The Complexities of Power and Empowerment

Police prioritize enforcement over community protection, making residents feel criminalized.

Youth feel their communities receive less police protection than predominantly White areas.

Black and Indigenous communities experience insufficient police protection during victimization, reinforcing inequality.

Anti-Asian racism in Canada has a long history and persists today, often intensified during times of crisis.

Anti-Asian racism is rooted in Canada's colonial past, where Asian immigrants were viewed as inferior and subject to discriminatory policies.

Canada's post-colonial framework is criticized for its image of inclusivity while maintaining deep-rooted white settler supremacy.

The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated anti-Asian racism, rekindling stereotypes like the "Yellow Peril."

Stereotypes fueled by the "Yellow Peril" justified overt violence and exclusion of Asian communities.

Empowering one group without considering the potential impact on others can result in disempowerment for those not directly targeted.

Modernist approaches often view power as a finite resource, leading to a "winner takes all" mentality. This can hinder collaboration and create conflict.

Modernist views often classify people as either powerful or powerless, ignoring complexities and nuances in individual experiences.

Modernist frameworks often equate equality with sameness, failing to acknowledge and value diverse perspectives and experiences.

Modernist approaches struggle to explain why some disadvantaged individuals comply with oppressive systems, often attributing it to a lack of understanding or awareness. However, this overlooks complex factors.

Efforts to empower can sometimes be counterproductive if they are paternalistic or fail to respect individuals' autonomy. This approach can be dehumanizing and disempowering.

Empowerment strategies should consider addressing the needs of diverse groups and ensuring that all are adequately served.

When empowering, it's essential to avoid taking over and doing all the work. Empowering others means helping them find their own voice and solutions.

The idea that how we use language influences how we understand and interact with the world. Language doesn't just reflect reality, it helps to shape it.

A method of examining how language creates and reinforces power dynamics. It looks at how people use language to control conversations, define meanings, and shape identities.

The practice of social work that actively challenges injustice and empowers marginalized communities. It often involves partnering with oppressed groups and promoting social change.

The idea that language can be used to shift power dynamics, for instance by reframing experiences of poverty or violence. Instead of blaming individuals, it focuses on systemic inequalities.

Examining how people use communication in a particular context to understand who has power, who gets to speak, and what is considered acceptable.

The idea that activist social work needs to consider the specific local context and dynamics, beyond just broad societal structures like capitalism or patriarchy.

The tension in activist social work where workers hold a degree of power in guiding processes, despite the goal of equality. This requires a balance between leadership and empowerment.

How language can be used to frame social work as primarily focused on individual counseling, potentially minimizing its broader role in advocating for social justice.

Analyzes how overlapping identities (gender, race, class, etc.) influence experiences of discrimination and access to rights and opportunities.

Examines how systems of power, such as patriarchy and colonialism, intersect with race, gender, and other social categories to shape people's experiences.

Focuses on lived experiences of marginalized groups, considering their specific needs in policy design and interventions.

The idea that the combination of identities doesn't just add burdens, but creates distinct experiences of marginalization.

Involves identifying and addressing the systems that create and sustain inequalities, such as patriarchy, racism, and colonialism.

It analyzes how policies affect individuals based on their intersecting identities, recognizing that individuals from different backgrounds face unique challenges.

Involves gathering data from marginalized groups and incorporating their experiences into policies and interventions.

Utilizes a framework that challenges simplistic views of oppression, recognizing that the combination of identities creates unique experiences of marginalization.

Emphasizes the importance of considering economic, social, and cultural factors that shape discrimination and marginalization.

Focuses on overcoming discrimination, ensuring that all people, regardless of their intersecting identities, have equal human rights.

A concept arguing that Canada's post-colonial era didn't truly end colonial power dynamics but rather transformed them, with white settler society continuing to define Canadian norms and leaving BIPOC groups navigating systems upholding white dominance.

Policies and cultural norms designed to assimilate immigrants and Indigenous populations into a system built by and for white settlers, perpetuating inequality under the guise of progress.

A critique of Canadian multiculturalism, arguing that it promotes surface-level inclusion while reinforcing systemic inequalities by requiring immigrants to adopt dominant white Canadian cultural norms to succeed, ultimately maintaining white supremacy.

The expectation for immigrants to adopt dominant white Canadian cultural norms (like English/French language and work experience) to succeed, framing failure to integrate as a personal shortcoming and further marginalizing groups like Asian Canadians.

The experience of being ignored, overlooked, or treated rudely in public spaces by individuals who are not explicitly racist but exhibit microaggressions that reinforce a sense of being unwelcome or unworthy, leading to emotional violence and diminished self-worth.

The stress caused by repeated experiences of racism, which can be both overt and covert. This stress can manifest physically and emotionally, leading to negative impacts on mental and physical well-being.

The way Canadian multiculturalism views immigrants as assets to enhance the labor market and economy while simultaneously expecting them to conform to dominant cultural norms, preventing them from challenging systemic inequalities.

The criticism of multiculturalism as a policy that creates a façade of equality by acknowledging cultural diversity but positioning white English and French culture as dominant, pushing immigrants to adopt these norms for acceptance.

The assumption that being cisgender, where your gender identity matches the sex assigned at birth, is the only 'normal' experience.

Social work practices before the 1990s often viewed transgender people as needing a 'fix' and were labelled with 'disorders'. This approach focused on medical and psychological interventions, not on individual rights and needs.

Trans activism and anti-oppression movements in the 1990s and onwards led to a shift in social work practice, focusing on advocating for trans people's rights and inclusion.

The Triangle Program was a safe haven for LGBTQ youth, offering them a space to heal from trauma and bullying and prepare for their futures.

This refers to the unique challenges faced by transgender individuals due to discrimination in housing, employment, and family acceptance, leading to a higher risk of becoming homeless.

Traditional gender-specific shelters often create barriers for transgender and genderqueer people as they don't align with their gender identities.

Discrimination and prejudice against transgender people based on societal assumptions about gender identity.

This refers to the struggles faced by students, particularly due to bullying, family rejection, or trauma, impacting their academic performance and confidence.