WS100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: Community Organizing, Internalized Oppression
History
Must see operations of hierarchy that is still occurring
Kitchener - Waterloo has highest rate of hate crimes in the country
Indigenous children do not have the same rights are others
John A. MacDonald said Canada would be a “white man country”
Took over native land → govt has control over the lives of indigenous people
Acknowledge that slavery did occur in Canada, and that there was colonialism
A story is for purpose → eg it is cold outside, some people can’t afford heat
How did these advantages that we may not even notice begin?
● Before we became an urban centre…
● France and Britain decided they wanted to claim land of Canada (were also in other
parts of the world), setup treaties with indigenous people → can have this land but has
rules (different form of genocide, not usually labelled as genocide)
● Colonists settle, men arrive first, realize they need women (reproduction)
● Women were clearing land, constructing houses, doing work
● Indigenous people were teaching them how to do this work (what to produce on land,
how to do it, etc)
● Indigenous women were participants on trial councils, political questions, education, etc
→ knew how to talk about community organizing, to envision role of women differently
than how white women who came to Canada envisioned themselves → taught white
women how to do this
● Didn’t consider if women were “weaker”, everyone just did the work, some people had
better skills in certain areas
● Smaller communities were built (villages, towns, cities), begins to be surplus of products
produced on farms → company/business development
● Mid 19thc emergence of industrialization in form of capitalism
● Must give sons land to work on, but don’t have enough land… sons would work for
factories and surpass their fathers (fathers worried because power/authority loss,
concern for patriarchy)
● Private public split: emergence of small factories that move into large corporate
businesses… public world vile (no morals), idea emerges that girls and women are
fragile… say all white girls and women must stay in house, make it haven for family,
boys and men must face ugly world, status of family - no women work for money, stays
in house and creates nurturing enviro
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