Women chiefs focus of academic study

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Dr. Cora J. Voyageur, a member of Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation in Fort Chipewyan, Alta., is undertaking a unique sociology research project at the University of Calgary.

Her study, First Nation Women and the Traditional Leadership Role, will involve interviewing female chiefs across Canada to find out how they think they're doing in what she says has been viewed as a male role since the Department of Indian Affairs instituted elections on reserves.

The three-year project, slated to be in full swing in January 2000, will involve as many current and former female chiefs as are willing to participate. She will conduct interviews in person and via the telephone, with the help of a research assistant. Her subjects will be located from Indian Affairs records, the Assembly of First Nations and provincial organizations. Voyageur says she will monitor election records to ensure no chiefs are overlooked.

She will ask First Nations organizations to help assemble focus groups of women chiefs in several regions of the country, "to talk about issues they have to deal with in their role as chief.

"I guess what I'm particularly interested in is knowing whether they think that gender makes a difference," Voyageur explains. "Also, I'm interested in knowing what's changing in the communities. Until fairly recently women have been in, and some cases still are in, relegated positions in the Aboriginal community and this is an opportunity to let others know that there are leaders out there and that these leaders are women," she said. Voyageur poses the question, "What is it about a community that causes them to take a chance on a woman?"

Voyaguer notes that since the first woman chief, Elsie Knott, was elected in Ontario in 1954, First Nations women have been increasingly seen in leadership positions. In 1990, there were only 40 women chiefs; now 87, or about 14 per cent, of the 633 First Nations chiefs are women. Despite the high rate of increase, Voyageur's preliminary research reveals "a definite male bias." It indicates women are still seen as an anomaly in leadership positions. Not only that, but when the leaders are male, so-called "women's issues" such as daycare and family violence often have a low priority.

She'll ask her subjects if their lives have changed since they became chiefs. And she'll examine whether they do the job differently than men or if others relate to them in the role of chief differently than if they were men. Voyageur wants to know if being female influences their ability to do the job or if it affects their ability to implement community changes.

"For instance, how are they treated by business, by Elders or by government? Do people expect different things of women leaders - how do they manage their domestic duties?" Voyageur asks.

She'll also examine the circumstances of women who were chiefs at the outset of the project but who leave office for any reason before it is completed. Finally, she wants to compare experiences of women chiefs who previously held other leadership roles in their communities, to find out how or if that experience prepared them for their current role.

"I don't necessarily want to get into a comparison between men and women, because I'd have to interview men. So I'm not necessarily testing[women chiefs'] experiences against a model or anything like that, because I don't really feel that it's up to me to validate or legitimate or de-legitimate their experience. In a lot of cases we're dealing with their opinions and their experience, and why do they think it happened."

Voyageur expanded on her reasons for undertaking the project.

"As sociologists, we study society, and this is governance, women's issues, Aboriginal issues, politics, self-government. I'm going to give women an opportunity to find their own voice and to speak their experiences," she said.

Voyageur presented her research proposal at two information sessions at the AFN's annual general assembly last July and obtaine its support. She's also backed by her own First Nation, by the Athabasca Tribal Council and by Treaty 8 Chiefs of Alberta.

"There is a particular need for a comprehensive study of women chiefs in Canada and I expect this important undertaking will further the work in related fields of study and be well received in both academic and non-academic communities," said National Chief Phil Fontaine.

Voyageur so far has received enough money to do phase one of the study - the current women chiefs. She applied for a University of Calgary research grant and one from the Canadian Research Council for the Advancement of Women. She's also approached Indian Affairs and Northern Development and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for financial support.

Voyageur's prior research into Canadian Aboriginal issues has covered topics such as education, economic development, justice and media as well as women's issues.