Femmes autochtones

Multiple Levels of Minority

In a Canadian context, talking about women’s issues should always involve the situation of Aboriginal women across Canada. The stats on this group are the most sobering to be found, in terms of socioeconomics, health, employment, safety…There is a very divided and tense situation between the social institutions of this country and the needs of Aboriginal women.

One of the places that this is most clear is Vancouver’s downtown east side. This neighbourhood is generally seen as being damaged, hopeless, and perhaps better to leave to itself. Drug addiction, homelessness, prostitution, crime, and violence are the face of East Hastings. A documentary by a Vancouver police officer showing scenes from East Hastings, Through the Blue Lens, is the kind of material the outside world is often shown. Not that it isn’t compassionate or mindful of the people whose stories it tells, but it portrays them very much as victims. To counter, there are some films such as this one that try to show the real people behind the stories and “debunk the sensationalism surrounding a neighbourhood deeply misunderstood”. Survival, Strength, Sisterhood: Power of Women in the Downtown Eastside focuses on women’s movements in the area, largely Aboriginal-based.

The question of multiple levels of minoritisation has come up in previous posts. The minority status of Aboriginal women is a prime example. First of all, they are members of colonized peoples across a country taken over by European power. Their cultures continue to be suppressed by the colonizing forces of mainstream culture and social structures. Secondly, the women within this group automatically get another level of minority identity, given the Western imbalance of male and female that has been reinforced for centuries. Still now, the Indian Act contains passages that link women’s ‘status’ (and therefore ability to live on reserves and to qualify for government money) to marriage, while such a link has never been made for men. This is an extremely embedded manifestation of systemic inequality. On top of being Aboriginal and women, these communities deal with the realities of poverty, unemployment, lack of access to healthcare, malnutrition, mental health issues, disease, high rates of incarceration, isolation from communities, alienation from the education system, and steep societal prejudice.

The reality is that most people who deal with one of these issues have to deal with more than one. There is a definite compounding effect of multiple levels of minority—each level makes it harder to get out of the cycle. But the goal of films like the one above is to depict these minority groups not as victims, but as strong individuals fighting to help each other get through their mutual difficulties. The feeling of being a minority can be, up to a point, strongly countered by being part of a strong community and being surrounded by supportive people going through the same things. 


Womens Memorial March                          

A Working Girl's Nightmare                  

The White Ribbon Campaign                        

Aboriginal Women's Statement on Legal Prostitution