelihoods. At the same time, the Railroad into Canada, and the site of rum-running during working-class histories of smaller cities tend to centre the Prohibition. Contemporary Windsor is the southernmost city struggles of white, heterosexual, male-dominated unions in Canada, located directly across the border from the US in the mining and manufacturing sectors and leave out the city of Detroit, Michigan. In terms of its demographics, 27% sexualized, gendered, racialized1, settler colonial and classed of the total population of the City of Windsor are newcomers experiences of 2SLGBTQ+ workers. This report presents the (The City of Windsor, 2020). Like Sudbury, Windsor is not findings of a two-year study of the experiences of a large and widely known for its 2SLGBTQ+ culture. Yet there is an annual diverse sample of 2SLGBTQ+ workers in the mid-sized cities of Windsor-Essex Pride Fest4, and much LGBT nightlife. There Sudbury and Windsor to address these gaps. are also many 2SLGBTQ+ social service organizations, such as Windsor-Essex Transgender and Allied Support, Windsor Pride Sudbury’s population is 164,689 (Statistics Canada, 2017a). Community, and Two-Spirit Group of Windsor. It is located on ancestral lands of the Atikameksheng Anishnawbek and is covered by the Robinson-Huron Treaty Sudbury and Windsor have proud labour histories in the of 1850. Sparsely inhabited prior to European contact, it mining and automotive manufacturing sectors respectively. became more densely populated during the fur trade from Since the 1970s, however, each city has experienced 1822-1900 as the Hudson’s Bay Company established several deindustrialization. For example, employment at Inco (now posts and stores in the Sudbury area. Sudbury became a Vale), declined from 20,000 in 1971 to approximately 3,000 settler town in 1883 as a company town site of the Canadian in 2009 (King, 2017). In the case of Windsor, while each of Pacific Railway. Mining operations, followed by other company the “Big Three” (Ford, Chrysler, and General Motors) were towns, then speeded settlement beginning with Copper Cliff in once all major employers, today only the Ford and Chrysler 1888. Indigenous peoples continue to have a strong presence plants remain active as the General Motors transmission in the city, with people reporting First Nation, Inuit or Métis plant shuttered in 2010.