This story is featured in the Fall 2013 issue of Showcase: The Knowledge Mobilization Edition. View the complete publication at www.trentu.ca/showcase

Mino-bimaadiziwin is an Anishinaabe phrase that means fostering a good life. The concept provides a research framework for the Urban Aboriginal Knowledge Network (UAKN), says Professor David Newhouse, associate professor of Indigenous Studies and Business Administration, and chair of Trent University’s Department of Indigenous Studies. Prof. Newhouse is the lead researcher for UAKN, which was formed to explore how Aboriginal people are building and living fulfilling lives in urban settings. Trent University received $2.5 million over five years from the Social Sciences and Humanities Council (SSHRC) to fund the initiative.

More than half of Canada’s Aboriginal people reside in an urban area, but until recently there has been virtually no research on the experiences of urban Aboriginal people, explains Prof. Newhouse. “The premise of the research is that Aboriginal peoples have remarkable knowledge within our communities, which can be mobilized to improve daily life,” he says. “We know that there are problems; the focus of our work is not the problems that we encounter, but the way in which communities come together to address these problems. We are trying to uncover the knowledge that is available within urban Aboriginal communities and use it to inform government policy and influence the development of programs and interventions by local agencies. The overall objective is to help create better lives for Aboriginal people residing in urban settings. Our national partner, the National Association of Friendship Centres, has been working at this task since the early 1970s.”

A Model for Collaboration

The research project, which is entering its second year, is a model of collaboration. It brings together local Aboriginal groups with researchers, government agencies, and local NGOs who have an interest in urban Aboriginal issues. “Our approach is to build connections at the local level,” says Prof. Newhouse.

UAKN currently has fifty-seven partners, including a lead partner: the National Association of Friendship Centres, which is helping to facilitate community research through local friendship centres. “We don’t initiate the projects as a national council, but we work with local friendship centres and help them to identify projects based on their local needs. It is truly community-driven research,” he says, pointing out that the concept of minobimaadiziwin can differ from community to community according to their priorities.

Ten local projects are currently underway with more to come. They are overseen by host institutions in four regional centres: Atlantic (University of New Brunswick); Ontario (Trent University and University of Sudbury); Prairies (University of Saskatchewan and University of Winnipeg) and the West (University of Northern British Columbia).

“Because every community has different needs there is a wide diversity in the research projects across the country,” says Prof. Newhouse. “Each project examines a different aspect of the urban Aboriginal experience. For example, in Sudbury we’re exploring the development of an urban Aboriginal middle class, while in Thunder Bay we’re looking at the ways in which the local friendship centre and non-Aboriginal agencies can stimulate the development of a local Aboriginal economy.”

The involvement of academic institutions from across the country provides a multi-disciplinary approach says Prof. Newhouse. “We have researchers from a diverse group of disciplines including Urban Studies, Geography, Law, and Native Studies. Of course, the Indigenous Studies program at Trent is multi-disciplinary. Other universities and disciplines are also beginning to come on board.”

Transferring Knowledge

Prof. Newhouse stresses that a focus of UAKN is on transferring knowledge from urban Aboriginal people to agencies, indicating that senior levels of government have identified knowledge gaps with respect to urban Aboriginal people. Although the project is in its early stages, the process of transferring learning has already begun. “In the past year, the researchers made presentations to regional friendship centre associations on their findings,” he says. “Locally, we’re asking friendship centres and researchers to make presentations to city councils, social service agencies, urban Aboriginal councils, social planning councils and senior levels of government.”

As the project unfolds over the next four years, Prof. Newhouse also sees the opportunity for Trent University students to become involved.

Information on the Urban Aboriginal Knowledge Network can be found at www.uakn.org

Posted on Tuesday, December 10, 2013.