Evelyn J. Peters

“You Can Make a Place for it”: Remapping Urban First Nations Spaces of Identity

Contemporary research on migration, particularly those studies drawing upon theories of transnationalism, demonstrates the ways in which social relations are stretched across spaces, allowing individuals to disrupt boundaries and create identities of belonging to more than one place. This research focuses on the disruption of state boundaries through migration and identity construction. In this paper we utilize elements of transnational theory and stories of First Nations migrants to explore the ways that First Nations urbanization also disrupts boundaries. Colonial perspectives and practices that confined First Nations cultural practices and identities within the physical boundaries of reserves and defined all other spaces as settler spaces created a framework for the construction of the contemporary Canadian nation-state. We present the results of eighteen in-depth interviews conducted with urban First Nations migrants. The interviews focused on understanding how migration to cities shapes relationships to the land (an important element of indigenous identity), the challenges cities present to maintaining connections to the land, and the strategies First Nations migrants use to preserve those connections. By resisting the assignment of First Nations cultures and identities to reserves, First Nations migration to cities challenges the identity of the modern state by disrupting its internal borders and boundaries.

Subversive Spaces: First Nations Women and the City

A number of researchers have explored how the Western city is gendered, racialized, and seen as an heterosexual space. There is little work which explores how the definition of the city, particularly in colonized countries, excludes indigenous peoples and cultures. In this paper, I wish to turn critical attention to the cultural meaning of urbanism by focusing on the complex geographies of identity and resistance which characterize the meaning of the term ‘urban’ in relation to First Nations women in Canada. I begin with a brief overview of the way colonial practices, which defined First Nations peoples and cultures as incompatible with urban life and First Nations peoples negotiation of these practices, helped separate First Nations peoples and the city in imagination and in fact. I then describe the way colonial administration and policy established First Nations reserves as masculinized spaces. Last, I describe the alternative geographies of rights and identity imagined by urban First Nations women.

CHALLENGING THE GEOGRAPHIES OF “INDIANNESS”: THE BATCHEWANA CASE

Naming is one way of imposing a definition upon other people. Another way is by territorial designations. … Putting people in their place is much more than a figure of speech. It is the basis of all codes of conduct; and it is the basis of colonial settlement (Chamberlin, 1988, p. 14).

ALGONQUIN NOTIONS OF JURISDICTION: INSERTING INDIGENOUS VOICES INTO LEGAL SPACES

ABSTRACT. Aboriginal and non‐Aboriginal notions of geography, nature and space sometimes compete, and these differences can create barriers to joint environmental problem‐solving. This paper examines the Ardoch Algonquin First Nation and Allies (AAFNA) and the strategies they used in juridical and legislative settings to make their voices heard. In the Tay River Ontario Environmental Review Tribunal (2000–2002), AAFNA attempted to introduced their knowledge of the environmental deterioration which would be caused by a Permit To Take Water issued to a multinational corporation by the Ontario Ministry of Environment. The paper is divided into two parts: first, it describes the concepts of Algonquin knowledge, jurisdiction and responsibility; second, it explores the strategies used to integrate their perspective into legal proceedings constructed by the Canadian government. This case reveals how some Algonquin people conceive of space and responsibility in deeply ecological, rather than narrowly juridical, terms. It establishes that their broad concepts of knowledge, land and jurisdiction are incompatible with existing Euro‐Canadian divisions of legal responsibility and ecological knowledge, but at the same time can serve as the means by which they challenge the current structure of Aboriginal and Canadian relations.

Aboriginal Settlement Patterns in Canadian Cities: Does the Classic Index-Based Approach Apply?

Based on the evidence obtained in qualitative studies, Massey and Denton argued in their 1988 paper (“The dimensions of residential segregation” Social Forces 67 281–315) that the residential segregation of ethnic or racialized groups is a complex and multidimensional phenomenon and, therefore, should be measured along several dimensions simultaneously. In a systematic review and analysis of all segregation measures proposed to that date, they identified five conceptually distinct dimensions of ethnic segregation—evenness, exposure, concentration, centralization, and clustering—and ‘best indices’ to measure them. This index-based approach has achieved a ‘canonical’ status and has been employed in numerous studies of segregation patterns. However, it is often overlooked that the structure of ethnic residential segregation uncovered by Massey and Denton is specific to the context in which segregation takes place—that is, the residential segregation of ethnic and racialized groups in US cities. This paper attempts to assess the utility of Massey and Dentons five-dimensional structure of segregation for the study of settlement patterns of Aboriginal people in Canadian metropolitan areas. We find that the application of the Massey and Denton model to the urban Aboriginal population in Canadian cities produces a significantly different structure of segregation.

Protecting the land under modern land claims agreements: the effectiveness of the environmental regime negotiated by the James Bay Cree in the James Bay and Northern Quebec agreement

Abstract Signed in 1975, the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement was the first modern land claims agreement under the new Canadian federal policy of addressing outstanding native land rights. Although both native groups and governments have been quick to deny that the James Bay Agreement represents a model for other settlements, there are lessons which can be learned from it—lessons not only about content but also about implementation. Powers and jurisdiction on paper have little meaning if they are not put into practice. The objective of this paper is to describe the Cree approach to using a land claims agreement to protect the lands which form the basis of their hunting economies, and to evaluate the effectiveness of the agreement in meeting these objectives.

The Household Structure of Status Indians in Regina and Saskatoon, 1982

This paper [examines]...patterns of co-residence and financial support among Canadian Indians living in the cities of Regina and Saskatoon Saskatchewan in 1982. The first section situates urban Indians by describing their socio-economic status and household structure compared to the total population of Regina and Saskatoon. Secondly additional persons in Indian family households are described in terms of demographic and labour force characteristics relationship to other household members and evidence of need for assistance with accommodation. Finally the conclusion focussed on which households are more or less likely to house additional persons. (SUMMARY IN FRE) (EXCERPT)