Urban Aboriginal Policy Making In Canadian Municipalities

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).

Policies forged by all levels of government affect the lives of urban residents. Contributors to this volume explore how intergovernmental relations shape urban policies and how various social forces are involved in - or excluded from - the policy process. Focusing on diverse policy fields including emergency planning, image-building, immigrant settlement, infrastructure, federal property, and urban Aboriginal policy, Sites of Governance presents detailed studies of the largest city in each of Canada's provinces. Drawing on extensive documentary research and hundreds of interviews, contributors offer rich, nuanced analyses and a wealth of policy cases, ranging from preparation for the Vancouver 2010 Olympics to the development of innovative immigrant settlement programming in Winnipeg. Dominant themes include the importance of resources and formal jurisdiction in multilevel policy making, and the struggle for influence between business interests and other social forces. Essential reading for anyone concerned with the quality of urban life in Canada, Sites of Governance offers important insights about how multilevel governance works in Canadian cities. Contributors include Laurence Bherer (Université de Montréal), David Bulger (University of Prince Edward Island), Christopher Dunn (Memorial University), Robert Finbow (Dalhousie University), Joseph Garcea (University of Saskatchewan), Pierre Hamel (Université de Montréal), Martin Horak (University of Western Ontario), Thomas Hutton (University of British Columbia), Christopher Leo (University of Winnipeg), Greg Marquis (University of New Brunswick , Saint John), Byron Miller (University of Calgary), Cecily Pantin (Memorial University), Alan Smart (University of Calgary), Donald Story (University of Saskatchewan), and Robert Young (University of Western Ontario).

Centuries-old community planning practices in Indigenous communities in Canada, the United States, New Zealand, and Australia have, in modern times, been eclipsed by ill-suited western approaches, mostly derived from colonial and neo-colonial traditions. Since planning outcomes have failed to reflect the rights and interests of Indigenous people, attempts to reclaim planning have become a priority for many Indigenous nations throughout the world. In Reclaiming Indigenous Planning, scholars and practitioners connect the past and present to facilitate better planning for the future. With examples from the Canadian Arctic to the Australian desert, and the cities, towns, reserves and reservations in between, contributors engage topics including Indigenous mobilization and resistance, awareness-raising and seven-generations visioning, Indigenous participation in community planning processes, and forms of governance. Relying on case studies and personal narratives, these essays emphasize the critical need for Indigenous communities to reclaim control of the political, socio-cultural, and economic agendas that shape their lives. The first book to bring Indigenous and non-Indigenous authors together across continents, Reclaiming Indigenous Planning shows how urban and rural communities around the world are reformulating planning practices that incorporate traditional knowledge, cultural identity, and stewardship over land and resources. Contributors include Robert Adkins (Community and Economic Development Consultant, USA), Chris Andersen (Alberta), Giovanni Attili (La Sapienza), Aaron Aubin (Dillon Consulting), Shaun Awatere (Landcare Research, New Zealand), Yale Belanger (Lethbridge), Keith Chaulk (Memorial), Stephen Cornell (Arizona), Sherrie Cross (Macquarie), Kim Doohan (Native Title and Resource Claims Consultant, Australia), Kerri Jo Fortier (Simpcw First Nation), Bethany Haalboom (Victoria University, New Zealand), Lisa Hardess (Hardess Planning Inc.), Garth Harmsworth (Landcare Research, New Zealand), Sharon Hausam (Pueblo of Laguna), Michael Hibbard (Oregon), Richard Howitt (Macquarie), Ted Jojola (New Mexico), Tanira Kingi (AgResearch, New Zealand), Marcus Lane (Griffith), Rebecca Lawrence (Umea), Gaim Lunkapis (Malaysia Sabah), Laura Mannell (Planning Consultant, Canada), Hirini Matunga (Lincoln University, New Zealand), Deborah McGregor (Toronto), Oscar Montes de Oca (AgResearch, New Zealand), Samantha Muller (Flinders), David Natcher (Saskatchewan), Frank Palermo (Dalhousie), Robert Patrick (Saskatchewan), Craig Pauling (Te Runanga o Ngai Tahu), Kurt Peters (Oregon State), Libby Porter (Monash), Andrea Procter (Memorial), Sarah Prout (Combined Universities Centre for Rural Health, Australia), Catherine Robinson (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, Australia), Shadrach Rolleston (Planning Consultant, New Zealand), Leonie Sandercock (British Columbia), Crispin Smith (Planning Consultant, Canada), Sandie Suchet-Pearson (Macquarie), Siri Veland (Brown), Ryan Walker (Saskatchewan), Liz Wedderburn (AgResearch, New Zealand).

The federal government and its policies transform Canadian cities in myriad ways. Canada in Cities examines this relationship to better understand the interplay among changing demographics, how local governments and citizens frame their arguments for federal action, and the ways in which the national government uses its power and resources to shape urban Canada. Most studies of local governance in Canada focus on politics and policy within cities. The essays in this collection turn such analysis on its head, by examining federal programs, rather than municipal ones, and observing how they influence local policies and work with regional authorities and civil societies. Through a series of case studies - ranging from federal policy concerning Aboriginal people in cities, to the introduction of the federal gas tax transfer to municipalities, to the impact of Canada's emergency management policies on cities - the contributors provide insights about how federal politics influence the local political arena. Analyzing federal actions in diverse policy fields, the authors uncover meaningful patterns of federal action and outcome in Canadian cities. A timely contribution, Canada in Cities offers a comprehensive study of diverse areas of municipal public policy that have emerged in Canada in recent years.

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.

Issues of urban policy are increasingly complex and important. Whether considered from a social, demographic, or economic perspective, Canada is overwhelmingly an urban nation and healthy, prosperous cities are the key to its well-being. What then, is our national policy toward urban affairs? In Urban Affairs leading experts in a variety of disciplines explore this question. Canada's last experience with national urban policy-making was in the 1970s. The authors focus on what has happened since, exploring how both city-regions and ideas about the urban policy-making process have changed. The authors also examine both the past and present roles of the federal government, and what it can and should do in the future. Contributors include Caroline Andrew, Paul Born (Tamarack Institute for Community Engagement, Cambridge), Kenneth Cameron (FCIP, Policy and Planning, Greater Vancouver Regional District), W. Michael Fenn, (Ontario Deputy Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing), Pierre Filion (University of Waterloo), Katherine Graham, Pierre Hamel (Université de Montréal), Christopher Leo (University of Winnipeg), Barbara Levine (World University Service of Canada), Sherilyn MacGregor (PhD, Environmental Studies, York University), Warren Magnusson (University of Victoria), Beth Moore Milroy (Ryerson University), Merle Nicholds (former Mayor of Kanata), Evelyn Peters (University of Saskatchewan), Susan Phillips, Valerie Preston (York University), Andrew Sancton (University of Western Ontario), Lisa Shaw (Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives), Enid Slack (Enid Slack Consulting Inc.), Sherri Torjman (Caledon Institute of Social Policy), Carolyn Whitzman (doctoral candidate, School of Geography and Geology, McMaster University), David Wolfe (University of Toronto), and Madeleine Wong (University of Wisconsin).

Traditionally associated with the federal government, Aboriginal policy has arguably become a far more complex reality. With or without formal self-government, Aboriginal communities and nations are increasingly assertive in establishing their own authority in areas as diverse as education, land management, the administration of justice, family and social services, and housing. The 2013 State of the Federation volume gathers experts and practitioners to discuss the contemporary dynamics, patterns, and challenges of Aboriginal multilevel governance in a wide range of policy areas. Recent court decisions on Aboriginal rights, notably on the duty to consult, have forced provincial and territorial governments to develop more sustained relationships with Aboriginal organizations and governments, especially in the management of lands and resources. Showing that Aboriginal governance is, more than ever, a multilevel reality, contributors address questions such as: What are the challenges in negotiating and implementing these bilateral and trilateral governance agreements? Are these governance arrangements conducive to real and sustained Aboriginal participation in the policy process? Finally, what are the implications of these various developments for Canadian federalism and for the rights and status of Aboriginal peoples in relation to the Canadian federation?