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“Inventing New Places”: Urban Aboriginal Visibility and the Co‐Construction of Citizenship in Val‐d'Or (Québec)[Note 1. This research was supported by the Social Sciences and ...]
Author(s) -
DESBIENS CAROLINE,
LÉVESQUE CAROLE,
COMAT IOANA
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
city and society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.308
H-Index - 25
eISSN - 1548-744X
pISSN - 0893-0465
DOI - 10.1111/ciso.12074
Subject(s) - citizenship , cityscape , indigenous , visibility , identity (music) , sociology , gender studies , friendship , geography , ethnology , political science , social science , law , aesthetics , visual arts , art , ecology , philosophy , biology , politics , meteorology
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. [Urban Aboriginals; Native Friendship Centres; Visibility; Citizenship; Indian Act; Cultural geography; Val‐d'Or; Québec; Canada]