How have municipal governments in Canada been engaging Aboriginal peoples and First Nations? This project examined municipal Aboriginal relations offices and/or advisory committees across Canada and focuses on four cases in Vancouver, Edmonton, Winnipeg and Toronto. This study identified their mandates, size, locations and initiatives these offices and advisory committees have undertaken, which include: awareness training; employment strategies to recruit, hire and retain Aboriginal municipal employees; and improve Aboriginal representation on municipal agencies, boards and commissions.

To what extent are voluntary organizations included in the policy processes that make decisions regarding the needs and interests of Indigenous groups? As politically underrepresented groups, both urban Aboriginal Peoples and Travellers rely on voluntary organizations to provide culturally appropriate programs and services and to advocate on their behalf. Applying a scalar analysis, this project isolated three key concepts that are critical to their inclusion in policy processes. First, is the incorporation of their issues and interests in cultural programs and services. Second, is group representation in policy processes. And third is their collaboration with government. On balance, it appears that urban Aboriginal Peoples in Canada have moved closer to inclusion in policy processes than Travellers.

Most of Canada’s Indigenous Peoples reside in urban centres, yet they remain politically under‐represented in municipal governance structures, such as in Saskatchewan, where they have a significant population base. Through a qualitative case‐study of Municipal‐Indigenous relationships, this study aims to map the political representation of Indigenous Peoples within municipal governance structures in Regina, Saskatoon, and Prince Albert. Based on interviews and supporting documents, this article analyzes Municipal‐Indigenous relations based on the following: governance interface between municipal government and Indigenous Peoples; Indigenous culture as municipal asset; economic and social development; and urban reserves, service agreements, and regional relationships. The analysis reveals that the three municipalities, by varying degrees, lag in substantive relationship building with Indigenous communities.

Over half of Canada's Indigenous identity population reside in urban centres. Despite their growing numbers, Indigenous Peoples remain under represented in municipal government. While it has been argued that all levels of government have responsibility for urban Indigenous Peoples, neither the federal government nor the provinces have provided direction regarding their representation in urban centres. The local response to urban Indigenous input has emerged over the past ten years in the form of Aboriginal advisory boards in some municipalities. While these nascent entities provide a bridge to Indigenous Peoples to access municipal government, they fall short of providing them with governance models recommended in various consultations with Indigenous Peoples over the past twenty years. This article argues that over time models of representation are being overshadowed by policies of service delivery for urban Indigenous Peoples in Canada.

The relationship between local government and urban Indigenous Peoples in Ontario is understudied, even though over half of Canada’s Indigenous population live in urban centres, one in five of Canada’s Indigenous population live in Ontario, and the Six Nations of the Grand River has the largest reserve population in Canada. Brantford, Hamilton, and Niagara were selected to build on previous research that mapped Municipal-Indigenous relations in seven municipalities across Canada. Studies regarding Municipal-Indigenous relations indicate the degree of inclusion of Indigenous Peoples in policy processes is as unique as each municipality. Some municipalities are urban Indigenous policy innovators with formal mechanisms for Indigenous inclusion in policy processes while others lag. An investigation of three Ontario municipalities is pivotal in partially supporting the finding that larger urban centres with proportionately smaller Indigenous populations are moving toward substantive Indigenous relationship building when compared to smaller municipalities with proportionately higher Indigenous populations.