Historical Background

The Aboriginal culture and identity have found themselves in a precarious position since the arrival of Europeans to the Americas. In some instances, entire cultures have been methodically eliminated, not that the Americas were a place of absolute peace and tranquillity prior to European arrival. Many cultures in the Americas were at odds with each other. Entire civilizations disappeared during the pre-European years as well, some through famine, environmental disasters, failed crops, and war with neighboring tribes. European contact brought with it other forms of devastation through war, disease, agendas of extermination and setting nations against nations, communities against communities and family members against each other.

As European populations grew within Canada, peace treaties were signed, not only between France and England but also between Europeans and the Aboriginal inhabitants. With Confederation and the expansion of Canada into the west and north came numerous treaties and promises on the part of Canada to provide Aboriginal people with education, farming instruction, health care, provisions, free land (which they already owned), and for many, the end of a nomadic way of life. With time, Native education came to mean assimilation and cultural genocide. Residential schools replaced community and family education. The plan was to eliminate Aboriginal language, culture, spiritual beliefs, and any semblance of traditional life. The new order, laid out by Duncan Campbell Scott, the Deputy Superintendent of Indian Affairs was, “kill the Indian, save the man”. In many instances, children were apprehended from their parents and in some cases, they were sent hundreds if not thousands of miles away to be educated as European children were. If children made it back home at all following their education, many could no longer communicate with their families. Thousands never returned home as many were fostered out and adopted out into European homes or they died in residential schools. Many of the children who attended schools in urban centres remained there, becoming some of Canada’s first urban Natives.

The government plan to assimilate was, however, not completely successful. Aboriginal languages, culture, spirituality and traditional knowledge have survived in various degrees in some communities and within the hearts and minds of many individuals. Despite the many drawbacks of the “reserve” system, many communities remained isolated from the European cultures they were supposed to emulate. In a sense, the reserve became and remains the heartland of many Aboriginal cultures, languages and identities, or at least potentially so. There is only one Tsuu T’ina community in the world, and it is found within the present day city limits of the city of Calgary, Alberta. There are only 4 Blackfoot reserves in the world, 3 in Canada and one in the United States. And likewise, there are only 2 Wendat Nations in the world, one in Wendake, Quebec and one in Nebraska in the United States. During the early 1500’s, both of these communities were once one people, one nation. At the same time, Tsuu T’ina, Blackfoot and Wyandat individuals live and work throughout the world today!

The reality about many reserves in North America is that very few are self-sufficient and self-sustaining. Many are off the main highways, isolated, with no fresh water or sewage treatment facilities. Reserve lands are often unsuitable for farming, ranching, logging or any type of viable industry. Nearby lakes and streams are so polluted that commercial fishing is not an option either. Many Aboriginal communities in Canada have living conditions equal to, if not worse than those of many third world countries. For many Aboriginal people living on reserves, in northern communities and in small towns, the lure of the city with its potential for employment, better housing, clean water, better health care and thus a better way of life is very appealing.

It can be argued that some Aboriginal cultures have been living in urban settings long before Europeans arrived in North America. In Canada and in the United States, the Huronian, Iroquoian, Hopewellian, Mississippian, Mandan and Hidatsa, and Northwest Coast peoples have been living in semi-permanent to permanent villages for thousands of years. As fur trade posts sprung up across the country approximately four hundred years ago, Aboriginal people often set up camp just outside the walls of these trading posts and forts. Here, European food and trade goods were at hand and employment was occasionally found. These people were often referred to as the “home-guard” people.

Some of the Métis and First Nations communities who settled at Red River, Manitoba in the early 1800s were instrumental in the building and development of cities and towns that grew up around modern day Winnipeg. These Aboriginal people were masons, carpenters, voyageurs, farmers, ranchers, freighters, bakers, boat builders, potters, coopers, painters, accountants, tailors, seamstresses, candle makers, cooks and road builders, to name but a few of their professions.

Men, women and children not only worked in the fur trade industry but also in the cottage craft industry and as entrepreneurs. Métis and First Nations children went to school in urban centres. Many of them would later take an active role in local, provincial, state and federal government. Many converted to Christianity and several took on leading roles within these religious institutions.

In Eastern Ontario, Western Quebec and in the New York State, Iroquoian iron workers assisted and continue to assist in building the most famous, and not so famous, skyscrapers and bridges throughout North America.

A new wave of Aboriginal and Inuit migration to urban centres took place after men and women returned from the Second World War and again during the early 1960s following changes to the Indian Act. Today, as was the case over sixty years ago, Aboriginal and Inuit people turn to urban centres with hopes of finding employment or a better standard of living, for all of the conveniences city living offers, such as better housing, health care, education, a new life, work in political and government organizations, and the proximity to friends and relatives living in urban centres. Some moved to urban centres to escape the inconveniences of rural living, for the social life the city offers them, to escape discrimination back home due to their sexual orientation or illness or for the anonymity the city can provide.

The reasons for Aboriginal and Inuit people being drawn to urban centres, of course, are no different from those given by non-Aboriginal and Inuit people. In some cases, the experiences, successes and disappointments are quite similar. The disadvantage, however, is that the degree of poverty experienced by Aboriginal and Inuit people entering urban centres generally far exceeds that of non-Aboriginal people.

The urban reality of New York City, Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, where many people of similar cultures cluster together in neighborhoods, where local businesses and churches and various services cater to local traditions, language, religious and cultural needs, makes it possible for these various cultural groups to maintain their language, sense of identity and pride.

As many of these cultural groups migrated to larger urban centres, they settled in the various districts of the city which became known as distinct cultural districts.  This was not always the case for Aboriginal people moving to urban centres. For example, there are no Cree, Saulteaux, Mik’maq, Dene, Inuit, Haida or Mohawk quarters in Ottawa or Edmonton or New York City unless, of course, there is an urban reserve within city limits. In some cases, Aboriginal people moving to urban centres did move into neighborhoods where other Aboriginal people live but they generally settled in neighborhoods where housing was affordable and services were convenient.

The experience of “community” for Aboriginal and Inuit people has not been the same in urban centres as it has been for many cultural groups moving into urban centres where “cultural districts” are available should they choose to identify with those communities. There are no Mohawk districts or Cree districts in the way that there is a “Little Italy” or “Chinatown” in Toronto, Montreal, Edmonton, St. John’s or Halifax. In some cases, there are areas of the city where Aboriginal and Inuit people have a larger presence as a collective but not as a given cultural group. However, in Calgary, Fredericton, Saskatoon and Vancouver, there are Indian reserves and federally recognized communities within city limits!