By: Jim Taylor

Change often starts with tokenism


This week, B.C. got a new lieutenant-governor – Steven Point, an aboriginal member of the Sto:lo Nation of the lower Fraser valley.

        My first reaction, I admit, was, “Tokenism.”

        With that reaction goes the assumption that tokenism is a bad thing.

        Tokenism implies that Point was chosen less for his own capabilities than for being a representative of a class or group of people – in his case, the original inhabitants of Canada.

        Grand Chief Ed John of the First Nations Leadership Council described Point’s installation as "truly a milestone for First Nations people in B.C.’‘

        B.C.’s first lieutenant-governor, Joseph Trutch, could not have imagined being succeeded by a native person. Trutch once said of them, “They are the ugliest and laziest creatures I ever saw.”

        Does Point have the best credentials for the job of lieutenant-governor? Unfortunately, the position has no real job description. In law, the lieutenant-governor is the head of state in the province, as the governor-general is for the country. He or she represents the British crown.

        In reality, it’s a purely ceremonial position. The only essential duty is to sign into law the legislation passed by provincial legislatures or the federal parliament.



Credentials for the job

  Once upon a time, lieutenant-governors limited their roles to hosting lavish affairs in Victoria. More recent incumbents have travelled widely through the province. The past lieutenant-governor, Iona Campagnolo, attended over 300 events every year, visiting almost every community in the province. She made a special effort to spend time with school children.

        At his installation, Steven Point said he planned to pay particular attention to aboriginal issues.

        For that, he is well qualified. He was the youngest-ever chief of the Skowkale First Nation, at 23. He earned a law degree at UBC in 1985 and was tribal chair of the Sto:lo Nation from 1994 to 1999, when he became a provincial court judge. Most recently, he headed the B.C. Treaty Commission on native land claims.

Campagnolo’s appointment, as the first female lieutenant-governor in the province’s 140 year history, was also seen by some as a token.

        Yet she too had excellent credentials. She served as school board member in Prince Rupert, as a member of parliament and a cabinet minister in Ottawa, and as national president of the Liberal party.

        And she has served the province, in my opinion, with style and grace.

        Was her appointment tokenism? Who cares?

        Someone has to be first. Someone—in the words of older Star Trek episodes – has “to boldly go where no man has gone before.”

        The alternative is to be stuck forever in the status quo.



Incidental factors

The question of tokenism, I think, depends on motive. Was the choice made primarily because that person was female or aboriginal? Or were gender and origin incidental to other factors?

        For perspective, I turned to another institution often accused of trying to be avant garde – the United Church of Canada.

        The church’s senior elected officer, its official representative, is the Moderator of its General Council. Until 1968, that person had always been white, male, and ordained.

        Then in 1968, the church broke with tradition. It elected a lay person, Dr. Robert McClure.

        McClure was no stranger to the church. He was the son of China missionaries who became a missionary himself. Because of his exploits on the Burma Road during World War II, and his no-nonsense approach to medical care in India, he was possibly the most widely known person in the church at the time.

        But he was not clergy. He broke the pattern.

        After him, the floodgates for firsts opened wide. Rev. Wilbur Howard was elected as the first black moderator. Rev. Lois Wilson became the first female moderator. Anne Squire, the first non-ordained woman. Sang Chul Lee, the first Asian. Stan McKay, the first native moderator…

It’s possible – even probable – that some delegates voted for these persons because of their special status; others no doubt voted against them for the same reason. The same will happen if Hilary Clinton becomes the Democratic candidate for U.S. president.

        But none of these persons was, in my opinion, a token choice. Each of them was the best and most qualified nominee. Their gender, their origins, their clerical status, were all secondary considerations.



Where others can follow

  Having elected such a diversity of people, the only tokenism left for the United Church, I suppose, would be a gay or lesbian candidate!

        In fact, there’s no reason a gay or lesbian could not be nominated for moderator. But such a person would first have had to demonstrate a long-term commitment to the church and its mission. He or she would not be elected simply because of sexual orientation. Of that, I am certain.

        So in the end, whether a person is seen as a token or not is irrelevant. Either way, the selected person opens doors to others.

        Canadian governors-general used to be, without exception, undistinguished British peers. Aside from Lord Tweedsmuir, better known as author John Buchan, most of them couldn’t wait to finish their sentence and return to Britain.

        That pattern was broken forever when Vincent Massey was chosen as the first Canadian governor-general. Other “firsts” followed: a westerner, Ed Schreyer; a woman, Jeanne Sauve; a Ukrainian, Ray Hnatyshyn…

        More recently, the federal governor-general has been a highly articulate woman of Chinese ancestry, Adrienne Clarkson; followed by a black woman, born in Haiti, Michaelle Jean.

        Some of those were definitely token appointments. According to commentator Rafe Mair, who has had his own trajectory through politics, Pierre Trudeau appointed Jeanne Sauvé specifically to demonstrate “that women were to be seen as full citizens with equal opportunities to men.”

        Token or not, each appointment created a path for successors.

        I don’t like tokenism. But it may be the only way that things change.

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Copyright © 2007 by Jim Taylor. Non-profit use in congregations and study groups permitted; all other rights reserved.
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