This thesis documents the employment history of Sne-nay-muxw women. The Sne nay-muxw, a Coast Salish peoples, live on the southeast coast ofVancouver Island close to the city ofNanaimo. Nanaimo was established by the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1852 as coal mining town. Coal dominated the economy until the early 20th century when forestry related production became important. Today a service economy has eclipsed both the primary and secondary industries. Within these economies a distinct gender, race and class segregation structured Sne-nay-muxw women’s employment opportunities. This study examines the nature of this segregation, the Sne-nay-muxw domestic economy and the gender ideology that promoted both women’s inclusion and exclusion in. wage labour. A central question posed in this thesis is why Sne-nay-muxw women today perceive their traditional roles to be within the home despite their historical participation in the labour force. Feminist anthropology provides the theoretical and methodological approach used for this study. It is accepted that women’s experiences in the labour force are different not only from men but also from other women based upon relational inequalities ofrace and class. Historical data was collected from a variety of sources; published and unpublished government reports, missionary accounts, letters and journals. Nineteen women and eight men were interviewed in the community for both historic and contemporary accounts of employment experiences. History reveals that during the mining economy Sne-nay-muxw women were excluded from working in the mines and limited to employment as domestic servants. The introduction of Chinese labour, decreasing coal demands and increased technology forced many women to migrate with their families to the canneries on the Fraser river and the hop fields in Washington state. In the forestry related production economy, Sne-nay-muxw women’s opportunities were limited despite the expansion of employment for women in the service sector. State policies and inferior education were significant factors in this exclusion. At this time Sne-nay-muxw women continued to migrate with their families to the fish camps on Rivers Inlet and the berry fields in Washington state. In the last two decades the service economy has dominated in Nanaimo. Sne-nay-muxw women have found increasing job opportunities on and off reserve in administration, management and professional service delivery programs. While this employment is part of the wider trend for women in the service economy, Sne-nay-muxw women’s opportunities remain segregated by gender, race and class. Women’s participation in the labour force is shown to be linked to the organization of their domestic economy. Before 1920 this economy incorporated both subsistence production and farming with seasonal wage labour. After this time the Sne-nay-muxw became increasingly dependent upon wage labour. However, extended family and kinship networks have remained important for support and cooperation. This form ofhousehold organization did not constrain women’s participation in the labour force. Today extended families remain the central organizing principle in Sne-nay-muxw lives. Sne-nay-muxw women’s identity and opportunities for education and employment remain linked to their membership in these families. Shifts in women’s participation in the labour force is shown to be accompanied by acceptance of a domestic ideology. During the mining economy when women actively sought wage labour, they acquired domestic skills needed for wage labour but did not accept an ideology that promoted their dependency upon men. Historical evidence indicates that they retained a significant degree of autonomy in their lives. With men’s increased security of employment in the forestry economy, the idealized role ofwomen as housewives was promoted. Families that were able to realize women’s exclusion from the labour force gained status and prestige in the community. Finally, in the service economy, the Sne-nay-muxw gender ideology includes women’s participation in the labour force to occupations linked to their domestic and nurturing roles.

This thesis examines the current problematic relationship between the Canadian criminal justice system and the Snuneymuxw (Coast Salish) community. An historical analysis of the Canadian justice system, attempts to indigenize it and alternative indigenous justice processes were examined to determine their cultural relevance for the Snuneymuxw. The research also consisted of a qualitative analysis of twenty-one interviews with Snuneymuxw community members and Canadian criminal justice system officials along with my perspective as a police officer responsible for policing this community. In effect, this has added a deeper analysis of this issue with the goal of making substantive recommendations on how the Snuneymuxw peoples can establish a community-based and culturally relevant justice process, in accordance with their S’nuw’uy’ulh cultural teachings. Furthermore, this analysis will also recommend the relationship and connection of this process with the criminal justice system. This thesis is intended to guide the researcher, the Snuneymuxw community and potentially other indigenous communities with a process of developing and implementing a culturally relevant and appropriate model of justice for their community.

This thesis describes the aboriginal and contemporary social organization of the Coast Salish people of southwestern British Columbia and northwestern Washington State, with a focus on the Squamish Nation whose Reserves are situated in North Vancouver and the Howe Sound area. It is based on field research undertaken over a 30-year period and on published and unpublished sources. The thesis explores the construction of kinship and social groups among the Coast Salish, and the transformation of these relationships over time and in various historical circumstances, from the mid-19th century to the present day. Drawing upon the theoretical approaches of William Davenport (1959), Raymond Firth (1963) and Anthony Cohen (1985), among others, the thesis discusses key components of Coast Salish social organization and identity, including a group's contrasting identity and relation to the groups within its ambit of comparison, the association of specific social units with territory, and the expression of status in both traditional and contemporary society. Specific findings document a shift to nuclear family households, the adoption of English kinship terms, the development of hereditary and elected leadership, and the emergence of the Tribe and the First Nation as primary symbols of identity in the 20th century. Some current issues resulting from the impact of change are examined in the context of naming ceremonies and disputes over inherited property, including ancestral names. The thesis argues that the diversity and complexity of neither the traditional nor transformed expressions of Coast Salish social organization find congruence with models of aboriginal society being deployed by contemporary Courts and Treaty negotiators. Issues of territorial "overlap" presently impeding treaty negotiation among BC's Coast Salish peoples were nevertheless predictable, for like some of the world's other cognatic societies, the Coast Salish could hold discrete notions of identity simultaneously. In conclusion, the thesis examines briefly the application to the Coast Salish of Lévi-Strauss' "House-society" as a specific form of social organization.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1985. / Vita. Bibliography: leaves [507]-538.

This thesis examines the current problematic relationship between the Canadian criminal justice system and the Snuneymuxw (Coast Salish) community. An historical analysis of the Canadian justice system, attempts to indigenize it and alternative indigenous justice processes were examined to determine their cultural relevance for the Snuneymuxw. The research also consisted of a qualitative analysis of twenty-one interviews with Snuneymuxw community members and Canadian criminal justice system officials along with my perspective as a police officer responsible for policing this community. In effect, this has added a deeper analysis of this issue with the goal of making substantive recommendations on how the Snuneymuxw peoples can establish a community-based and culturally relevant justice process, in accordance with their S’nuw’uy’ulh cultural teachings. Furthermore, this analysis will also recommend the relationship and connection of this process with the criminal justice system. This thesis is intended to guide the researcher, the Snuneymuxw community and potentially other indigenous communities with a process of developing and implementing a culturally relevant and appropriate model of justice for their community.

In the past, the Ministry of Social Services and Housing has placed many native children from the Seabird Island Band, a Salish band in the Sta’lo Nation, in permanent placement or adoption off the reserve. Government agencies imposed a system of child welfare that superseded Seabird Island adoption practices. The Seabird Island Band members would prefer to see these children placed within the band through ‘custom’ adoption. In apprehension and placement court cases, the band social worker has needed documented information defining ‘custom’ adoption, and data regarding the benefits of this Seabird Island process. This thesis investigates and documents the process and results of adoption on the Seabird Island Indian Reserve. This thesis begins with a brief history of Canadian adoption policy as it applies to First Nations people. The thesis is based on detailed taped interviews with Seabird Island Band members who had experienced foster care and/or adoption. This fieldwork was the result of negotiation with the Seabird Island Band to discover the type of research that they needed. The thesis documents four kinds of adoption experience of the Seabird Island members: foster care, closed legal adoption, open adoption, and ‘custom’ adoption. In my analysis of these adoption experiences, three main themes occur: (1) issues of ethnic identity, (2) power and the child welfare system, and (3) the definition and functions of ‘custom’ adoption. The thesis concludes that the imposed system of child welfare based on Euro-western ideas of appropriate child care may have destroyed or seriously damaged some Seabird Island Band members’ sense of ethnic identity. As well, it may be a factor in the break-up of the extended family. ‘Custom’ adoption, as defined by Seabird Island Band members, offers an alternate model for keeping apprehended Seabird Island children within the band. Open adoption, as defined by the pilot project documented, is an alternative for those children who cannot be returned to the band. I have made several recommendations in the conclusion for the Seabird Island Band’s consideration. / Arts, Faculty of / Anthropology, Department of / Graduate

This thesis documents the employment history of Sne-nay-muxw women. The Sne nay-muxw, a Coast Salish peoples, live on the southeast coast ofVancouver Island close to the city ofNanaimo. Nanaimo was established by the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1852 as coal mining town. Coal dominated the economy until the early 20th century when forestry related production became important. Today a service economy has eclipsed both the primary and secondary industries. Within these economies a distinct gender, race and class segregation structured Sne-nay-muxw women’s employment opportunities. This study examines the nature of this segregation, the Sne-nay-muxw domestic economy and the gender ideology that promoted both women’s inclusion and exclusion in. wage labour. A central question posed in this thesis is why Sne-nay-muxw women today perceive their traditional roles to be within the home despite their historical participation in the labour force. Feminist anthropology provides the theoretical and methodological approach used for this study. It is accepted that women’s experiences in the labour force are different not only from men but also from other women based upon relational inequalities ofrace and class. Historical data was collected from a variety of sources; published and unpublished government reports, missionary accounts, letters and journals. Nineteen women and eight men were interviewed in the community for both historic and contemporary accounts of employment experiences. History reveals that during the mining economy Sne-nay-muxw women were excluded from working in the mines and limited to employment as domestic servants. The introduction of Chinese labour, decreasing coal demands and increased technology forced many women to migrate with their families to the canneries on the Fraser river and the hop fields in Washington state. In the forestry related production economy, Sne-nay-muxw women’s opportunities were limited despite the expansion of employment for women in the service sector. State policies and inferior education were significant factors in this exclusion. At this time Sne-nay-muxw women continued to migrate with their families to the fish camps on Rivers Inlet and the berry fields in Washington state. In the last two decades the service economy has dominated in Nanaimo. Sne-nay-muxw women have found increasing job opportunities on and off reserve in administration, management and professional service delivery programs. While this employment is part of the wider trend for women in the service economy, Sne-nay-muxw women’s opportunities remain segregated by gender, race and class. Women’s participation in the labour force is shown to be linked to the organization of their domestic economy. Before 1920 this economy incorporated both subsistence production and farming with seasonal wage labour. After this time the Sne-nay-muxw became increasingly dependent upon wage labour. However, extended family and kinship networks have remained important for support and cooperation. This form ofhousehold organization did not constrain women’s participation in the labour force. Today extended families remain the central organizing principle in Sne-nay-muxw lives. Sne-nay-muxw women’s identity and opportunities for education and employment remain linked to their membership in these families. Shifts in women’s participation in the labour force is shown to be accompanied by acceptance of a domestic ideology. During the mining economy when women actively sought wage labour, they acquired domestic skills needed for wage labour but did not accept an ideology that promoted their dependency upon men. Historical evidence indicates that they retained a significant degree of autonomy in their lives. With men’s increased security of employment in the forestry economy, the idealized role ofwomen as housewives was promoted. Families that were able to realize women’s exclusion from the labour force gained status and prestige in the community. Finally, in the service economy, the Sne-nay-muxw gender ideology includes women’s participation in the labour force to occupations linked to their domestic and nurturing roles. / Arts, Faculty of / Sociology, Department of / Graduate

This dissertation historicizes and explains the tensions that arose between localized and regionally dispersed expressions of group affiliation and political authority among the indigenous people of the Lower Fraser River watershed after European contact. It accomplishes this by directly engaging indigenous historiography and epistemology. The period examined covers the late eighteenth century, just prior to the first smallpox epidemic, through to 1906 when a delegation of Salish men met with King Edward in London on behalf of all the Native people of British Columbia. I argue that Aboriginal collective identity and political authority are and were situationally constructed products of complicated negotiations among indigenous people and between Natives and newcomers. Multiple options were always available and the various expressions that shared identity assumed never were the only ones possible. Consequently, among the local indigenous population, history has always been regarded as an important arbitrator of identity and disagreements over competing historical interpretations highly contentious. To a greater extent than has been appreciated, changes in the way Native collective affiliations have been constituted have been informed by reference to ancient sacred stories and an ongoing process of interpreting past precedence. They are also intimately linked to migrations. Over time and across geography, different indigenous people have used these stories to different ends. Gendered and class-based distinctions in the way these narratives have been applied to either the creation of innovative collective identities or to the defense of older expressions reveal the tensions within Aboriginal society and between Natives and newcomers that arose as indigenous people struggled to make sense of a rapidly changing colonial world. The uncertainty following pivotal historical events allowed these submerged tensions to assume more public forms. Examined here are the important identity shaping historical events and migrations that indigenous historiography has emphasized: Creation, the Great Flood, the 1780 smallpox epidemic, the establishment of local Hudson's Bay trading posts in 1827 and 1846, the 1858 goldrush, the imposition of colonial reserves, the banning of the potlatch, the 1884 hostile incursions into Canadian Native communities of an American lynch mob, and the government policy to transform Salish fishermen into western-style farmers. Ultimately, Western ideologies, colonial authority and global economic forces are considered as forces acting within indigenous society, and not merely as exogenous powers acting upon

This dissertation historicizes and explains the tensions that arose between localized and regionally dispersed expressions of group affiliation and political authority among the indigenous people of the Lower Fraser River watershed after European contact. It accomplishes this by directly engaging indigenous historiography and epistemology. The period examined covers the late eighteenth century, just prior to the first smallpox epidemic, through to 1906 when a delegation of Salish men met with King Edward in London on behalf of all the Native people of British Columbia. I argue that Aboriginal collective identity and political authority are and were situationally constructed products of complicated negotiations among indigenous people and between Natives and newcomers. Multiple options were always available and the various expressions that shared identity assumed never were the only ones possible. Consequently, among the local indigenous population, history has always been regarded as an important arbitrator of identity and disagreements over competing historical interpretations highly contentious. To a greater extent than has been appreciated, changes in the way Native collective affiliations have been constituted have been informed by reference to ancient sacred stories and an ongoing process of interpreting past precedence. They are also intimately linked to migrations. Over time and across geography, different indigenous people have used these stories to different ends. Gendered and class-based distinctions in the way these narratives have been applied to either the creation of innovative collective identities or to the defense of older expressions reveal the tensions within Aboriginal society and between Natives and newcomers that arose as indigenous people struggled to make sense of a rapidly changing colonial world. The uncertainty following pivotal historical events allowed these submerged tensions to assume more public forms. Examined here are the important identity shaping historical events and migrations that indigenous historiography has emphasized: Creation, the Great Flood, the 1780 smallpox epidemic, the establishment of local Hudson's Bay trading posts in 1827 and 1846, the 1858 goldrush, the imposition of colonial reserves, the banning of the potlatch, the 1884 hostile incursions into Canadian Native communities of an American lynch mob, and the government policy to transform Salish fishermen into western-style farmers. Ultimately, Western ideologies, colonial authority and global economic forces are considered as forces acting within indigenous society, and not merely as exogenous powers acting upon / Arts, Faculty of / History, Department of / Graduate

This thesis examines a fuel spill at Goldstream River, on Coast and Straights Salish People’s territory, on southern Vancouver Island in British Columbia. Goldstream is an important salmon spawning and fishing location for the WSÁNEĆ (Saanich) people. In this thesis I step beyond the confines of the common law and its associated narratives and examine the fuel spill through the lens of WSÁNEĆ culture and legal order. In doing so I seek to open nascent possibilities and understandings relating to the fuel spill, its associated harms, and the implications this has for a legal response. My approach is rooted in the field of Indigenous law. In contributing broadly to the revitalization and resurgence of Indigenous law, including its theoretical and methodological aspects, I strengthen my claim that WSÁNEĆ law offers an important legal response to the Goldstream spill. My approach, however, extends beyond the field of Indigenous law. It also draws insights from the fields of postcolonial theory and resurgence theory. Postcolonial theory aids in understanding the processes and power structures that silence and subordinate Indigenous systems of law. The effective revitalization of Indigenous law draws from these understandings. My emphasis, however, does not rest squarely on critique. I argue that colonial power structures are best mitigated and subverted by applying Indigenous narratives, including Indigenous systems of law. I draw on resurgence theory to highlight the empowering effects of strengthening Indigenous narratives and for transforming relationships between Indigenous peoples and the Canadian state. In applying this theoretical framework I argue that WSÁNEĆ law provides an alternative lens through which to address the Goldstream spill. Through attention to WSÁNEĆ stories and the SENĆOŦEN language (the language of the WSÁNEĆ people) I open a narrative of WSÁNEĆ law that provides a distinct normative framework regarding our responsibilities to one another and to the Earth. The benefits of such an approach are far reaching in scope. They reconceptualise foundational assumptions relating to the nature of the harm, as well as the notion jurisdiction. My narrative moves from thinking and acting with authority over the environment, to having mutual responsibilities in relation to ecology. The scope and contributions of Indigenous law should not be overlooked. To do so is to limit the potential for Indigenous/non-Indigenous reconciliation, as well as the healthy functioning of Indigenous legal orders. / Graduate