Understanding Intersectionality:

Intersectionality is a lens that is employed to examine how various forms of oppression, inequality, and systems of power overlap and intersect in the lives of individuals to create unique experiences of social injustice (Steinmetz, 2020; Crenshaw, 2016). Kimberlé Crenshaw, who coined the term, asserts that intersectionality is necessary to understand the complex web of systems of oppression in society and avoid viewing different inequalities in isolation (Steinmetz, 2020). The following sections demonstrate how colonialism, sexism, capitalism, and racism interact in the lives of Indigenous peoples, especially Indigenous women. It will become evident that the multilayered systems of social injustice present in Canada perpetuate the current issues Indigenous peoples endure including drug addiction, alcoholism, incarceration, and violence.