“I am a Ward of the State” : indigenous men and women and their experiences with racism, classism and sexism in Canada

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“I am a Ward of the State”

Indigenous Men and Women and their Experiences with

Racism, Classism and Sexism in Canada

MA Thesis Department of Sociology: Gender, Sexuality & Society Track

By: Esther Verrips, 10155090

Supervisor: Dr. Margriet van Heesch

Second reader: Dr. Vincent de Rooij

July, 2019, Amsterdam

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Abstract

In this thesis, I looked into the experiences of Indigenous People in Canada regarding racism, classism and sexism. Through literature, I found that legal policies made by the Canadian government still have a detrimental effect on Indigenous People. The Indian Act defines who qualifies as Indian and this comes with certain benefits. The Canadian government thus has the central power in determining what the race of Indians entails. The making of a race comes from settler colonial policies and ideologies. Land acquisition is the ultimate goal for settlers, and Indigenous People are in the way of that. By essentializing the race of Indians, racism, classism and sexism can flourish.

Through interviews with 15 Indigenous People in Canada, I have learned how this affects their daily lives. They have told me stories of being beaten up by police, missing a sister and best friend, strangers calling them names and close friends belittling them for being Indigenous. While a report recently came out that officially calls the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls cases genocide, I expand this to racism, classism and sexism. Through combining knowledge from sociological literature and the stories of the Indigenous People I have spoken to, I have come to the conclusion that the Canadian government is trying to exterminate Indigenous People. Settlers will stop at nothing to gain access to the land, and in the process they are willing to step over the bodies of Indigenous People. Even though Canada is seen as a tolerant country internationally, we must take a closer look at First World countries, as a genocide is happening right under our noses.

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A Word of Thanks

This thesis would not have been possible without the help of a few people. I would like to thank them. First of all, I would like to thank the people around me for listening to the stories about the thesis that I told time and again. Secondly, my dear friends Caeley and Brenton. They are without a doubt the most kind and generous people I have met and I am honored to call them my friends. They have showed me the beauty of Canada and were able to set me up with some contacts. Secondly, Caeley’s parents. They have so kindly allowed me to stay in their home and use their car. I cannot express my gratitude to them enough, as they enabled me with a safe place to start my research and gave me the mobility to meet people.

Third, I would like to thank Samantha. I met her through Caeley and she is knowledgeable about Indigenous People in Canada. She helped me start the data collection and sent me Indigenous literature on how to do research with Indigenous populations. She also introduced me to Mel, whom I would also like to thank. Mel is so generous: he loaned me six books to read; took me to a Sweat; gave me moccasins and introduced me to other Indigenous People.

Fifth, I would like to thank my supervisor Margriet van Heesch. Her positivity and interest in the subject stimulated me enormously. While the argument of this thesis was clear in my head, I found it difficult to put this in writing in a structural manner. With the guidance of Margriet, I was able to bring more structure to the paper and let the data speak. Her notes on how to write ethnographically have helped me and I will continue to practice this. I would also like to express my gratitude to the second reader: Vincent de Rooij. You emailed me a suggestion for a lecture, which showed me that you were willing to think with me. I appreciate that. Thank you for agreeing to be my second reader and thus taking the time to read this thesis.

Finally, a huge thank you to all the respondents of this research. Your stories are what I came to Canada for. I am so grateful that you shared your stories and opinions with me. One family shared their home with me and invited me to spend Easter with them. To be willing to share intimate and painful stories about yourself or your beloved to a stranger must take an incredible amount of courage. That is what the respondents showed throughout this research: they were not ashamed or afraid to tell me how they felt. To have someone open up to you within mere minutes of conversing is a special feeling. They were also able to articulate their arguments well; speaking eloquently and sometimes even poetically. This helped my

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understanding of their stories. Without their willingness to talk about their stories, this thesis would not exist. Thank you.

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Chapter I

“We Are Dispensable”: an Introduction to the Struggles of

Indigenous People in Canada

1.1 Indian, Indigenous, Aboriginal: the Complexity of Naming

When I met Rachel, we had agreed to meet in a small café. When she arrived, I immediately knew it was her, even though I had never met her. She had long, black hair that she wore in a ponytail. When she sat down opposite of me, I noticed that she was wearing big earrings with a picture of an Indigenous man on them. Then, we got to talking. She was easy to talk to, as she told me stories of her father and ancestors. One of the things I noticed, was that she referred to Indigenous People as Indigenous and Aboriginal.

When I later interviewed Trian, however, he called himself Native. The people I spoke to in Canada all used different names interchangeably. Some spoke of Natives, others of Aboriginals, First Nations, Indians and Indigenous. As I was trying to be sensitive to the people I wanted to interview, I tried to find a name that they would prefer themselves. However, I could not find it. While some Indigenous People prefer to be called First Nation for instance, others like to be called Indigenous. When I talked to Bill about this, he had an interesting response.

I met Bill at Rachel’s house, near the mountains. He wore a grey sweater and his glasses showed his kind, brown eyes. He spoke calmly and was an erudite. We sat around the dinner table talking about the problem of naming. Bill says that even though Canada is internationally seen as a progressive country, this is not the case. The Indian Act – a policy document from the 19th century that defines who qualifies as Indian – is still enacted. Bill argues that no matter what people prefer, legally, they are Indians under this Act. While Indigenous People may prefer to use other terms in their daily lives, Canadian legislation still defines them as Indians.1

1_{The name “Indian” stems from Christopher Columbus’ journey. When Columbus came to what is nowadays}

called ‘Canada’ in 1492, he thought he was in India. Therefore, he named the inhabitants ‘Indians’. Even though he was not in India, it became the de facto collective noun for the first inhabitants of the country (Mackey, 2005).

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The usage of this word has declined because of its connections to colonialism.2 Now, the word Indigenous is used most because it provides a connection with the first inhabitants of the land.3 However, this is a word that stems from a foreign language. Ever since the lands were colonized, the settlers have tried to label and name the first inhabitants. All the aforementioned names are words created by the remnants of settler colonialism and not by the people themselves.

At one point in the interview with Bill, he pulled a card out of his wallet. It was a white and grey card with his photo, name and date of birth on it. Besides that, it had a section that said “Registry Group Number and Name”, under which the name of the band is shown. This is called a status card. On the website of the Canadian government, people can apply to have an Indian status.4 A status Indian would receive certain benefits from the government that non-status Indians and other Canadians would not. This could for instance be; tax benefits or exemptions, health benefits, educational preparatory programs and income assistance4.

When a person is considered Indian however, is still vague. Government policies, amendments, acts and laws have all influenced the naming (Leslie, 2002). People can have the exact same family dynamics - for instance an Indian mom and a non-Indian dad - but still have different statuses because they were born before or after a certain law was implemented. The Canadian government thus determines when people are considered to be of the Indian

race.

There is trouble even in the naming. More than 600 different bands reside in Canada, all with a specific culture. How is it possible to give these different bands a collective name? Where does the desire to give different people a collective name come from? The complexity of a collective name is only one of the issues that the first inhabitants of Canada are dealing with. When I interviewed Jean, she calmly and matter-of-factly spoke about her time in residential school as a kid:

Churches are the most destructive thing. They hurt kids. They broke my collarbone and abused me. I only started to speak out about it last year. It had to do with my low self-esteem.

2_{In the 1980s, the word Aboriginal became more popular, as a collective noun for the different tribes; First}

Nations, Inuit and Métis. However, the word Aboriginal can be derived from the Latin word ‘ab’, which means ‘away from’ or ‘not’. Then, Aboriginal can mean not original. This term thus met resistance.

3

CBC, February 22nd, 2019.

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In the 19th and 20th century, Indigenous children were taken from their families and put into residential schools. These schools were funded by the government and run by four churches. As Jean describes, kids were sexually, mentally and physically abused at these schools.5 Along with Jean, 150,000 Indian children were sent away to residential schools (MacDonald & Hudson, 2012). The goal of these residential schools was, according to Canadian political scientist David MacDonald, simple: to assimilate Indian children into mainstream Christian Canadian culture (MacDonald, 2007).

MacDonald shows that Indigenous children were taught that their culture, beliefs, traditions and language were something to be ashamed of. The government and churches worked together to enforce the residential schooling system in Canada from the 1880s until the 1990s. The last school was closed in 1996 and ever since then, more and more Indigenous people have come forward to tell their stories (MacDonald & Hudson, 2012). It became clear that children were physically, mentally and sexually abused in residential schools (De Leeuw, 2009).

The history of residential schooling is not the only hardship that Indigenous People in Canada have had to face. Ever since the 1970s, the people of Canada have been facing a national crisis. A disproportionate number of Indigenous Women are missing and being murdered compared to other Canadian women.6 While Indigenous Women and Girls represent 4.3 percent of the total female population in Canada, a whopping 16 percent of all female homicide victims in Canada are Indigenous.6

Unfortunately, few of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) cases have been solved. Recently, an inquiry report on MMIWG came out that officially defined MMIWG genocide.7 The topics of residential schooling and MMIWG are different materializations of discrimination against Indigenous people, according to Canadian psychologists Bombay, Matheson and Anisman (2014). The focus of this thesis is on how Indigenous People in Canada experience these different types of discrimination.

The research question is: How do Indigenous People in Canada experience racism,

classism and sexism? This question will be answered through four sub-questions. The first

sub-question is: How has racism, classism and sexism of Indigenous People in Canada been

theorized? The second sub-question is: How do Indigenous People in Canada experience racism? The third sub-question is: How do Indigenous People in Canada experience classism

5

Truth and Reconciliation Commission, December 18th, 2015.

6

Royal Canadian Mounted Police, May 27th, 2014.

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and sexism? The fourth sub-question is: How do Indigenous People in Canada experience settler colonialism? The sub-questions will be answered throughout the paper and will lead to

an answer of the main question. Now that I have made the purpose of this research clear, I will explain why it is important to do research on this topic.

1.2 Trauma Needs Attention: Relevance of this Research

According to Statistics Canada (2016), the Indigenous population in Canada is growing four times as fast as the non-Indigenous population in Canada. This is due to an increased life expectancy, a high fertility rate and more Indigenous people identifying as Indigenous. It is estimated that in the next 20 years, the Indigenous population in Canada will top 2.5 million (Statistics Canada, 2016). It is thus a big, growing population that could be affected by all the aforementioned issues such as discrimination.

Authors writing on the discrimination of Indigenous People in Canada have focused on the effects of this discrimination (Bombay et al., 2010; Juutilainen, Miller, Heikkilä & Rautio, 2014; Egan & Place, 2013). Research has been done on the psychological effects (Bombay et al., 2010), the physical effects, effects on the community, culture and identity (Juutilainen et al., 2014), on geographical effects concerning the ownership of land and on the socioeconomic status of Indigenous People (Egan & Place, 2013).

Besides discrimination, Indigenous People in Canada also have to deal with the intergenerational trauma of residential schooling. According to Bombay et al. (2014), numerous and continuous attacks against a group could accumulate over generations and undermine collective well-being.8 Also, the incarceration rates of Indigenous People are 5 to 6 times higher than the national average (Nelson & Wilson, 2017).9 High rates of substance abuse, intergenerational trauma and the loss of culture because of settler colonialism impact the lives of Indigenous People in Canada (Greenwood & de Leeuw, 2012). These problems are reflected in the high rates of mental health problems. Among Indigenous youth, suicide rates are 3-6 times the general population (Nelson & Wilson, 2017).

Indigenous People thus have to deal with different struggles. While the previously mentioned authors have focused on the effects of these hardships, I would like to humbly fill

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Bombay, Matheson and Anisman (2014) argue that it is impossible to go back in time and assess exactly how much trauma comes from residential schools. However, the intergenerational effects of residential schooling provide support for the role of historical trauma in advancing present-day disparities in well-being.

9_{Indigenous People are also suffering from a wide range of health problems, at much higher rates than other}

Canadians (Nelson & Wilson, 2017; MacDonald & Steenbeek, 2015). They are 6-7 times more likely to have tuberculosis, 4-5 more likely to be diabetic and 3 times more likely to have heart disease.

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the gap in existing literature by shifting the focus to the causes of these issues instead of the effects. In the next section I will explain how I was able to approach Indigenous People who were willing to talk about these difficult topics.

1.3 The Process of Building Trust: Gathering of Data

The first thing I did was to ask my friends and their family if they happened to know anyone that could help me with the research, Indigenous or not. My friend Caeley introduced me to her friend Samantha, who had done research in Indigenous communities before. She told me that getting access to Indigenous communities can be difficult. It is about building trust and this can take years. Samantha thus warned me about the difficulty to get access to Indigenous People.

The first thing I did was go to an Indigenous museum close to where I was staying. From that visit, I was able to meet with the director of the museum, who was also an Elder. An Elder is “someone who has been sought by their peers for spiritual and cultural leadership and who has knowledge of some aspect of tradition” (Wilson & Restoule, 2010: 29). The interview with Elder Jean was insightful, as she told some personal stories and shared knowledge on her band and reserve. I also interviewed her assistant, Maria, who gave a unique perspective on the complexity of the naming of Indigenous People.

Samantha was kind enough to set me up with one of her closest friends, Mel. He loaned me six books that he thought I should read and gave me sweet grass. I met with Mel four times and at the final meeting he gave me some beautiful moccasins. Besides that, he introduced me to a friend of his who was also an Elder: Casey.

Mel set up a breakfast meeting for the three of us for the upcoming week. I was and still am incredibly grateful to both Mel and Samantha, because they started my snowball sampling (Biernacki & Waldorf, 1981). I met with Casey and Mel the next week at breakfast and we talked for a good two hours. I learned from Casey, as he told personal stories and was knowledgeable on the history of his people.

Afterwards, Mel invited me to a Sweat, where I was able to approach Kurt. We met in a mall a few days later and we talked for two hours. He was knowledgeable about ceremonies and the traditional ways. I then texted Casey if we could meet again and I interviewed him and his colleague Susan. I gained new insights into Canadian Indian legislation.

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I had also emailed ten Indigenous organizations. One of the interviews was helpful because I learned practical information. I met Brett at the organization. He is not Indigenous, but does have knowledge on Indigenous ways. He learned this from Elders and Knowledge Keepers that he has interacted with for over two years. He taught me how to make tobacco ties that I could present to the respondents.

Brett had also invited another person who worked at the organization: Trian. The interview was interesting because Trian talked about the healing process that Indigenous People with trauma or other struggles have to go through. After the interview, I made about twenty tobacco ties and gave them to everyone who was kind enough to talk to me. Brett also introduced me to Earnie, who talked about the effects of settler colonialism and could calmly explain his thoughts.

For the final respondents, I was lucky. Through snowball sampling, I was able to meet with Rachel. She lived about a two-hour drive from my place and we agreed to meet in a café. We talked for three hours straight. It was a pleasant conversation; she was funny and direct and made me laugh. She knew details about her family’s history, the history of her band and had a different and refreshing perspective to my questions.

After our talk, she kindly invited me to spend Easter with her family. I agreed to come and bought a big box of diet Pepsi (per her request) to bring to the dinner. There, I was greeted with an enormous amount of delicious food and a welcoming family. I learned about the history that was not in the history books. When I was about to leave, I gave them all tobacco ties and they presented me with a beaded necklace.

During my six weeks in Canada, I tried to immerse myself into Indigenous cultures to the best of my ability. I stayed away from other knowledge-systems; what some of the participants would call “Western knowledge”. I solely read books written by Indigenous People and learned from the people themselves. While Western knowledge will be a part of this thesis – as this thesis is written at a Western institute – I tried my best to learn about Indigenous People in a way that was most true to them. As I was told stories about their cultures, lives, happiness and struggles, they managed to paint a clear picture. It is now my honor to try to translate that picture into words in this paper. In order to honor them in the best way possible, I had to think about ethics.

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According to Ermine (2007, p. 195) “ethics” is the “capacity to know what harms or enhances the well-being of sentient creatures.” By thinking about this beforehand, I could already anticipate what I could do to limit harm and stimulate well-being. I thought about my own background: I am from the Netherlands, with grandparents from Indonesia. While I do not consider myself to be white, other people might view me as such. In doing research with people that are the victim of colonization, it is important to keep in mind that they might not want to talk to me because of the genesis of the first historical contact (Ermine, 2007).

I had heard stories that Indigenous People were getting tired of being a research subject. It was thus important to me to build a trust relationship with the respondents. In the end, this worked out well. I asked some people why they agreed to talk to me. They said that just I listened. I listened to the respondents’ sometimes heavy stories and just asked questions. Another aspect that I considered is who I would include in the research as being Indigenous or Indian or any other name. In no respect am I trying to determine a correct name by writing about Indigenous people, because a correct collective name does not exist. There are over 600 different bands in Canada with distinct cultures (Adams, 1995). It is unethical and impossible to pile these all together. Besides that, it is still vague who is nowadays considered as Indian. As Indigenous Canadian activists and Political scientists Alfred and Corntassel (2005) describe, Indigenousness is an identity that is constructed, shaped and lived in the context of contemporary colonialism. It is important to recognize that in this research I am not trying to define the meaning of Indigenousness by including or excluding certain people. Therefore, the focus is on self-identified Indigenous People in Canada.

I also tried to show respect to the respondents by giving tobacco ties. Tobacco has spiritual power and by giving people tobacco ties, I show them respect by exchanging something sacred for their information (Wilson & Restoule, 2010). Wilson and Restoule (2010) describe how a certain type of relationship is activated when tobacco is part of a research methodology. Indigenous research methodologies are based on relationships of reciprocity, trust, responsibility and relevance (Wilson & Restoule, 2010). By presenting someone with tobacco, I am responsible for entering in and honoring that type of relationship. A final example of how I tried to respect the respondents is by providing anonymity if they wanted to. I contacted the respondents when I was back in the Netherlands whether they wanted their names to be put in this paper. Some answered positively and others preferred not to have their real name in the paper. Those people I asked for a pseudonym to call them. Some of the respondents did not answer so I gave them a pseudonym. Another way of providing anonymity is by not disclosing the band that a person is from. I will also not

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mention cities. Now that I have explained how I approached the respondents and tried to promote their well-being, I will explain how I organized and analyzed the interview transcripts.

1.5 Analyzing the Stories

Timmermans and Tavory (2012) believe grounded theory to be committed to let theories emerge through the process of induction. Induction flows from specific observations to broader theories while deduction starts with a theory and works its way down to test a

hypothesis with data. Timmermans and Tavory (2012) also propose abductive analysis, which is aimed at creating new theories based on surprising data. This thesis has elements of all three types: induction, deduction and abduction. First of all, induction is used because it all starts with the interviews I did with the respondents. However, I can also argue that this is in some way deductive because of my focus on three types of discrimination - and thus larger theories – when I interview people. Lastly, I can also argue it is abductive because during this process I was open to finding new and surprising data.

However, my approach is leaning more towards induction, seeing as deduction is more focused on causality, validity and generalizability and induction is more focused on meaning, flexible and reflexive. Besides this, my focus on discrimination can be seen as abduction instead of deduction. With abduction, special attention is given to the researcher’s cultivated position. My focus on the subject of discrimination is due to my affinity and familiarity with the subject. Thus, the way I make sense of my interviews is due in part to my theoretical training that I have ‘ready-to-hand’.

In this research I used a qualitative content analysis. According to Altheide (1987) the distinctive character of a qualitative content analysis is that it is highly reflexive and

interactive. I have to go back and forth between data collection, coding, analysis and interpretation. The data is constantly compared and rediscovered (Altheide, 1987). That is what I did as well. I chose a conventional content analysis approach; in which coding categories were derived directly from the transcripts (Hsieh & Shannon, 2005). I started the process of coding by reading four transcripts and then creating a separate file per transcript. I read the first transcript and coded line-by-line with initial codes. For the second, third and fourth transcript I did this as well.

I created a separate Word-file with “things that keep coming up” to see whether respondents were talking about the same topics. This led to the emergence of focused codes,

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which I then arranged into a ‘mother-daughter’ code selection using bullet-points. I repeated this process until I finished all transcripts. The line-by-line initial coding and focused coding was thus done per block of four to five transcripts. Then I would reread and reconsider the codes until I was satisfied with my coding. Now that I have explained how I organized and analyzed the data, I will clarify how this thesis is organized.

1.6 Chapter Preview

I will develop my analysis of the gathered data in the next four chapters by combining previous research and theory on settler colonialism, racism, classism and sexism with the experiences I gathered of Indigenous People in Canada. I will build on the current base of sociological research with their experiences and stories. I will do this in four chapters. In the second chapter, academic research on the topics of racism, classism and sexism of Indigenous People in Canada will be explored with the following question: How has racism, classism and

sexism of Indigenous People in Canada been theorized? I will answer this question by first

explaining government laws and regulations concerning Indigenous People. Then, I will present academic literature on the racism, classism and sexism of Indigenous People in Canada. Finally, I will explain the settler colonization of Canada.

The third chapter will delve deeper into the data I gathered from the field concerning racism. I will use Harrell’s (2000) theory on racism to organize the respondents’ stories and experiences accordingly. By organizing the stories, it will become evident what type of racism Indigenous People in Canada have to deal with. This way, I will answer the following question: How do Indigenous People in Canada experience racism?

In the fourth chapter I will present the results from the interviews concerning classism and sexism. I will use Langhout, Rosselli and Feinstein’s (2007) theory on classism to organize the respondents’ stories. Besides classism, I will also go deeper into sexism. I will analyze the stories and experiences of the respondents concerning the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women cases and inquiry. In doing so, I will answer the following question: How

do Indigenous People in Canada experience classism and sexism?

In the fifth chapter I will combine academic research on the link between racism, classism, sexism and settler colonialism with the stories of the respondents. In doing so, I will answer the following question: How do Indigenous People in Canada experience settler

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answer the main research question of this thesis: How do Indigenous People in Alberta

experience racism, classism and sexism? I will conclude with the results of this thesis in

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Chapter II

“Cowboys and Indians”

2.1 Racism, Classism and Sexism of Indigenous People in Canada

When I walked into the lobby of the Indigenous organization to meet with Earnie, I saw about six to eight Indigenous men and women waiting in the lobby with bags of clothes. One man had long, dark and greasy hair. He was sitting on a chair and had his feet up on another chair. He was not wearing any shoes, and his pants were pulled up to his knees. On his bare shins were stickers: the ones you would get as a kid in school. After ten minutes, Earnie had time for me:

Look at the lobby, where you just walked through. You see our people in there in various states of mind. That’s a prime example of the effects of colonialism and colonial ideas about education.

When Earnie talks about “our people”, he refers to Indigenous People. He refers to the difficulties of daily life as an Indigenous person. He talks about the substance abuse and the intergenerational trauma that has led to “various states of mind” in Indigenous People. These states of mind refer to the willful focus on something else in life – such as substances – than the demons of the past and present.

These various states of mind are, according to Earnie, a result of the settler colonial project of trying to either terminate of assimilate the Indian. The Canadian government still enforces this settler colonial project through racism, classism and sexism. In the quest to assimilate or terminate Indians, the three types of discrimination are being deployed.

In this chapter, I will therefore ask the following question: How has racism, classism

and sexism of Indigenous People in Canada been theorized? I will do this by first presenting

a history of important legislations and acts implemented by the government that affect Indigenous People in Canada. Second, I will provide academic research on the racism, classism and sexism of Indigenous People. Finally, I will explain the settler colonialization of Canada and the focus on eradicating the Indian. Now, I will explain the history of legislation on Indigenous People.

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2.2 A History of Government Policies and Legal Frameworks

The laws and acts on Indigenous or Aboriginal Rights can be complicated.10 Canada was coined in 1876 and since then, the federal government has been in charge of Aboriginal affairs. The Indian Act was created in 1876 and is still enacted today, with modifications. This act allows the Canadian government to control most aspects of Indigenous life; such as Indian status, wills, education, land, resources and band administration (Leslie, 2002). Inuit and Métis People are not governed by this law. This Act was aimed at assimilating Indigenous People by imposing laws on ways they could lose their Indian status (Leslie, 2002).11

The Indian Act (1876) thus enabled the government to define who would qualify as Indian.12 The concept of race is entangled with racism and therefore complex: Marie Celine Pascale shows that it can refer to blood, nationality, culture, color. (Pascale, 2008). In the Act’s definition of Indian, it first revolves around blood. Later in the Act, it is about marrying into a certain race. Throughout the 19th century being Indian was related to blood and who you marry, but culture also became an important factor (Bartlett, 1977).

There is still speculation and vagueness about when one would be considered Indian or not. While amendments have been made to the Act, it still largely retains its original form (Pasternak, 2015; Morden, 2016). While the Indian Act can be seen as negatively impacting Indigenous People, it also protects certain rights of Indigenous People. For instance, status Indians that live on reserves have certain tax exemptions: as stated from treaties between the

10_{First off, the Royal Proclamation of 1763 states that King George of Britain has ownership over North}

America. It does however, explicitly state that Aboriginal title exists and continues to exist (Borrows, 1997). All land was to be considered Aboriginal land until it was ceded by treaty. The Proclamation prohibited settlers from claiming land from the Aboriginal People, but the Crown (Britain) could buy the land and then sell it to settlers. Nowadays, this Proclamation is seen as an important step towards the recognition of existing Aboriginal rights and title, including the right to self-determination. That is why the Royal Proclamation is sometimes called the

Indian Magna Carta (Borrows, 1997).

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For example, if an Indian would finish their university degree, they would lose their Indian status. An important part of the Act is thus the furthering of the policy of assimilation by disenfranchisement; in which one could lose the “Indian” status (Kubik, Bourassa & Hampton, 2009).

12_{The Act starts by defining what a ‘band’ is: it can be seen as a tribe or body of Indians. Then it defines what}

the term ‘Indian’ means: “First, any male person of Indian blood reputed to belong to a particular band; Secondly, any child of such person; Thirdly, any woman who is or was lawfully married to such person” (The Indian Act, 1876, p. 1). Then the Act goes into more specific detail on how, for instance if an Indian woman were to marry a non-Indian man, she would not be considered part of the band anymore. As can be seen from this definition of being ‘Indian’, race is viewed as highly gendered. Apparently, if you are born male ‘Indian’, your race is fixed. However, if you are born female ‘Indian’, your race can vary dependent of who you marry. This discrimination against women has been challenged and the definition of ‘Indian status’ has undergone revisions with Bill C-31 in 1985 (Crey & Hanson, 2019). However, determining a person’s status became even more complex with these revisions (Crey & Hanson, 2019).

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Crown and Indigenous People (Crey & Hanson, 2019). For much of the 19th and 20th centuries, Indigenous People in Canada were treated as wards of the Crown. A ward is someone who is placed under the protection of a legal guardian. Under the Indian Act, the rights and responsibilities of Indigenous People in Canada were taken away and vested in the general of Indian Affairs.

Other important forms of legislation are treaties. In Canada’s Constitution Act of 1982, the “existing Aboriginal and treaty rights of the Aboriginal People of Canada are hereby recognized and affirmed” (Carr-Stewart, 2001: 126). Between 1870 and 1921 Canada - on behalf of the Crown - made treaties 1 through 11 with Indigenous People. The Indigenous People and the treaty commissioners entered the treaty negotiations with certain goals (Carr-Stewart, 2001). Canada wanted to acquire land to construct a railway from West to East and encourage future settlement. Indigenous People wanted to negotiate a peaceful sharing of the land in return for services with which they could compensate for not living their traditional ways and participate in the new economy (Carr-Stewart, 2001).13

In Alberta – where this research took place - there are three different treaties: 6, 7 and 8. Treaty 7 especially provided problems. There were misunderstandings as Indigenous People thought it was a peace treaty, not a treaty to sign over land.14 This stemmed from cultural misunderstandings and translation issues.15 However Treaty 7 had not been signed if the intent would have been clear.16 All five nations involved in Treaty 7 are to this day still involved with the government to negotiate land surrenders and fraudulent deals.10

Throughout the history of policies and legislations concerning Indigenous People, the focus has been on trying to manage Indigenous People. From the Indian Act to the treaties, the intent was to contain the Indianness. While these policies are pushing Indigenous People into a corner and can be seen as detrimental, policies such as the Indian Act are also the only piece of protection Indigenous People have. The Indian Act in particular still has a big influence today, as it gave the government an opportunity to create a race of Indians and manage this race at the same time. Now that I have explained a part of the history concerning

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Treaty 6 was signed in 1876 by Crown representatives and Cree, Assiniboine and Ojibwa leaders. Treaty 7 was signed in 1877 by five bands: Siksika (Blackfoot), Kainai (Blood), Piikani (Peigan), Stoney-Nakoda and Tsuut’ina (Sarcee). The outcome for Treaty 6 was that in exchange for Indigenous title to their land, the chief got 25$ per year, the headman 15$ per year and all other band member 5$ per year, a one-time cash payment of 12$ for each band member and reserve lands of one square mile per family of five (Filice, 2016). The promise of free education was also written in the treaty.

14_{Canadian Encyclopedia, August 19}th_{, 2016.}

15_{They received almost the same as the people from Treaty 6, with some minor adjustments.} 16

The effect of Treaty 7 was not desirable for the Indigenous People: settlers continued to come, other nations were trespassing to hunt and the buffalo disappeared.

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legislation on Indigenous People and the creation of the race of Indians, I will present academic research on racism and provide an example of racism of Indigenous People in Canada.

2.3 Racism of Indigenous People in Canada

American psychologist Harrell combines the literature from Bulhan (1985); Jones (1972); and Essed (1991) and comes to the conclusion that racism is a power-system based on the designation of racial groups.17 She argues – building on Jones (1972) - that racism can manifest in four different contexts: the interpersonal, the collective, the cultural-symbolic and the socio-political (Harrell, 2000).

The interpersonal context refers to the day-to-day (in)direct experiences of prejudice and discrimination, coming from interactions with people. The collective context refers to the status and functioning of a group of people; such as unemployment rates and educational achievement. The cultural-symbolic context refers to the manifestation of racism through news, art, literature and science. The socio-political context refers to the expression of racism in public debates, race ideologies, policies and legislation. Harrell (2000) argues that the total experience of racism is the exposure to racism in all four contexts. A good example of this complexity is the residential schooling system that was enforced by the government and four churches in Canada. The children in these schools had to deal with racism manifested through all four contexts.

Residential schooling was a process in which children as young as three years old were forced to leave their families and start schooling in order to forget about their Indigenous cultures. Residential schooling in itself was an expression of racism through legislation and policies; a socio-political context. It was the Canadian government that enforced this form of education. The children were taught that their culture, beliefs, traditions and language were something to be ashamed of. The children that attended were trained as workers and servants at the lowest socio-economic level (MacDonald, 2007). This is racism in the collective context; in which Indigenous children were taught that they would be in the

17_{This is rooted in the historical oppression of a group - such as the settler colonization of Indigenous People in}

Canada - and entails that the dominant group feels superior to the oppressed group. Racism becomes apparent when people of the dominant group maintain the status-quo by altering or perpetuating certain structures and ideologies. This is done with the intent of keeping the oppressed group as such; excluded from power, resources, status and esteem. This definition describes how complex racism is: it comes from a history of oppression; is actively perpetuated by the dominant group; is engrained into structures and ideologies and has negative consequences on the suppressed group, such as limited resources.

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bottom class of society.18 However, most time was spent in labor. Children had to work to support the schools. They had to grow and prepare their own food, make their own clothing and preserve the school.

Besides the hazards of the work, children also died from other conditions. It was common for children to be beaten up and abused verbally, physically and sexually. Children at residential schools were being sexually abused by their superiors. However, the government and churches put their own interests before those of the children and the sexual abuse was covered up. According to Canadian Associate Professor in Media Studies Harding (2006), media also played an active role in excluding Indigenous People from the conversation when they wanted to speak up about the horrors in residential schools. A picture was painted of the uncivilized, savage Indian that needed education. This is racism in the cultural-symbolic context. Besides having to deal with abuse, the children were neglected, the schools were underfunded and children died of diseases such as tuberculosis (MacDonald, 2007). Due to records being destroyed the actual death rate of children who died during residential schooling is not known.

In 1998 the Canadian government officially apologized, which was two years after the last residential school closed in Canada (James, 2012). The Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples published a report in 1996 with interviews of Indigenous People who went to residential schools. This report brought to light the horrible practices that took place in the schools. According to Indigenous governance scholar Corntassel and philosopher Holder (2008), this report drew attention to the school system and eventually led to a mission of reconciliation. A Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was established in 2008 in order to promote awareness for the residential schooling system (Corntassel & Holder, 2008). However, Indigenous People’s feelings about the statement were mixed, with leaders dismissing the apology as insincere (Corntassel & Holder, 2008).19 The full extent of physical and sexual abuse only came to light around 2015.20

18_{A regular school day consisted of studying for half a day and half-day of learning a trade. Carpentry and auto}

mechanics were taught to the boys and sewing, cooking and other domestic activities were taught to the girls (MacDonald, 2007).

19_{Besides that, the TRC report has a victim-centered approach to addressing the injustice, and James (2012)}

critiques that. While James (2012) applauds the fact that this victim-centered approach allows for the victims to speak, he also argued that this fosters the absence of a more detailed look into the agents and institutions that are responsible for the injustices. By focusing only on the victims’ voices and experiences, the basic intent of the schools and the larger structures behind it were overlooked (James, 2012).

20_{In 2015 37,951 claims for injuries resulting from physical and sexual abuse at residential schools were}

received by the Independent Assessment Process (IAP). In total, $2,690,000 was awarded as compensation (Truth and Reconciliation Commission, 2015).

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Now that I have explained academic literature on racism and residential schooling, it is evident that racism can occur in multiple contexts in multiple forms. In the case of residential schooling they all collide, which illustrates the complexity of racism. Unfortunately, Indigenous People in Canada are not only facing racism, but also classism, which I will explain now.

2.4 Classism of Indigenous People in Canada

According to Lavell (2014), classism is the perceived superiority of one class over the other. This is based on the belief that one class has more worth and ability than the other. This leads to the discriminatory treatment of the perceived lower social class. Classism can occur on an interpersonal level; such as attitudes and behaviors (Lott & Bullock, 2007). It can also include policies and practices that benefit the upper classes at the expense of the lower classes; thus more on a structural level. This can result in wealth and income inequality (Lavell, 2014).21

In the case of Indigenous People in Canada, both types of classism are at play. Indigenous People in Canada tend to have an income that is below the Canadian average.22 They also have lower education levels and worse housing and living conditions. For some Indigenous People access to clean water is difficult. While some reserves have a pipe-line for water, others are dependent on truck deliveries or on wells, which can be contaminated.

According to Adams (1995), the Canadian government gives Indigenous People just enough to survive. They refuse to invest in Indigenous communities and banks rarely provide loans to Indigenous People. Moreover, Indigenous People do not have rights to the resources on their land, as the federal government has exclusive jurisdiction over their land and resources (Adams, 1995). Adams argues that the easiest way to oppress a group is to keep them too weak to upset the system, but strong enough to fulfill their roles as workers in the lowest class.23

However, classism and racism are hard to separate. According to Adams (1995), Indigenous People are designated as low class workers. This classification has no relation to skill, intelligence or personality. It does have to do with racism and oppression, as it ties back

21_{Working-class people can internalize classism, which can lead to depression, anxiety and low self-esteem and}

self-worth (Lavell, 2014).

22_{Canadian Encyclopedia, October 31}st_{, 2011.}

23_{An example of controlling the lowest class is welfare assistance (Adams, 1995). Adams (1995) claims that the}

intent is to keep Indigenous People dependent on the welfare system. This structure extends to institutions such as the police, schools and churches. This leads to a well-oiled mechanism that forces the poor to stay poor (Adams, 1995). This is how – according to Adams (1995) – Indigenous People are forced into the lower class and forced to deal with classism.

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into the history of colonization. Now that I have explained what classism is and how it is maintained, I will go into another problem that Indigenous People are facing. That is, Indigenous Women are the target of violence. I will now explain this sexism of Indigenous Women in Canada.

2.5 Indigenous Women in Canada as the Target of Sexism

Lorde (1984, p. 855) describes sexism as the “belief in the inherent superiority of one sex over the other and thereby the right to dominance.” An example of sexism is the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women cases in Canada. In 1971, Helen Betty Osborn was sexually assaulted and murdered by four white men. It took fifteen years to bring one of the men to justice. This is one the earliest and widely known examples of the failures of the justice system to protect Indigenous Women (Gunn, 2017). Activists from the Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) have collected the names of at least 4232 women and girls.24 Indigenous Women and Girls represent 4 percent of the total population in Canada and are 4.5 times more likely to be murdered than non-Indigenous women in Canada (Walsh, 2017). Of the documented cases, 54 percent have led to a homicide charge, compared to the national indictment rate of 84 percent (Walsh, 2017).

After years of struggling against societal racism, victim blaming in the media and government indifference, Indigenous Women and allies succeeded in getting these statistics out into the world. Amnesty International and the Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) were able to get the nation’s attention on the crisis after publishing multiple reports (Palmater, 2016). However, after a change in government in 2006, several projects regarding advocacy for Indigenous Women were shut down. But the activists could not be stopped and various United Nations (UN) bodies called on Canada to address the crisis of MMIWG. In 2015 a new government was elected and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised that a national inquiry was the first thing on his agenda (Palmater, 2016). The goal of this inquiry would be to examine root causes of violence towards Indigenous Women and Girls (Palmater, 2016).

There have been some troubles with the inquiry, mostly related to funding and executive directors leaving. Trudeau said that the inquiry will continue and argued that the

24_{The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) published a report in 2014 that claimed that since 1980, almost}

1200 Indigenous Women and Girls have gone missing or have been murdered in Canada. The number of names that activists have collected is much higher, illustrating the operational difficulties that are being faced in this crisis.

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families of MMIWG should be kept at the center of the inquiry.25 However, Palmater (2016) and Walsh (2017) expressed concern that in the inquiry’s terms of reference, no role of policing was mentioned. Others were disappointed that old cases would not be considered (Gunn, 2017; Walsh, 2017).26

Indigenous Women are thus overrepresented in the figures in Missing and Murdered Women in Canada. After years of activism, the word is finally out and steps are taken to combat this phenomenon. However, Canada does have a history of settler colonialism, which might influence the discrimination towards Indigenous People. Now, I will explain what settler colonialism is.

2.6 How to Understand Settler Colonialism?

An important concept of this thesis is settler colonialism. Scholars such as Veracini (2010), Butlin (1998), Mar and Edmond (2010) and Regan (2010) have written books about the distinction between colonialism and settler colonialism. With colonialism, adventurers intent to go back home, while settlers intent to stay (Veracini, 2013). Australian Associate Professor in history and politics Lorenzo Veracini argues that settler colonies try to extinguish Indigenous alterities and manage ethnic diversity. Veracini (2011) explains that with colonialism the phrase is: “no, you work for me” while with settler colonialism it is “no, you go away”. At the end of this project, settler colonialists claim to be no longer settler colonial, but simply settled or postcolonial. Settler colonialism thus covers its tracks.

Settler colonialism is not just an event, such as land being taken from Indigenous People, but a structure. Veracini (2011) argues that while colonialism reproduces itself and the inequalities between colonizer and colonized, settler colonialism extinguishes itself. Settlers are trying to establish a new society that replicates the old one – without its perceived shortcomings. It is then inevitable that people true to that old society - Indigenous People - need to be controlled and dominated (Veracini, 2013).

The Australian anthropologist and ethnographer Patrick Wolfe (2006) has written about settler colonialism as well. He argues that settler colonialism seeks to eliminate the Indigenous identity. Successful settler colonies tame wilderness and end up establishing independent nations by repressing, co-opting and extinguishing Indigenous identities. After

25

Huffington Post, January 17th, 2018.

26_{Indigenous People have also criticized the inquiry for adopting an Anglo-legalist structure and undermining}

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they have achieved control over the ethnic diversity, they claim to be post-colonial. That is what Veracini (2011) means when he argues that settler colonialism covers its tracks. Veracini (2011) and Wolfe (2006) also argue that the primary goal of settlers is to acquire access to territory.

However, Wolfe (2006) also argues that this settler colonial contest for land does not necessary result in genocide. Polish-Jewish legal scholar Raphael Lemkin coined the term

genocide, leading up to the Second World War. According to Lemkin (1945), genocide does

not automatically refer to the immediate eradication of a nation. Rather, it signifies a coordinated plan of actions that are aimed at the annihilation of key foundations of the life of national groups, with the overall goal of eradicating the groups. These actions can entail: the dissolution of political and social institutions, of language, culture, religion, economic existence, health, dignity and even lives of members of that group.7

Wolfe (2006) argues that while settler colonialism seeks elimination of the native, this is not congruent to genocide.27 According to Wolfe (2006), settler colonialism is not targeted towards a certain race: as a race cannot be taken as given. A race is made in the targeting. Indigenous Canadians were not killed and assimilated as the original owners of the land but as

Indians. The primary motive for settler colonialists is not race but territory. Therefore, settler

colonialism is not always coinciding with genocide, as it is not primarily targeting a specific race. Settler colonialism is, however, an indicator of genocide (Wolfe, 2006).

Land is what is most valuable, because settlers make Indigenous land their home and their source of capital (Tuck & Yang, 2012). As Wolfe (2006) points out; for Indigenous people, where they are coincides with who they are. This means that all the Indigenous person has to do to get in the way of settler colonization, is stay at home. This is still the case: the Canadian government is accused of pushing several Indigenous tribes to give up land rights for oil and gas profits.28 Because Indigenous People identify with the land and settler colonialists desire this land, the process of elimination of Indigenous People is set in motion.

The settler remakes land into property and thereby restricts other human relationships to the land. The relationships Indigenous People have with the land are epistemological, ontological and cosmological. By claiming land, settlers are constantly erasing Indigenous identity. Moreover, the relationships Indigenous People have with the land are written off as pre-modern and backward (Tuck & Yang, 2012). So, settler colonialism is completely

27_{In some settler-colonial areas – such as Fiji - natives were able to accommodate to the new society that settlers}

introduced.

28

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different from colonialism; as settlers come to stay. In order to successfully build a new society, people tied to the old society must be eradicated. The relationship between Indigenous People and the land stands in the way of settlers and therefore settler colonialism tries to erase Indigenous identity.

2.7 Concluding the Academic Background

In this chapter, I have presented academic literature multiple topics, such as laws and regulations, racism, classism, sexism and settler colonialism. In providing this information, I have come to an answer of the question of this chapter: How has racism, classism and sexism

of Indigenous People in Canada been theorized? Firstly, I gave an overview on the history of

laws and regulations concerning Indigenous People. It became clear that the Canadian government has power over Indigenous people and their identity.

Secondly, I explained that racism can manifest in different ways and in different contexts. I used the example of residential schooling to illustrate the complexity of racism. Thirdly, I explained how the government has a big influence in the classism of Indigenous People and how classism and racism are hard to distinguish. Fourthly, I explained that Indigenous Women are overrepresented in the figures of Missing and Murdered Women in Canada and linked this to settler colonial stereotypes. Finally, I explained how settler colonialism differs from colonialism as settlers intent to stay and build a new society – getting rid of Indigenous People in the process.

In the next chapter, I will answer the second sub-question of this thesis. The second sub-question is: How do Indigenous People in Canada experience racism? Data from the interviews will be the main focus in this chapter; to get a picture of how Indigenous People experience racism. I will go through the different contexts in which racism can be displayed and combine these with the stories from the respondents. Respectively, I will discuss the interpersonal, cultural-symbolic and socio-political context. The collective context will be worked into chapter four; as this context is similar to classism (Harrell, 2000).

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Chapter III

“They Had the Indian Beat out of Them”

Experiences of Indigenous People with Racism

3.1 Introduction: “Fight or Flight”

Trian and Brett were sitting on their chairs in a small office, surrounding a round table. The office smelled like herbs, as the office was also used for smudging. While Brett and I made small talk, Trian quickly got down to business: asking me whether I wanted to start. Trian works as the Elder coordinator, which entails that he teaches kids, families and men about Indigenous culture. He has a kind and understanding expression about him. Trian told me how he got caught smoking weed. The police gave him two options: either they would take Trian to the police station or down to the river. “I didn’t think nothing of it”, he remembers still. But what happened to Trian does not fit with the picture of a democratic nation state:

They took me down by the river, handcuffed me to a tree in this ravine and beat the living shit out of me. Then they took the handcuffs off.

The police officers apparently felt justified in their actions of beating up a man. While Canada likes to brand itself as a tolerant nation29, it is also home to a culture in which Indigenous People are seen as less than human, not deserving of human rights, or a fair process or trial. Not only did the police officers feel the need to act violently against Trian, they did not provide help to him either. They left him in the ravine, bleeding, hurt, not able to stand up. Trian had no one but himself to get out of the situation, while he hoped that strangers would come to his rescue:

I clawed all the way up that ravine to the street. I laid there for a while until a woman jumped out of her car and helped me. I called my cousins and they picked me up. I got beat up pretty good. A good lickin’.

He told this story calmly and matter-of-factly, while managing to paint a disturbing picture on how he was treated by the police. This type of racism displayed by the police happens to more Indigenous People in Canada. The stories respondents told me ranged from minor comments or questions to brutal physical attacks. In this chapter, I will answer the following question:

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How do Indigenous People in Canada experience racism? I will answer this question by first

presenting stories of the respondents that can be categorized into the interpersonal context. Second, I will give examples of respondents’ experiences with racism in the cultural-symbolic context. Finally, I will explain how the respondents experienced racism in the socio-political context. Now, I will first go into their experiences in the interpersonal context.

3.2 The Interpersonal Context of Racism of Indigenous People

Jean told me that she was waiting in line for a coffee at Tim Hortons one day, when a woman behind her kept saying low-life under her breath. Jean taught herself to stay calm in situations like these. If she would speak up, other people in the queue would turn on her and she feared she would get punched in the face. “It would only prove that she (the woman who kept saying low-life) is more important and more right than me.” Jeannette has had multiple experiences in which complete strangers would say racist slurs. Over time, she has learned to not react emotionally but rationally. She knows that it is not only the lady who kept saying low-life that is racist, but other people in line may be as well. She thinks it through and does not want to take the risk of reacting with the possibility of a bad ending. This illustrates the element of powerlessness of the oppressed; a key element of racism (Speight, 2007).

While Jeannette was dealing with a complete stranger here, other respondents have told stories about their friends, acquaintances, teachers and family members being racist. Kurt told me how he sometimes goes out with friends and orders a coffee. His friends then turn to him and ask why he is not drinking, because Indians love to drink. The experience of Maria is even more complex, because she experiences racism from both sides. She has an Indigenous father and a non-Indigenous mother. Her mother’s side of the family will give her a hard time for identifying as Indigenous, while her Indigenous family will call her white.

She also explained how teachers displayed racism too. The school she went to was in the territory of one band. The teachers assumed that she was part of that band. When she told them she was from a different band – one the teachers had not heard of – she was told that she was wrong. When she told the teacher that she was part of a different band, the teacher would say: “well, that’s not a thing, you must be...” This discussion took place in front of the entire class and stuck with Maria. This, again, is a case in which a non-Indigenous person felt superior to an Indigenous person; telling them what band they belong to. The teacher, a non-Indigenous woman, obviously felt that she knew more about non-Indigenous bands than Maria, an Indigenous girl. This feeling of superiority is a key element of racism (Harrell, 2000)

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Another example of the interpersonal context of racism is a story told by Johnny. He also experienced racism in the classroom. Johnny was the only Indigenous student in his class; “a fly in a sea of milk”. The history teacher was giving back essays with grades and Johnny was the last one left:

He looked at the paper and said: “is your name Johnny?” As he was handing me the paper he pulled it back. He crossed out... I think I had a C. He crossed out the C and put F in front of it. Then he handed it back to me and smiled.

This is a clear case of racism. As Johnny describes, he was the only Indigenous person in the class. While he had a good grade, the teacher did not want to give an Indigenous man a good grade. The fact that he would change the grade because Johnny was Indigenous is bad enough. But that he did it in front of Johnny and was smiling while changing his grade is just disturbing. The teacher got pleasure out of taunting Johnny. He wanted Johnny to know how he felt about Indigenous People. He wanted Johnny to feel mistreated. Even though this display of racism is not violent, it is extremely wicked and brutal to not only mess with someone’s future, but to enjoy it as well.

Interpersonal racism can involve total strangers, but also people close to Indigenous People: people they would see daily, can display racist attitudes and behaviors. Indigenous People not only have to deal with racism on a personal level, but also on a cultural level, through arts, science and literature. I will explain this cultural-symbolic context next.

3.3 The Cultural-Symbolic Context of Racism of Indigenous People

In the cultural-symbolic context, racism is expressed through literature, science and art. This is done by presenting certain images and stories on the non-dominant group that (help) perpetuate certain racist notions (Harrell, 2000). Bill talked about the role of Western science in racism: as he explained that Darwin’s theory of evolution has led to a hierarchy:

South Africans have a smaller sized head so they’re not fully developed, compared to a Norwegian who has a bigger head. So they’re further along. All these sciences are built on these early literatures, which are basically racist, stereotypical, but have never really been challenged at the core.

Bill argues that these early literatures has led people to believe that there is a hierarchy in the human race. This has for instance led to the belief that Indigenous People have to be gradually civilized and become more human. Besides this, he also argues that universities can also be

“I am a Ward of the State” : indigenous men and women and their experiences with racism, classism and sexism in Canada