“Inventing New Places”: Urban Aboriginal Visibility and the Co-Construction of Citizenship in Val-d'Or (Québec)

• Published in: City & Society
• Main Authors: Desbiens, Caroline, Lévesque, Carole, Comat, Ioana
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2016
• Subjects: Urban Aboriginals; Native Friendship Centres; Visibility; Citizenship; Indian Act; Cultural geography; Val-d'Or; Québec; Canada; Indian; First Nations; inuit
• Online Access: https://espace.inrs.ca/id/eprint/6133/; https://doi.org/10.1111/ciso.12074

The presence of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis people in the urban centres of Québec (Canada) is no longer simply the result of individual trajectories; it is also the result of collective and institutional initiatives. Aboriginal collective action is changing, and, as a consequence, new forms of Aboriginal citizenship are emerging, as well as new expressions of Aboriginal identity. These transformations have repercussions across the whole of Québec society. With cultural territories being materialized—and Indigenous identities symbolized—in the cityscape, new conceptions of Québécois citizenship and identity have emerged. Using the approaches of historical and cultural geography, we explore, firstly, the spatial dimensions of Indigeneity and of Canada's Indian policy. Secondly, we analyse two spaces of civic engagement that have emerged in the city of Val-d'Or—the Abinodjic Miguam Daycare and the Gabriel Commanda March Against Racism—as they relate to urban Aboriginal visibility and the co-construction of citizenship.