Intersectionality is not a kooky academic theory. Intersectionality is Alberta

By Dr. Aliya Kassam, PhD, Jan. 12, 2021

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney has claimed that the Liberal throne speech at the end of September emphasized racism, progressive opportunities for women, commitment to climate change efforts and the COVID-19 pandemic recovery as priorities occurring to the detriment of the oil and gas industry and transfer payments.

Premier Kenney voiced his fears calling the speech’s intersectional lens a “kooky academic theory.” Yet, it could be argued that intersectionality is the very essence of Alberta. Intersectionality ist understand the principle being discussed. I would suggest something like this:

ur argument. My concern is that the way it'se p a way of understanding and investigating power dynamics, in principle and in practice, specifically the connections between oppression and privilege that are inherent to society.

The promise that intersectionality holds as a lens for the overall wellbeing of Albertans is significant. Applying this lens in thinking about Alberta allows us to consider our own province as an intersection of Canadian society and helps to explain disadvantage in our national context. For example, Alberta’s location and historical intersections make for unique sets of policies when the province is most vulnerable, so why should it be different for groups of people?  

For Albertans, intersectionality looks like this: Alberta is not only a prairie province but the fourth most populous in Canada. It is a province in Western Canada, landlocked by the Rocky Mountains and the Great Plains of North America. Alberta is home to several Indigenous peoples but, through colonization, reduced the autonomy of these Indigenous peoples during the 19th century.    Alberta was a latecomer to the Confederation with settlers surrendering much of their traditional culture to help shape the new West. Alberta has both rural and urban jurisdictions, its economic base expanded from the export of wheat as well as oil and gas. Indeed just as intersections make Quebec unique, so do them Alberta.

The very fact that Alberta has an oil and gas industry like no other province in Canada is in of itself intersectional – it bestows upon us privilege but also disadvantage. So how can intersectionality be a kooky academic theory when it explains our diversity amongst provinces but also as a population on whose behalf Premiere Kenny is attempting to advocate?

By embracing the complexity and reality that intersectionality brings, Premiere Kenny can gain a more inclusive—and accurate—understanding of Alberta’s diversity and the strength that this diversity brings. Sure, this 360-degree view can better inform provincial policy, but it can also help our province avoid costly, embarrassing, and harmful mistakes that make us, as a province, seem insensitive, or prejudiced.

The ability to cultivate and engage with, and learn from, diverse citizens and stakeholders, partners and communities, and their unique experience, cannot be overstated. Diversity fosters innovation and problem-solving by examining issues from different perspectives, and with the understanding that they don’t occur in a vacuum. Diversity also ensures that Alberta attracts and retains talent as opposed to the brain drain that has begun to perforate our province.  It would be a disservice to our province and population if the link between individual, institutional, and structural levels of power – and how they lift some and marginalize others – are not taken into consideration when advancing Albertans' social, economic, physical and mental wellbeing.