Urban Indigenous Identity and Governance Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering the social, economic, cultural, and legal aspects of urban Indigenous identities, institutions, and systemic challenges in Canada.

Stuart Hall's Concept of Identity

Identity is not fixed or permanent; it is rooted in the past and shared history but is continuously recreated and evolves as people respond to new circumstances.

Indigenous Homelessness (Jesse Thistle)

Understood as landlessness, representing a consequence of colonial dispossession and displacement from land, culture, language, family, community, and identity.

Status Blindness

A service delivery model practiced by urban organizations where programs and services are provided to all Indigenous people regardless of their legal classification or status.

Personal Prejudice

Individual discriminatory behavior based on personal bias rather than systemic structures.

Institutional Racism

Discrimination that is built into societal structures and institutions such as the courts, policing, healthcare, education, and legislation.

Unconscious Racism

Occurs when individuals unknowingly repeat stereotypes or discriminatory practices developed through common social, educational, and institutional narratives.

Starlight Tours

A practice where police officers transport Indigenous men to city limits, remove their shoes and jackets, and force them to walk home in the middle of winter.

Neil Stonechild (1990)

A young man found frozen outside Saskatoon after being in police custody, whose case exposed systemic racism in policing and led to public inquiries.

Pamela George (1995)

A Saulteaux woman murdered in Regina whose killers were convicted of manslaughter rather than murder, illustrating how racism and sexism devalue Indigenous women's lives.

Native Hubs (Renya Ramirez)

A concept describing cities as central points that link distant communities through migration, kinship, and organizing.

Engines of Indigenous Cultural Power (Chris Andersen)

A perspective arguing that cities are spaces where Indigenous peoples can strengthen culture, engage in activism, and revitalize identity rather than lose it.

Friendship Centres

Institutions that began in $1951$ to provide cultural programming, employment assistance, housing support, and community gathering spaces for urban Indigenous populations.

National Association of Friendship Centres (NAFC)

An organization established in $1972$ to provide national representation for Friendship Centres across Canada.

Circular Migration

The patterns of Indigenous people regularly moving between cities, reserves, and home communities for reasons such as family, ceremonies, or employment.

Governance

The social structures that determine how decisions are made, who has authority, and how individuals are represented within societal decision-making processes.

Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (RCAP)

A commission that in $1996$ proposed solutions for urban Indigenous governance, including institutional reform and models of self-government.

Urban Reserves

Reserve lands located within or beside city boundaries that support business development, employment, and Indigenous self-determination.

Additions to Reserves Policy

A federal policy developed in $1987$ and consolidated in $1991$ intended to fulfill legal obligations and negotiated land settlements.

Treaty Land Entitlement (TLE)

A process in Western Canada acknowledging that historical land allocation agreements under treaties were not always honored, allowing First Nations to purchase land for reserve status.

Neechi Commons

An Indigenous-owned cooperative business in Winnipeg that demonstrates how economic success and cultural revitalization can occur together in urban spaces.

Idle No More

A major social movement and flashpoint for Indigenous activism that arose from objections to proposed legislation encroaching on sovereignty.

8th Fire

A First Nations prophecy suggesting a time for all people to come together to build a new relationship to avoid social consequences.

Sixties Scoop

The period from the $1960\text{s}$ to the $1980\text{s}$ when thousands of Indigenous children were taken and adopted into white families, often losing their cultural identity.

Tungasuvvingat Inuit

An urban-based organization that provides healthcare, education, and cultural support to Inuit moving to southern cities like Ottawa.

Miss Chief Eagle Testickle

The flamboyant alter ego of Cree artist Kent Monkman used to reverse the gaze on European colonizers and address colonized sexuality.