Leadership, power and racism: lifeguards’ influences on Aboriginal people’s experiences at a Northern Canadian aquatic facility

Abstract

Using a Foucauldian and postcolonial lens, this case study examines the ways in which leadership styles used by lifeguards and supported by the structure, rules and regulations at a northern Canadian swimming pool influenced Aboriginal people’s experience of the facility. Participant observation, semi-structured interviews and a focus group were used to identify the ways in which Eurocentric lifeguard training, exercises of power, institutional racism and an absence of cultural competency can intersect to influence Aboriginal people’s use of a local pool and their considerations of lifeguarding as a potential employment opportunity. On the basis of these findings, the study suggests that the development and implementation of anti-discriminatory policies and procedures for swimming pools and the inclusion of cultural competency teachings in lifeguard training are necessary measures to enhance Aboriginal people’s experiences at northern swimming pools, to foster opportunities to become lifeguards and to augment Euro-Canadian lifeguards’ capacity to maintain a safe and welcoming aquatic environment in a cross-cultural context.

Keywords:

• culture
• racism
• recreation
• Aboriginal
• power
• leadership

Notes

1. Passages from First Author’s field notes as well as her participatory observations are written in the first person. In addition, the First Author conducted the research and was the one with the primary responsibility for the entire paper and the Second Author helped with the design, analysis and writing.

2. To protect participants’ anonymity, we have used a fictitious town name and have used pseudonyms.

3. The term Aboriginal is used throughout the paper because this term is legally recognized by the Government of Canada and many federal institutions; however, the authors would like to also acknowledge the use of the term Indigenous, which is increasingly being utilized by Aboriginal peoples across Canada to recognize that they are their land’s original inhabitants and rightful stewards. In order to situate the research in the Canadian setting, we have used the most commonly accepted term, but recognize it to be contested.

4. The Indian Act is a Canadian statute that was enacted in 1876 by the Parliament of Canada to determine who is and is not an ‘Indian’ as well as their rights and freedoms.

5. Residential Schools were established during the 19th century with the last one closing in 1996. During this time period Aboriginal youth were forcefully taken from their families and placed in Residential schools where they were assimilated to Euro-Canadian ways of knowing, being and behaving.