Aboriginal Peoples In Canadian Cities

Since the 1970s, Aboriginal people have been more likely to live in Canadian cities than on reserves or in rural areas. Aboriginal rural-to-urban migration and the development of urban Aboriginal communities represent one of the most significant shifts in the histories and cultures of Aboriginal peoples in Canada. The essays in Aboriginal Peoples in Canadian Cities: Transformations and Continuities are from contributors directly engaged in urban Aboriginal communities; they draw on extensive ethnographic research on and by Aboriginal people and their own lived experiences. The interdisciplinary studies of urban Aboriginal community and identity collected in this volume offer narratives of unique experiences and aspects of urban Aboriginal life. They provide innovative perspectives on cultural transformation and continuity and demonstrate how comparative examinations of the diversity within and across urban Aboriginal experiences contribute to broader understandings of the relationship between Aboriginal peoples and the Canadian state and to theoretical debates about power dynamics in the production of community and in processes of identity formation.

Individual chapters highlight the unique issues related to policy making in this field - the important role of diverse Aboriginal organizations, the need to address Aboriginal and Treaty rights and the right to self-government, and the lack of governmental leadership - revealing a complex jurisdictional and programming maze. Contributors look at provinces where there has been extensive activity as well as provinces where urban Aboriginal issues seem largely irrelevant to governments. They cover small and mid-sized towns, remote communities, and large metropolises. While their research acknowledges that existing Aboriginal policy falls short in many ways, it also affirms that the field is new and there are grounds for improvement as it grows and matures. Contributors include Frances Abele (Carleton University), Chris Andersen (University of Alberta), Katherine A. H. Graham (Carleton University), Russell LaPointe (Carleton University), David J. Leech (Skelton-Clark Post-Doctoral Fellow, Queen's University), Maeengan Linklater (Mazinaate, Inc., Winnipeg), Michael McCrossan (Carleton University), James Moore (City of Kelowna), Karen Bridget Murray (York University), Evelyn J. Peters (University of Winnipeg), Jenna Strachan (Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, Kelowna BC ), Ryan Walker (University of Saskatchewan), and Robert Young (University of Western Ontario).

Research on Indigenous issues rarely focuses on life in major metropolitan centres. Instead, there is a tendency to frame rural locations as emblematic of authentic or “real” Indigeneity. While such a perspective may support Indigenous struggles for territory and recognition, it fails to account for large swaths of contemporary Indigenous realities, including the increased presence of Indigenous people in cities. The contributors to this volume explore the implications of urbanization on the production of distinctive Indigenous identities in Canada, the US, New Zealand, and Australia. In doing so, they demonstrate the resilience, creativity, and complexity of the urban Indigenous presence, both in Canada and internationally.

Aboriginal people in Canada have long struggled to regain control over their traditional forest lands. Aboriginal Peoples and Forest Lands in Canada brings together the diverse perspectives of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal scholars to address the political, cultural, environmental, and economic implications of forest use. This book discusses the need for professionals working in forestry and conservation to understand the context of Aboriginal participation in resource management. It also addresses the importance of considering traditional knowledge and traditional land use and examines the development of co-management initiatives and joint ventures between government, forestry companies, and Aboriginal communities.

During the past several decades, the Aboriginal population of Canada has become so urbanized that today, the majority of First Nations and Métis people live in cities. Home in the City provides an in-depth analysis of urban Aboriginal housing, living conditions, issues, and trends. Based on extensive research, including interviews with more than three thousand residents, it allows for the emergence of a new, contemporary, and more realistic portrait of Aboriginal people in Canada's urban centres. Home in the City focuses on Saskatoon, which has both one of the highest proportions of Aboriginal residents in the country and the highest percentage of Aboriginal people living below the poverty line. While the book details negative aspects of urban Aboriginal life (such as persistent poverty, health problems, and racism), it also highlights many positive developments: the emergence of an Aboriginal middle class, inner-city renewal, innovative collaboration with municipal and community organizations, and more. Alan B. Anderson and the volume's contributors provide an important resource for understanding contemporary Aboriginal life in Canada.

Research on Indigenous issues rarely focuses on life in major metropolitan centres. Instead, there is a tendency to frame rural locations as emblematic of authentic or "real" Indigeneity. While such a perspective may support Indigenous struggles for territory and recognition, it fails to account for large swaths of contemporary Indigenous realities, including the increased presence of Indigenous people in cities. The contributors to this volume explore the implications of urbanization on the production of distinctive Indigenous identities in Canada, the US, New Zealand, and Australia. In doing so, they demonstrate the resilience, creativity, and complexity of the urban Indigenous presence.

Discusses a wide variety of issues in Native studies including social exclusion, marginalization and identity; justice, equality and gender; self-help and empowerment in Aboriginal communities and in the cities; and, methodological and historiographical representations of social relationships.

Weil-Being in the Urban Aboriginal Community offers a selection of the papers presented at Fostering Biimaadiziwin, a national research conference held in Toronto in 2011. The conference grew out of a desire to add a new perspective to research concerning Aboriginal peoples living in urban environments - a positive perspective that focuses on strengths and assets, rather than problems. In this volume, scholars, researchers, policy-makers, community members, and practitioners examine the ways that Aboriginal peoples in Canada are pursuing rand achieving biimaadiziwin (or "the good life") in urban settings. Their papers explore the urban Aboriginal situation in such areas as cultural sovereignty, identity, self-determination, social capital, and education. The result is a valuable resource that offers insight into the lives of urban Aboriginal peoples, providing information that will guide future studies of the joys, frustrations, rewards, and challenges of Aboriginal peoples living good lives in Canada's cities and towns. Book jacket.