Table Of ContentGender, Power, and
Representations
of Cree Law
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Gender, Power, and
Representations
of Cree Law
emily snyder
UBC Press • Vancouver • Toronto
© UBC Press 2018
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Printed in Canada on FSC-certifi ed ancient-forest-free paper
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Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Snyder, Emily, author
Gender, power, and representations of Cree law / Emily Snyder.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Issued in print and electronic formats.
ISBN 978-0-7748-3568-8 (hardcover). – ISBN 978-0-7748-3570-1 (PDF). –
ISBN 978-0-7748-3571-8 (EPUB). – ISBN 978-0-7748-3572-5 (Kindle)
1. Native peoples in mass media. 2. Women in mass media – Canada.
3. Law in mass media – Canada. 4. Cree women – Legal status, laws, etc. – Canada.
5. Cree women – Canada – Social conditions. 6. Cree Indians – Legal status,
laws, etc. – Canada. 7. Cree Indians – Canada – Social conditions. 8. Feminist
jurisprudence – Canada. I. Title.
P94.5.I532C3176 2018 305.48′897323071 C 2018-900007-4
C2018-900008-2
UBC Press gratefully acknowledges the fi nancial support for our publishing
program of the Government of Canada (through the Canada Book Fund), the
Canada Council for the Arts, and the British Columbia Arts Council.
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Contents
Acknowledgments / vii
Introduction / 3
1 Frameworks / 28
2 Representations / 49
3 Absences / 74
4 Roles / 100
5 Complexities / 123
6 Troublemakers / 142
Conclusion / 159
Appendix: Data Analysis Guide / 165
Notes / 168
Bibliography / 218
Index / 231
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Acknowledgments
The research and writing for this book was done in many places. I want
to begin by acknowledging these places where I have lived and the
obligations to Indigenous legal orders when one moves around. Th e
imposition of municipal, provincial, and even federal laws and regulations
upon moving to a new place is pronounced – changing licences, contact
information, health information, “responsibly” ensuring that material
possessions and even human life get insured. Th ese settler-colonial legal
logics about how one should start off living in a place erase important
questions about where one is actually living, what its history is, and what
obligations one has to others in the present. Th ese questions are especially
important to me as a white settler living on Indigenous lands.
As I wrote the fi nal revisions for this book, I was living in misâsk-
watôminiskâhk (Saskatoon) in Treaty 6 territory on Cree and Métis
homelands. Prior to this, I was living in and travelling around Haudeno-
saunee and Anishinaabe territory (in southern Ontario), working at the
University of Waterloo. While there, I was also returning to many places
where I spent my childhood, with my mom, dad, sister, grandparents,
aunties, and uncles. Previous to that move, when the work for this book
was in its earlier stages, I lived in Coast Salish territory, and before that
I spent much time in amiskwaciwaskahikan (Edmonton) on Cree and
Métis territory. Th ough I was living in Treaty 6 territory, I also travelled
often to Treaty 8 territory, where my partner, Brock, and his family are
from. He, along with many brothers, sisters, and cousins, was raised in
a Cree and Métis family by his mom, dad, aunties, and uncles. It is also
vii
viii Acknowledgments
noteworthy that non-human beings (cats) have shaped my life during
the writing of this book (and beyond): Meowsies, General Bonkers, Del-
phinium, and Dr. Bojalowz.
I want to acknowledge and thank the communities of family, friends,
and colleagues in these places, with whom I have had discussions over
the years. Colonialism, racism, sexism, heterosexism, classism, and able-
ism were, and are, part of our discussions, and I am deeply appreciative
of being able to listen and learn with others while trying to understand
the messiness, diffi culties, and possibilities of living together. Diffi -
cult questions regarding my own social location as a white feminist
researcher shape how I have come to, and engage, this research. Indig-
enous, feminist, and other scholars have amply shown that researchers
are not neutral – our histories, social location, and politics, in vary-
ing ways, mould the questions that we ask and how we approach and
produce research. My grappling with Indigenous feminist legal theory
encourages intersectional analyses, attentiveness to context, and ser-
iously addressing questions about power, which for myself includes an
understanding of my own gendered experiences while also challenging
hierarchical racial constructs and the unearned privileges that I receive
from them. My learning is ongoing.
Th ere are many people to thank, who helped this book come together.
Th ank you to the peer reviewers for your thought-provoking comments
and feedback. Th ank you to the many mentors with whom I have been
fortunate to spend time. I am indebted to two especially exceptional
mentors – Val Napoleon and Lise Gotell. I am grateful for the encour-
aging and challenging words from mentors, colleagues, and a support-
ive community of people who helped shape this book (though I take
responsibility for any errors, missteps, or misunderstandings). Th ank you
also to Isabel Altamirano-Jiménez, Heidi Bickis, John Borrows, Hadley
Friedland, Shalene Jobin, Julie Kaye, Katie MacDonald, Michelle Mea-
gher, Sarah Nickel, Jillian Paragg, Ondine Park, and Amanda Snyder
for your conversation and your thoughtfulness. Th ank you especially to
Brock Roe for your patience, composure, sense of humour, and care as
I worked on this book. Th ank you to the many wonderful people with
whom I was able to spend time on various projects and in various units
at the University of Alberta, the Indigenous Law Research Unit at the
University of Victoria, the University of Waterloo, and at the University
of Saskatchewan. Th is book has also come together through the support
and hard work of several people at UBC Press, and I especially want to
thank Lesley Erickson and Darcy Cullen. I look forward to continued
Acknowledgments ix
and new conversations, and to the questions that might be raised about
the analyses off ered here.
Th e research for this book was supported by funding from a Social
Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Canada
Graduate Scholarship and in part by a SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellowship.
