A journey through muddy waters: Storying Algonquin life and identity with Algonquin women and gender-diverse people from Mattawa and North Bay, Ontario

• Main Author: Patterson, Kaitlyn
• Other Authors: Kinesiology and Health Studies, Power, Elaine
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2022
• Subjects: Algonquin; Indigenous identity; Storytelling; Comprehensive Land Claim; Canada; Indian; North Bay; anishina*
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1974/30372

Algonquin identity and self-determination have been deeply impacted by colonialism in Algonquin territory for over 400 years. Settler colonialism has disrupted Algonquins’ connections to land, as well as our kinships, cultures, and communities – all of which impact who Algonquins are and how we govern our lives. Notably, assimilatory laws and policies such as the Indian Act have altered definitions of Indigeneity in Canada and imposed heteropatriarchal structures that dispossess and oppress Algonquin women and gender-diverse people in particular. Algonquin self-determination and governance have likewise been shaped by domestic laws, and problematically framed within discourses of Aboriginal rights and federal recognition. Now, as many Algonquins are engaging in community-building while strengthening cultural connections after histories of colonial dispossession, they are doing so in the context of a controversial Algonquin comprehensive land claim that further complicates identity and nationhood. During a time when many are speculating on the parameters of Indigeneity and citizenship, Indigenous feminist, anti-colonial storytelling with Algonquins offers a meaningful way explore identity and belonging specific to the Algonquin Nation. Therefore, this dissertation utilizes storytelling through the conversational method, rooted in an Anishinaabe research paradigm and supported by a ribbon skirt method of data analysis, to examine the impacts of colonialism, and, in particular, the Indian Act and the Comprehensive Land Claims Policy, on Algonquin identity and self-determination among 13 Algonquin women and gender-diverse people from Mattawa and North Bay, Ontario. Results demonstrate participants’ mixed views of the Algonquin land claim, with identified benefits and critiques predominantly related to Algonquin rights and title; self-determination and governance; resource extraction and economic expansion; identity; and the length and productivity of negotiations. Storied results also illustrate participants’ ...