Municipal-Indigenous Relations in Ontario: Initiatives in Brantford, Hamilton, and Niagara

Abstract

The relationship between local government and urban Indigenous Peoples in Ontario is understudied, even though over half of Canada’s Indigenous population live in urban centres, one in five of Canada’s Indigenous population live in Ontario, and the Six Nations of the Grand River has the largest reserve population in Canada. Brantford, Hamilton, and Niagara were selected to build on previous research that mapped Municipal-Indigenous relations in seven municipalities across Canada. Studies regarding Municipal-Indigenous relations indicate the degree of inclusion of Indigenous Peoples in policy processes is as unique as each municipality. Some municipalities are urban Indigenous policy innovators with formal mechanisms for Indigenous inclusion in policy processes while others lag. An investigation of three Ontario municipalities is pivotal in partially supporting the finding that larger urban centres with proportionately smaller Indigenous populations are moving toward substantive Indigenous relationship building when compared to smaller municipalities with proportionately higher Indigenous populations.