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University of Windsor Scholarship at UWindsor Electronic Theses and Dissertations Theses, Dissertations, and Major Papers 7-11-2015 Policy Commissions and Representation of Aboriginal Women Issues: A Case-Study of the New Democratic Party of Canada and the Liberal Party of Canada Corinne Allsop University of Windsor Follow this and additional works at: https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/etd Recommended Citation Allsop, Corinne, "Policy Commissions and Representation of Aboriginal Women Issues: A Case-Study of the New Democratic Party of Canada and the Liberal Party of Canada" (2015). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 5318. https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/etd/5318 This online database contains the full-text of PhD dissertations and Masters’ theses of University of Windsor students from 1954 forward. These documents are made available for personal study and research purposes only, in accordance with the Canadian Copyright Act and the Creative Commons license—CC BY-NC-ND (Attribution, Non-Commercial, No Derivative Works). Under this license, works must always be attributed to the copyright holder (original author), cannot be used for any commercial purposes, and may not be altered. Any other use would require the permission of the copyright holder. Students may inquire about withdrawing their dissertation and/or thesis from this database. For additional inquiries, please contact the repository administrator via email ([email protected]) or by telephone at 519-253-3000ext. 3208. Policy Commissions and Representation of Aboriginal Women Issues: A Case-Study of the New Democratic Party of Canada and the Liberal Party of Canada By Corinne Allsop A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies through the Department of Political Science in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts at the University of Windsor Windsor, Ontario, Canada © 2015 Corinne Allsop Policy Commissions and Representation of Aboriginal Women Issues: A Case-Study of the New Democratic Party of Canada and the Liberal Party of Canada By Corinne Allsop Approved By: ____________________________________ C. Collier Department of Political Science ____________________________________ J. Ku Departments of Sociology, Anthropology, Criminology, and Women’s Studies ____________________________________ E. Richez, Advisor Department of Political Science 14 May 2015 iii AUTHOR’S DECLARATION OF ORIGINALITY I hereby certify that I am the sole author of this thesis and that no part of this thesis has been published or submitted for publication. I certify that, to the best of my knowledge, my thesis does not infringe upon anyone’s copyright nor violate any proprietary rights and that any ideas, techniques, quotations, or any other material from the work of other people included in my thesis, published or otherwise, are fully acknowledged in accordance with the standard referencing practices. I declare that this is a true copy of my thesis, including any final revisions, as approved by my thesis committee and the Graduate Studies office, and that this thesis has not been submitted for a higher degree to any other University or Institution. iv ABSTRACT Policy commissions within Canadian political parties have been under researched; thus, it is unclear if these commissions are the representative mechanisms they claim to be. Specifically, research is lacking on the Aboriginal and women’s policy commissions in the New Democratic Party of Canada (NDP) and the Liberal Party of Canada (LPC) and if these commissions allow for Aboriginal women to contribute to party policy-making. Based on the theories of intersectionality and feminist institutionalism, a gender-based discourse analysis was applied to the policy resolutions of the 2009 NDP Convention and the 2009 LPC Convention. Furthermore, the parties’ 2011 electoral platforms were examined to see if the resolutions were integrated. The research found that the policy commissions of the NDP and the LPC do not impact the party platform policy on Aboriginal women’s issues. Furthermore, party ideology and institutional restraints contributed to the restriction of the policy commissions as policy- making bodies. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Author’s Declaration of Originality…………………………………………………….iii Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………iv List of Tables……………………………………………………………………………vi List of Graphs…………………………………………………………………………...vii Table of Acronyms……………………………………………………………………...viii Chapters I. Introduction…………………………………………………………………..1 II. Literature Review…………………………………………………………….9 III. Methodology………………………………………………………………..37 IV. The New Democratic Party of Canada - Securing Social Justice?................61 V. The Liberal Party of Canada - The Party of Accommodation?......................91 VI. Conclusion………………………………………………………………….118 Appendix: Summary of Resolutions……………………………………………………133 Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………136 Vita Auctoris…………………………………………………………………………...147 vi LIST OF TABLES Table 1 - Categorization of Issues………………………………………………………56 Table 2 - Summary of NDP Aboriginal Issue Policy Resolutions……………………...63 Table 3 - Summary of NDP Women’s Issue Policy Resolutions……………………….74 Table 4 - Summary of NDP Aboriginal Women’s Issue Policy Resolutions…………...81 Table 5.1 - Numbers and Percentages for Examined Resolutions/Total Proposed Resolutions - NDP………………………………………………………………………86 Table 5.2 - Numbers and Percentages for Examined Resolutions Addressing Aboriginal, Women, and Aboriginal Women’s Issues - NDP…………………………………….…87 Table 5.3 - Resolution Integration Success - NDP…………………………………..87-88 Table 6 - Summary of LPC Aboriginal Issue Policy Resolutions………………………93 Table 7 - Summary of LPC Women’s Issue Policy Resolutions………………………..99 Table 8 - Summary of LPC Aboriginal Women’s Issue Policy Resolutions…………...105 Table 9.1 - Numbers and Percentages for Examined Resolutions/Total Proposed Resolutions - LPC………………………………………………………………………113 Table 9.2 - Numbers and Percentages for Examined Resolutions Addressing Aboriginal, Women, and Aboriginal Women’s Issues - LPC……………………………………….113 Table 9.3 - Resolution Integration Success - LPC…………………………………114-115 vii LIST OF GRAPHS Graph 1 - Totals of Examined and Integrated Resolutions for the NDP and LPC Partisan Organizations…………………………………………………………………………...121 Graph 2 - Total Numbers of Examined Resolutions by Party and by Resolution Type.................................................................................................................................124 Graph 3 - Total Numbers of Integrated Resolutions by Party and by Resolution Type…………………………………………………………………………………....124 viii TABLE OF ACRONYMS Acronym Meaning AANDC Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development AFN Assembly of First Nations CHRC Canadian Human Rights Commission HTO Hunting and Trapping Organization INAC Indian and Northern Affairs Canada LPCAPC Liberal Party of Canada Aboriginal Peoples Commission LPC Liberal Party of Canada NAC National Action Committee on the Status of Women NDPAC New Democratic Party Aboriginal Commission NDP New Democratic Party of Canada NDPWC New Democratic Party Women’s Council NWAC Native Women’s Association of Canada NWLC National Women’s Liberal Commission RCAP Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples RCMP Royal Canadian Mounted Police SMP Single Member Plurality System UNDRIP United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples 1 Chapter I – Introduction 2 Introduction Aboriginal women face distinct challenges in their daily lives due to their status in Canadian society (Olsen-Harper 2006, 34).1 Currently, one of the main issues that are bringing more attention to the status of Aboriginal women in Canadian society is the number of missing and murdered Aboriginal women and girls. It is argued that this issue exists due to racism and sexism that persists within Canadian society (Olsen-Harper 2006, 33). According to a report released by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) in 2014, there were 225 cases of missing and murdered Aboriginal women (RCMP, 3). The report further stated that “Aboriginal women are over-represented among Canada’s murdered and missing women” (Ibid. 3). This is one example out of numerous issues that predominantly affect Aboriginal women more so than non- Aboriginal women and Aboriginal men (Olsen-Harper 2006, 37). In addition to structuralized violence, Aboriginal women experience lower incomes, higher levels of domestic violence, political marginalization, and discrimination based on their gender and race (Ibid. 33). On average, Aboriginal women annually earned $19,289 (in constant 2010 dollars), compared to Aboriginal men who earned $22, 924 and non-Aboriginal women who earned $24, 842 (Status of Women Canada, 2015). Furthermore, from a survey conducted in 2009, it was reported that approximately six in ten Aboriginal women experienced spousal violence compared to four in ten non-Aboriginal women (Brennan 2011, 5). As shown with these examples, Aboriginal women experience certain challenges in ways that non-Aboriginal women and Aboriginal men do not. 1The term Aboriginal will be used interchangeably to describe the First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples of Canada. This is the term recognized by the Canadian government to describe Canada’s Indigenous peoples. However, the more generic term Indigenous will also be used interchangeably throughout the text. 3 If conditions are to be more favourable and equitable for Aboriginal women, their voices need to be represented in a forum where they hold the power to make a difference.

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