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The Erasure of Ms. G.: The Cultural Specificity of Substance Abuse and Adjudication Without Imagination

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2014

Vera J. Roy
Vera J. Roy
Affiliation:
4556 Hutchison, Montréal (Québec)CanadaH2V 3Z9, [email protected]
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Abstract

The essay promotes an approach to legal decision-making informed by the Geertzian notion of the ethnographic imagination as a means of understanding and adjudicating issues marked by cultural difference. The reflexivity of this approach–i.e., the way it focuses judicial awareness on the role of mainstream culture and the law itself in the construction of matters before the courts—is most critical in cases involving Aboriginal persons. The discussion proceeds in three steps. First, an historical survey of the relationship between the Canadian state and Aboriginal people highlights the cultural aspects of substance abuse in the case of Aboriginal women. Next, statistical data is synthesized to gain insight into the construction of the substance-abusing Aboriginal woman in social and legal discourse. Finally, a close study of the decisions in Winnipeg Child and Family Services v. D.F.G. reveals the enduring role of unexamined assumptions about race in judicial decision-making and the constraints placed on adjudication by traditional liberal rights discourse. The resulting erasure of cultural identity, the deficiency of the final judgment, and the potentially harmful consequences of efforts to correct its shortcomings demonstrate how the absence of culturally-reflexive judicial imagination can threaten the very meaning of adjudication for parties who are defined by culture and/or race in the eyes of society and the law.

Résumé

Ce texte promeut l'approche de «l'imagination» tel que définie par Geertz dans le cadre du processus judiciaire, dans le but d'encourager la compréhension et le jugement réfléchi de cas marqués par la différence interculturelle. Cette approche réfléchie – c'est-à-dire, celle qui encourage une conscience du rôle de la culture dominante et de la loi elle-même dans les cas devant la cour – revêt une grande importance dans les cas qui impliquent des personnes d'origine autochtone. L'analyse se fait en trois étapes. Dans un premier temps, un survol de l'historique des relations entre l'État canadien et les peuples autochtones souligne l'aspect culturel de la toxicomanie dans les cas de femmes autochtones. La deuxième étape consiste en une synthèse des statistiques disponibles pour nous donner une meilleure compréhension de l'image de la femme autochtone toxicomane qui prévaut dans le discours social et juridique. Enfin, une analyse du jugement Winnipeg Child and Family Services c. D.F.G. confirme que les idées préconçues jouent un rôle important dans l'appareil judiciaire et démontre les contraintes sur le processus décisionnel créées par le discours libéral de droits individuels. Par conséquent, la disparition de l'identité culturelle, les lacunes dans les arrêts, ainsi que l'incapacité de gérer convenablement les conséquences de ces lacunes, démontrent comment l'absence «d'imagination» peut mettre en péril le fondement même des jugements pour ceux qui sont définis par leur différence devant la société et la loi.

Type
Research Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Law and Society / La Revue Canadienne Droit et Société , Volume 20 , Issue 1: Cross-Cultural Jurisprudence / Jurisprudence Transculturelle , April 2005 , pp. 107 - 138
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Law and Society Association 2005

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References

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34 RCAP Report, supra note 22, c. 10.

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39 RCAP Report, supra note 22, c. 10, s. 1.1.

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92 Ibid., at para. 3.

93 Ibid., at para. 7.

94 Ibid. at para. 5.

95 Ibid., at para. 4.

96 Ibid. at para. 16.

97 Ibid. at para. 20.

98 Ibid.

99 Ibid. at para. 10.

100 A ruling in Ontario illustrates the power of this image: a young pregnant woman who had been working as a prostitute was sentenced to 60 days in prison, a greatly exaggerated sentence, precisely because she was pregnant. See Sanda Rodgers, supra note 81 at 45–46, for a description of the case and an excerpt from transcripts illustrating the moralistic tone used by the judge when addressing the woman.

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103 Ibid. at para. 21.

104 Ibid. at para. 11.

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108 Ibid. at para. 2.

109 Ibid. at para. 1.

110 Ibid. at paras. 3–4.

111 Ibid. at para. 3.

112 Ibid. at paras. 27–28.

113 Ibid. at para. 26.

114 Ibid. at para. 34.

115 Winnipeg (SCC), supra note 1.

116 Ibid. at para. 81.

117 Ibid. at paras. 68–74.

118 Ibid. at paras. 68–71, 73–74.

119 Ibid. at paras. 69, 72–73.

120 Ibid. at paras. 68–69.

121 Ibid. at para. 88.

122 Ibid.

123 Ibid.

124 Ibid. at para. 63.

125 Ibid. at para. 141.

126 Ibid. at para. 95.

127 Ibid. at para. 70.

128 Ibid. at para. 65.

129 Harrison, supra note 79 at 267.

130 Winnipeg (SCC), supra note 1 at para. 93.

131 Ibid. at para. 121.

132 Baylis, supra note 72 at 792.

133 Winnipeg (SCC), supra note 1 at 140.

134 Ibid. at para. 5.

135 Ibid.

136 Ibid.

137 Ibid. at para. 41.

138 Ibid. at para. 41, citing Hanigsberg, J. E., “Power and Procreation: State Interference in Pregnancy” (1991) 23 Ottawa L. Rev. 35 at 53.Google ScholarPubMed

139 Ibid. at para. 41.

140 Ibid. at para. 43.

141 Winnipeg (SCC), supra note 1 (Factum of the Women's Health Rights Coalition at para. 4).

142 Winnipeg (SCC), supra note 1 at para. 40.

143 Ibid. at para. 42.

144 Ibid.

145 Ibid. at para. 34.

146 Ibid. at para. 39.

147 Ibid. at para. 12.