Abstracts
Abstract
This paper discusses the social experiences and needs of an urban Inuit community in Ottawa, drawing on interview data gathered as part of collaborative research with the Ottawa Inuit Children’s Centre. Its aim is to trace the role of social, historical, and geographical processes in urban Inuit experiences and to assess how they must be considered in an analysis of Inuit language and culture programming needs in the city. Our findings support the notions that communities are not fixed or unified entities and that issues such as housing, language, and discrimination both unite and create barriers for Inuit in the city. Inuit-run language and culture programs are central to community-building and to increased access to employment and services in the city.
Résumé
Cet article traite des expériences sociales et des besoins d’une communauté urbaine inuit à Ottawa. Notre recherche s’appuie sur les données d’entrevues recueillies lors d’un partenariat de recherche avec le Centre pour enfants inuit d’Ottawa. Elle cherche à comprendre comment les cheminements sociaux, historiques et géographiques doivent être pris en considération lors de l’analyse des besoins d’élaboration de programmes urbains de langue et de culture inuit. Nos conclusions confirment l'hypothèse voulant que les communautés ne sont pas des entités fixes ou unifiées et que les questions de logement, langue et discrimination solidarisent les Inuit vivant en ville tout en leur créant des barrières. Les programmes de langue et de culture dirigés par les Inuit sont au centre du développement de la conscience communautaire et de l’augmentation de l’accès aux emplois et aux services de la ville.
Appendices
References
- DARNELL, Regna, 2004 Revitalization and retention of First Nations languages in Southwestern Ontario, in Jane Freeland and Donna Patrick (eds), Language Rights and Language Survival, Manchester, St. Jerome Publishing: 87-102.
- DORAIS, Louis-Jacques, 1997 Quaqtaq: Modernity and Identity in an Inuit Community, Toronto, University of Toronto Press.
- DORAIS, Louis-Jacques, 2006 Inuit Discourse and Identity after the Advent of Nunavut, unpublished research report, Québec, Université Laval, CIÉRA.
- DORAIS, Louis-Jacques and Susan SAMMONS, 2002 Language in Nunavut: Discourse and Identity in the Baffin Region, Iqaluit and Quebec City, Nunavut Arctic College and GÉTIC.
- HAGE, Ghassan, 2005 A not so multi-sited ethnography of a not so imagined community, Anthropological Theory, 5(4): 463-475.
- HOWARD-BOBIWASH, Heather, 2003 Women’s Class Strategies as Activism in Native Community Building in Toronto 1950- 1975, American Indian Quarterly, 27(3-4): 566- 582.
- ICC (INUIT CIRCUMPOLAR COUNCIL), 2005 Inuit Circumpolar Council web site: www.inuitcircumpolar.com
- KAPLAN, Lawrence, 2001 Inupiaq identity and Inupiaq language: Does one entail the other?, Études/Inuit/Studies, 25(1-2): 249-257.
- KISHIGAMI, Nobuhiro, 2002a Urban Inuit in Canada: A case from Montreal, Indigenous Affair, 3-4: 54-59.
- KISHIGAMI, Nobuhiro, 2002b Inuit identities in Montreal, Canada, Études/Inuit/Studies, 26(1): 183-191.
- KISHIGAMI, Nobuhiro, 2004 Cultural and ethnic identities of Inuit in Canada, Senri Ethnological Studies, 66: 81-93.
- LANGGAARD, Karen, 2001 Discourse Practices in Nuuk, Greenland: Language Usage and Language Attitudes of the Students at the Gymnasium, Canadian Journal of Native Studies, 21(2): 231-272.
- LAWRENCE, Bonita, 2004 Real Indians and Others: Mixed-Blood Urban Native Peoples and Indigenous Nationhood, Lincoln, University of Nebraska Press.
- LOBO, Susan, 2001 Is Urban a Person or a Place? Characteristics of Urban Indian Country, in Susan Lobo and Kurt Peters (eds), American Indians and the Urban Experience, New York, Altamira Press: 73-85.
- MAXIM, Paul S., Carl KEANE and Jerry WHITE, 2003 Urban Residential Patterns of Aboriginal People in Canada, in David Newhouse and Evelyn Peters (eds), Not Strangers in These Parts: Urban Aboriginal Peoples, Ottawa, Policy Research Initiative: 79-91.
- NORRIS, Mary Jane, 2007 Aboriginal Languages in Canada: Emerging trends and perspectives on second language acquisition, Canadian Social Trends, 83: 19-27 (online publication available at http://dsp-psd.pwgsc.gc.ca/collection_2007/statcan/11-008-X/11-008-XIE2007003.pdf).
- NORRIS, Mary Jane and Stewart CLATWORTHY, 2003 Aboriginal Mobility and Migration Within Urban Canada: Outcomes, Factors and Implications, in David Newhouse and Evelyn Peters (eds), Not Strangers in These Parts: Urban Aboriginal Peoples, Ottawa, Policy Research Initiative: 51-78.
- OICC (OTTAWA INUIT CHILDREN’S CENTRE), 2008 Ottawa Inuit Children’s Centre web site: www.ottawainuitchildrens.
- PATRICK, Donna, 2003 Language, Politics, and Social Interaction in an Inuit Community, Berlin and New York, Mouton de Gruyter.
- PATRICK, Donna, 2007 Indigenous language endangerment and the unfinished business of nation-states, in Monica Heller and Alexandre Duchêne (eds), Discourses of endangerment: Ideology and Interest in the defense of languages, London and New York, Continuum International Publishing Group: 35-56.
- PROULX, Craig, 2003 Reclaiming Aboriginal Justice, Community and Identity. Saskatoon, Purich Publishing Ltd.
- PUBLIC HEALTH AGENCY OF CANADA, 2008 Aboriginal Head Start: Principles and Guidelines, online version at: www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/dca-dea/programs-mes/ahs_overview_e.html.
- RICHARD, Kenn, 1994 The Urbanization of Aboriginal Canada, Perception, 17(4):18-19.
- STATISTICS CANADA, 2008 Aboriginal Peoples in Canada in 2006: Inuit, Métis and First Nations, 2006 Census, Ottawa, Statistics Canada.
- TASK FORCE ON ABORIGINAL LANGUAGES AND CULTURES, 2005 Towards a New Beginning: A Foundational Report for a Strategy to Revitalize First Nation, Inuit and Métis Languages and Cultures, Ottawa, Report to the Minister of Canadian Heritage.
- TOMIAK, Julie-Ann and Donna PATRICK, Forth. Transnational Migration and Indigeneity in Canada: A Case Study of Urban Inuit, in Maximilian C. Forte (ed.), Indigenous Cosmopolitans: Trans-national and Transcultural Indigeneity in the Twenty-First Century, New York, Peter Lang Publishing.
- TULLOCH, Shelley, 2004 Inuktitut and Inuit Youth: Language Attitudes as a Basis for Language Planning. Ph.D. dissertation, Université Laval, online version at: http://husky1.smu.ca/~stulloch/Tulloch2004.pdf.
- TULLOCH, Shelley, 2005 1st Inuit Circumpolar Youth Council Symposium on the Inuit Language, Iqaluit, August 15-19, 2005. Summary Report, Iqaluit, Inuit Circumpolar Youth Council, online version at: www.inuitcircumpolar.com/files/uploads/icc-files/ICYC-LanguageReport-English.pdf.
- TUNGASUVVINGAT INUIT, 2005 National Urban Inuit One Voice Workshop, Ottawa,October 26-27, 2005, Ottawa, Tungasuvvingat Inuit.
- URBAN ABORIGINAL TASK FORCE, 2007 Ottawa Final Report (Commissioned by the Ontario Federation of Indian Friendship Centres, The Ontario Metis Aboriginal Association and The Ontario Native Women’s Association), Ottawa, The Ontario Federation of Indian Friendship Centres.
- WEIBEL-ORLANDO, Joan A., 1991 Indian Country, L.A.: Maintaining Ethnic Community in Complex Society, revised edition, Chicago, University of Illinois Press.