During International Women’s Week, our class attended two presentations. The first was entitled “Climate Change, Pipelines, and Violence Against Women” by Lucy Everett and Jen Gobby on March 2nd. These two women addressed issues that indigenous women face, how climate change affects women, colonization, residential schools, intergenerational trauma, current man camps, organizations, and more. The later was ‘Living in the Shadow of Law 21’ presented by Nadia Naqvi and Laïty Fary Ndiaye on March 4th. Both of the women are Muslim, Nadia chooses to wear the hijab, while Laïty, who is a woman of colour, decides not to wear it. Nadia spoke about how, as she is a visibly practicing Muslim, she has faced Islamaphobia in Quebec. Laïty also shared her anecdotes and opinions on Bill 21.
The women spoke about global warming, climate change and the effects that it has on indigenous people and their practices (i.e. hunting and fishing) in Canada. Canada is also a huge emitter, and it was mentioned that indigenous people should be included in the decisions that involve nature. Lucy and Jen said that 80% of people displaced by climate change are women (UN). They also discussed colonization as gendered oppression. They went over negative stereotypes that target indigenous people (i.e. addicts and incompetent), the Indian Act, residential schools, ‘child welfare’/the sixties scoop, forced sterilization, and policing and the criminal justice system. Lucy and Jen also shared images of indigenous women on the front lines of the climate crisis and of resistance to extractivism. By the end of the first presentation, the goal that came across was that indigenous men and women should be allowed to have a say in discussions that surround their lands and territories.
In the second presentation, Nadia, a science teacher, went into depth regarding Islamophobia before and after 9/11. She shared personal stories from her childhood, events she had experienced and also acts of violence her father had gone through. Nadia got married a few days before 9/11, she was in Canada while her husband was not. The immigration process usually takes 8 months, but theirs took 3 years because her husband is a Muslim man. She made it clear that she is unable to move up with her profession due to her religion, while her other coworkers may achieve a higher status. She is a good teacher and doesn’t want people to judge her teaching by her religion. Laïty is a black woman and she chooses not to wear a hijab, which is a choice she’s allowed to make and it does not mean that she is less Muslim than women who wear it.
Throughout all of our class readings, the theme of male stereotypes is present. Both of these seminars went over some stereotypes. Lucy and Jen mentioned some for indigenous men and women and how this excludes them from the table-making decisions. They are expected to be lazy drunks who don’t have anything to offer when it comes to serious issues. Nadia and Laïty went into detail about stereotypes for Muslim men and women. A common one that Nadia shared was how people assume all Muslims are terrorists, and her father even had to suffer from acts of violence. The readings are often about how men have to be and act a certain way in order to be considered a man, which are gendered stereotypes. The presentations consisted of racist stereotypes.
Lovers and Fighters | Section 22 