Healing through discourse: Analyzing Indigenous women's testimony at the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples

This thesis explores Indigenous women's personal testimony given at the Royal Commission of Aboriginal Peoples hearings held across Canada between 1992-1994. The RCAP was a national inquiry launched by the federal government in 1991 to investigate the failed relationship between Indigenous peoples, the federal government, and the rest of Canadian society. Indigenous peoples showed up at the RCAP hearings to testify about their experiences and made suggestions on what to improve. Their testimony serves as evidence of the everyday forms of abuse and discrimination that Indigenous women faced both within and outside their communities. In this way, Indigenous women's testimony demonstrates their diverse experiences in late twentieth century Canada. Most of all, this thesis seeks to understand Indigenous women's discourse around holistic healing as a solution to discrimination and abuse.