Diversity is (not) good enough: Unsettling White Settler Colonialism within Toronto’s Queer Service Sector

309 Pages·2014·1.674 MB·English

by  Greensmith, Cameron DI

Diversity is (not) good enough:
Unsettling White Settler Colonialism within Toronto’s Queer
Service Sector

by

Cameron Greensmith

A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy

Social Justice Education

Ontario Institute of Studies in Education

University of Toronto

Toronto, Ontario

© Copyright by Cameron Greensmith 2015
ii

Diversity is (not) good enough:
Unsettling White Settler Colonialism within Toronto’s Queer
Service Sector
Cameron Greensmith
Doctor of Philosophy
Department of Social Justice Education, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education University of
Toronto
2015

Abstract

This dissertation explores the ways in which queer service provision and non-Indigenous lesbian,
gay, bisexual, queer, and trans (LGBTQ)-identified service providers in downtown Toronto can
contribute to and become complicit in white settler colonial projects. During this study based on
in-depth interviews, forty-three research participants were asked about their experiences working
within their respective queer service organizations, and, more specifically, about their
understandings of how diversity, anti-racism, and anti-colonialism are practiced. Findings
highlight how queer service provision, particularly its perpetual crisis and capacity to care for
queerness, can obscure the ways the organizations themselves contribute to the naturalization of
a hierarchy of oppression that centralizes the needs of white queers. Additionally, I consider the
narratives of white service providers’ goodness as easily relocating Indigenous peoples as
“problems” and “pathology” who then become unworthy of care. Moreover, this inquiry
theorizes how the narratives offered by white service providers fit Indigenous peoples and people
of colour into stories of Canadian multiculturalism. I show how non-Indigenous queer and trans
service providers’ evocations of diversity and inclusion easily deflect their implicatedness in
white settler colonialism. Although queer service provision is a rich site of queer politics, it
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continues to be a site that is tied to state-sanctioned funding regimes and neoliberal models of
care used to naturalize Indigenous peoples’ elimination, erasure, and assimilation. Thus, this
research contends that queer communities in downtown Toronto operate to sustain white
supremacy and settler colonialism. I conclude with a set of questions that asks non-Indigenous
service providers to engage with how they participate (often unknowingly) in white settler
colonial projects, and move beyond queer service provision as a site of emancipation in order to
meaningfully support Indigenous resurgence and decolonization.
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Acknowledgements

Producing this dissertation has been an exciting, invigorating challenge that has incited
great pleasure and reward, as well as copious amounts of stress. Although my name is attached to
this dissertation in the end, it could not have manifested into reality without the tremendous
support from numerous colleagues, mentors, friends, and family who have all supported me on
my academic journey. To begin, I first want to thank the research participants who dedicated
their time and energy to this timely research project. The queer service sector is not always the
easiest of sites in which to work for many reasons—not least of which is its state of perpetual
crisis. Given this, I could not have produced such a complex dissertation without your insight,
support, and contributions. I have deep respect for all of you.
I wish to also thank my amazing committee. To my supervisor and friend, Dr. Martin
Cannon, thank you so much for your on-going kindness and support in completing this
dissertation. You have shown me that patience is a key factor in this winding yet invigorating
process. Your mentorship and guidance continues to shape my scholarship and teaching for the
better. To Dr. Scott Morgensen, who has been nothing but supportive around my development as
a scholar. You are one of the kindest people I have ever met. You have truly gone above and
beyond in your role as a committee member, to become a friend, and a future colleague of mine.
Thank you for providing me with copious support and pushing my work to its fullest, critical
potential. To Dr. June Larkin, thank you for your kindness and thoughtfulness surrounding my
growth as a scholar and university-based educator. Your wisdom, kindness, and dedication to
this critical work have been much appreciated, and are qualities that will stay with me throughout
my journey in and beyond academia.
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There are so many other mentors, and now colleagues, who have come into my life. To
my previous professors at Brock University: Dr. Catherine Nash, Dr. Margot Francis, and Dr.
Nancy Cook. All of you have pushed me to my fullest potential, especially on my quest for
stronger, more articulate writing. I also want to thank Dr. Kevin Gosine, my friend, mentor, and
future collaborator, for providing me with guidance and feedback that has strengthened this
research for the better, especially surrounding all things method. I am so glad that you pushed me
to pursue graduate studies. Our periodic visits have provided inspiration in times of crisis,
desperation and need. Additionally, my time at Ryerson University allowed for me to relay
difficult theoretical materials to a diverse body of social work students. Thank you Dr. Jennifer
Poole for taking a chance on me, for introducing me to critical approaches to social work
education, and for providing the opportunity for me to meet my now dear friend Lisa Redgrift. I
am so grateful for both your kindness and care, as well as critical approaches to the teaching and
academic work you do. To Dr. Kristin Smith, we met only a little over a year ago now; yet, your
kindness and support will stay with me for my entire career. You have shown me that
compassion is a necessary quality for a university-based researcher and educator. Thank you for
your critical insights, mentorship and friendship. I will truly take this (new) learning with me
beyond the walls of academia. Moreover, I cannot forget to mention my more recent mentors at
the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, in particular, Dr. Tanya Titchkosky, Dr. Roland
Sintos Coloma, and Dr. Vanessa Russell. Thank you all for providing me with copious guidance
and a friendly ear in times of excitement and sorrow. Your insights are ones that I will carry with
me for my lifetime.
A sincere thank you also goes to my strong supporters and friends. Earl Nowgesic, thank
you for your friendship. Your support surrounding graduate school, scholarly writing, and
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service provision could not go unacknowledged here. Thank you for seeing something in me that
sometimes I have a hard time seeing myself. You are truly a wonderful, kind, and compassionate
friend and mentor. To Raneem Azzam, my dear friend. The time we have spent together has
been life changing. Thank you for your kindness and support around all things related to
research, teaching and life. You are truly a remarkable woman and I wish nothing but the best for
you! To Angela Pietrobon, my editor of all things. Your passion pertaining to this research, your
excellent editorial skills, and your willful personality has made it such a pleasure to write and
ultimately finish this dissertation. Thank you so much for your on-going support. I am truly
thankful for everything you have done and asked me to think about.
I want to extend my greatest thanks to my immediate family. Although education was
never something I was particularly good at, you have always supported me. To Evelyn and Norm
Greensmith, my parents, thank you for instilling in me the utmost respect for life and all things
social justice. And most of all, thank you for your guidance, support, and love. To Spencer
Greensmith, my brother. It is always a pleasure to spend time with you, since we rarely see one
another anymore. Thank you for believing in me and spending time listening to my rambling.
For that, I will always be grateful.
Finally, to Jeremy Tremblay, my friend, partner, and soul mate. Thank you for being
there for me in times of crisis and happiness. I truly am eternally indebted to you. Your
thoughtful criticism, engaged participation, and ability to encourage me to stop, have been
invaluable. Thank you for giving me a reason to finish this dissertation, and upon its completion,
to grow even more with you. This dissertation is dedicated to you.
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Table of Contents
Abstract ..................................................................................................................................... ii
Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................. iv
Table of Contents ................................................................................................................... vii
Chapter 1—Introduction ......................................................................................................... 1
1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 1
1.1. Research Focus .................................................................................................................... 4
1.2. Research Significance and Context ................................................................................... 14
1.3. Organization of Research Study ........................................................................................ 27
1.4. In/Conclusions ................................................................................................................... 31
Chapter 2—Theoretical Framework: Addressing White Settler Colonial Logics Within
Queer Modernities ................................................................................................................. 33
2. Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 33
2.1. Colonialism/Settler Colonialism ........................................................................................ 34
2.1.1. Biopolitics and Necropolitics: The Management and Removal of Indigeneity .................... 38
2.2. White Settler Colonialism .................................................................................................. 41
2.3. Theorizing The Settler ....................................................................................................... 45
2.4. Queer Settler Colonialism .................................................................................................. 50
2.4.1. Theorizing the Effects of Heteropatriarchy ............................................................................ 51
2.4.2. Toward A Queer Settler Colonial Critique ............................................................................. 55
2.4.3. Theorizing Queer Settler Complicity ...................................................................................... 61
2.5. Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 65
Chapter 3—Literature Review: Theorizing Race, Colonialism, and Indigeneity in
Service Provisional Literatures ............................................................................................. 67
3. Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 67
3.1. Historicizing White Settler Colonial Service Provision in Canada ................................... 69
3.2. Addressing Race and Colonialism in Contemporary Service Provision ........................... 76
3.3. Indigenizing and Decolonizing Service Provision ............................................................. 80
3.4. Helping Frameworks within Service Provision ................................................................. 87
3.4.1. Cultural Competency ............................................................................................................... 89
3.4.2. Anti-Oppression ....................................................................................................................... 91
3.4.3. Towards Settler Decolonial Practice ....................................................................................... 93
3.5. Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 95
Chapter 4—Methodological Framework ............................................................................. 97
4. Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 97
4.1. A Qualitative In-Depth Interview Study ............................................................................ 97
4.2. Research Study Sites and Sampling ................................................................................... 99
4.3. Interviews ......................................................................................................................... 107
4.4. Data Analysis ................................................................................................................... 112
4.5. Ethical Implications ......................................................................................................... 113
4.6. Issues of Trustworthiness ................................................................................................. 115
4.6.1. Confirmability ........................................................................................................................ 115
4.6.2. Credibility ............................................................................................................................... 116
4.6.3. Dependability ......................................................................................................................... 117
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4.6.4. Transferability ....................................................................................................................... 117
4.7. Delimitations and Limitations of the Research Study ..................................................... 118
4.7.1. Limitations ............................................................................................................................. 119
4.8. Conclusion ....................................................................................................................... 122
Chapter 5—The Crisis and Care of Queer Service Provision ......................................... 124
5. Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 124
5.1. Queer Service Provision in Toronto ................................................................................ 127
5.2. Toward Services that Care ............................................................................................... 136
5.2.1. Counselling ............................................................................................................................ 136
5.2.2. Sexual Health Services .......................................................................................................... 139
5.2.3. Education ............................................................................................................................... 141
5.3. Constraining Services: Funding and Neo-Liberalism ...................................................... 144
5.3.1. Crisis of Queer Service Provision ......................................................................................... 145
5.3.2. Funding .................................................................................................................................. 148
5.3.3. Funding that Limits Possibilities .......................................................................................... 151
5.4. Bodies, Representation, and the Quest for Diversity ....................................................... 155
5.5. Conclusion ....................................................................................................................... 163
Chapter 6—Being Good, Positioning Difference: Towards a Politics of Care ............... 166
6. Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 166
6.1. White (Settler) Goodness ................................................................................................. 168
6.2. Positioning Difference ..................................................................................................... 170
6.3. Helping Narratives ........................................................................................................... 180
6.4. Being and Feeling Good .................................................................................................. 187
6.5. Conclusion ....................................................................................................................... 199
Chapter 7—Innocence and Complicity: Non-Indigenous Queer and Trans Peoples’
Deflections of Responsibility ............................................................................................... 202
7. Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 202
7.1. Theorizing Innocence and Trauma .................................................................................. 203
7.1.1. Trauma ................................................................................................................................... 206
7.2. Evocations of Trauma ...................................................................................................... 208
7.3. Symbolic Inclusion and Empty Gestures ......................................................................... 214
7.4. Deflections of Responsibility ........................................................................................... 225
7.5. Conclusion ....................................................................................................................... 238
Chapter 8—Toward a Practice of Settler Decolonization in Queer Service Provision . 241
8.1. Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 241
8.2. Key Findings .................................................................................................................... 243
8.2.1. Propelled into Crisis and Care .............................................................................................. 243
8.2.2. Reinscribing White Settler Colonial Relations through Caring and Helping Discourses . 245
8.2.3. Inclusion and Diversity for Whom? ...................................................................................... 246
8.3. Making Connections and Asking Questions .................................................................... 247
8.4. Further Research .............................................................................................................. 253
8.5. In/Conclusions ................................................................................................................. 256
Notes ...................................................................................................................................... 258
References ............................................................................................................................. 260
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Appendices ............................................................................................................................ 289
Appendix A: Demographic Information ................................................................................. 289
Appendix B: Recruitment Flyer .............................................................................................. 291
Appendix C: Recruitment Email ............................................................................................. 292
Appendix D: Informed Consent Document ............................................................................ 293
Appendix E: Interview Guide ................................................................................................. 295
Appendix F: Primary Coding Schema .................................................................................... 297
Appendix G: Secondary Coding Schema ............................................................................... 298
1

Chapter 1
Introduction

1. Introduction

Indigenous peoples1 in what is now known as Canada continue to experience the violent
effects of colonialism in their everyday lives. While much has been written on the historical role
white settlers have played in the on-going genocide of Indigenous peoples, contemporary
evocations of settler colonialism, particularly within queer2 and trans3 communities in Toronto,
Canada, continue to receive little scrutiny. The scholarship theorizing settler colonialism
explores how processes of elimination naturalize the erasure, assimilation, and dispossession of
Indigenous peoples (Cannon, 2014a; Smith, 2010, 2012; Tuck & Gaztambide-Fernandez, 2013;
Tuck & Yang, 2012; Wolfe 1999, 2006, 2013). I consider how modern queer service provision—
educational, social service, and health care organizations that primarily serve lesbian, gay,
bisexual, trans, and queer (LGBTQ) identified service users—exists to sustain white supremacist
and settler colonial politics that continue to deride and repudiate Indigenous life. White
supremacy can be defined as a system of race-based preferences that remain deeply ingrained
within contemporary North America (hooks, 2003; Razack, 1998, 2008; Thobani, 2007).
Moreover, settler colonialism is “predicated upon discourses of [I]ndigenous displacement”
(Byrd, 2011, p. xvii). White supremacy and settler colonialism are insidious and often taken-for-
granted ways of organizing social life.
Compelling evidence contends that the eliminationist logics of settler colonialism, a
concept proposed by Wolfe (1999, 2006, 2013), remain firmly intact within seemingly
emancipatory queer politics and festivals in Canada (Greensmith & Giwa, 2013; Sykes & Lloyd,
2012). These projects of elimination evolved out of larger historical practices used to naturalize
the settlement process (Wolfe, 1999). 2-Spirited4 people continue to experience the adverse