What Now? Future Federal Responsibilities Towards Aboriginal People Living in Cities

Missing Pathways to Self-Governance: Aboriginal Health Policy in British Columbia

“…In contrast, Canadian associational Aboriginal communities have yet to be recognized as a legitimate platform to represent Aboriginal peoples in ways that complement on-reserve governance structures, despite earlier federal commitments (Abele & Graham, 2011). The next sections explore Aboriginal health policy developments in BC and how these developments have narrowly defined the role urban Aboriginal health organizations play in the context of self-government.…”

From self‐determination to service delivery: Assessing Indigenous inclusion in municipal governance in Canada

“…In the aftermath of the Oka standoff between the people of Kahnawake and federal and provincial police, the federal cabinet established The Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (RCAP) in 1991 (Abele and Graham : 165) to “investigate the evolution of the relationship among Aboriginal peoples… the Canadian government and Canadian society as a whole” (1996 v1: 669). The first report published by RCAP was Aboriginal Peoples in Urban Centres in 1993, a discussion document that reported on the National Round Tables held in June 1992.…”

“…The Municipal‐Aboriginal Adjacent Community Cooperation committee was formed in 2001 by CMAR. Although it was short lived, its mandate was to conduct research, identify examples of collaboration and address outstanding issues regarding reserves located in or near urban centres (Abele and Graham : 169). In 2011 the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada created the First Nations‐Municipal Community Infrastructure Partnership Program (CIPP).…”

“…The UAS initiated its program in thirteen cities whose combined Indigenous population represented more than twenty‐five per cent of Canada's total Indigenous population (Vancouver, Prince George, Lethbridge, Calgary, Edmonton, Prince Albert, Regina, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Thompson, Thunder Bay, Toronto and Ottawa). The UAS started in 1998 with a four year fifty million dollar program (Abele and Graham : 169) to partner with other governments and community organizations in response to the needs of urban Indigenous Peoples in three project priority areas: improving life skills; promoting job training, skills and entrepreneurship; and supporting Indigenous women, children and families and project priorities continue in the present day (INAC 2016). The UAS was instrumental in bringing policy actors together to identify, what many of them referred to as “gaps” in programs.…”

Municipal‐Aboriginal advisory committees in four Canadian cities: 1999–2014

“…The UAS collaborates with provincial, local and community stakeholders in three project priority areas: improving life skills; promoting job training, skills and entrepreneurship; and supporting Aboriginal women, children and families (AAND 2015). Limited by a budget of $13.5 million for 2014/2015, the strengths of the UAS approach include: “its ability to adapt to local circumstances, its community‐based approach, its allowance for federal information sharing and coordination, and its receiving strong provincial support” (Abele and Graham : 48). In light of constitutional, legal decisions and shifts in jurisdictional authority, “no single level of government is required to take sole responsibility for the complex issues challenging urban Aboriginal communities, and no government is seen as establishing a precedent in assuming responsibility” (Peters : 16).…”