Graduating student Bobbi Mae Anderson hopes her final Quest University project will lead to real-world changes in Squamish to help women at risk.
In the presentation of her keystone, which represents a culmination of students’ studies and research toward their undergraduate degree, Anderson speaks of “Amy,” a Squamish woman who has been subjected to violence and rape in her marriage and who struggles to leave due to financial and housing constraints dominant in the Sea to Sky Corridor. Amy is a composite character who represents the many real stories Anderson heard working with vulnerable women and service providers locally through the Howe Sound Women’s Centre.
The Chief sat down with Anderson for a chat about her project, what is next and what she hopes comes of it all.
What follows is an edited version of that conversation.
Q: What made you want to tackle this topic of women at risk in Squamish?
A: I was looking at social improvements throughout the corridor. I would say many things helped me get to that. I studied feminist theory and critical race studies at Quest, and I was interested in taking the sociology I have been learning about and doing community-based work with it. I wanted to do something that proved itself at least to be of use to a social service in Squamish.
I volunteered with the Howe Sound Women’s Centre in my first and second year here and have always been interested and involved in working with women in different capacities.
I see Squamish in a lot of ways as no different than most places in the world in terms of violence against women, and I was motivated to not only hear those stories but bring them to life.
Q: Can you speak to how you approached your project, so you aren’t speaking for women who already have had their voice silenced by others? You are sort of doing what you are criticizing in a sense right?
A: I tried to do my absolute best not to speak for anyone, which is why I chose qualitative research so that in my 120-page keystone are hundreds of quotes from these women about their lives and their stories, which I just tied together to represent the gaps in services. At the same time, I recognize that I am standing on a stage and presenting this work and that my privilege is fundamental to interrogate as a researcher, as a white woman, as a settler and as an American [from Montana]. There are all these elements to my identity that I absolutely considered.
Q: One reason the stories of abused women are not told more often in mainstream news stories is the concern over identifying women who are often in a vulnerable position and don’t want their names, locations, and situation made public. How did you protect their identities if you are giving quotes from them?
A: It was a hard challenge. I learned a lot. I used pseudonyms throughout; the small identifying characteristics are pretty common. I did my absolute best to represent these women’s stories to identify gaps in services — that is the goal. And also to publicize that violence against women is a problem and it is coming out of things like the housing crisis, and that is why we need to do better as a community. We need emergency housing for at-risk women. Under One Roof cannot come soon enough. There are all these pieces that we are missing — detox services for example — there’s a lot Squamish could be doing better.
Q: It was a bit uncomfortable watching the beginning of your presentation because you begin by criticizing Quest — for its gender and race divide — while speaking at the school. How was that?
A: Quest is an incredible institution, and if it does anything well, it is to teach students to be thoughtful and critical and so that includes being thoughtful and critical of the institution. I believe in Quest, and I am a proud representative of it, but at the same time there are things it can do better on and so that is what I was trying to speak to.
Q: What do you hope comes out of what you have done with your thesis and keystone?
A: I break my suggestions down to four umbrella recommendations. I am creating a compilation of all of these suggestions, and I will distribute it through social and legal services throughout the corridor. From there, my goals are helping to implement some of my suggestions.
I mention policy expansion, which largely includes suggestions for housing centralized around trying to address the housing crisis.
Sex work is a ramification of those types of housing patterns. In short, there can be exchanging sexual favours for help with rent or cash, and that seems to be happening specifically in Squamish and Whistler. That type of dynamic is so important to consider. Sex work is a profession, and I respect that, but if it is coming out of necessity due to the housing crisis that is something social and legal services needs to focus on. One of my primary goals is to bring sex work into the conversation.
Q: You recommend better legal advocacy and representation for women in the corridor, can you expand on that?
A: What that really needs to look like, based on my interviews, is a volunteer lawyer women can access in a larger capacity— the women’s centre has pro bono 30 minute sessions with volunteer lawyers that women can use, and that is huge, but these women’s cases are complicated, so 30 minutes isn’t enough.
There are so many cases of domestic violence in the corridor that came out of these interviews, and that women at the centre express often, where their male abusers are winning these cases and have so much power within the courts because they have the finances to pay for an adequate lawyer throughout the whole process, whereas so many of these women are unable to pay for adequate support and legal representation. I do think there are lawyers within the system who would be willing to do that type of work if they knew that it was needed here.
Q: You are graduating so, what is next?
A: I am going to be here in the fall doing consulting work for the women’s centre and implementing the suggestions that I made in my thesis. I am excited to keep working with them. Eventually, probably, I will go to law school.
