According to the 2001 Canadian Census, about one half of Aboriginal peoples in Canada live in urban centers with populations on reserves and rural areas steadily decreasing (Statistics Canada, 2001). With Vancouver home to approximately 40,310 Aboriginal people, issues surrounding this community have become increasingly pressing. According to the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, past policy decisions have contributed to, if not created, many challenges in areas of domestic violence, education, employment, income, housing, criminal justice and health (as cited in HanselmannHasselmann, 2001). It is not surprising then that compared with their immigrant counterparts urban Aboriginals experience the most marginalization on many different levels of civic life and generally live in desperate conditions (Hanselmann, 2001).
As cities and their functions continue to change due to the larger systemic factors of globalization and the changing relationship between capital and the State (Smith 2002), already vulnerable populations such as the urban Aboriginal community face the threat of further displacement and exclusion as urban areas ‘revitalize’. It is crucial then, that creators and enforcers of public policy such as those in civic institutions like the City of Vancouver and the Vancouver Police Department be exposed to the realities and complexities of the issues facing urban Aboriginals as well as understand the implications of the current policies in their historical, social and political contexts.
It is with this perspective that the Urban Aboriginal Sensitivity Training Workshops were created by the Vancouver Aboriginal Friendship Centre and 42nd Street Consulting in 2009. With no training or incorporation of urban Aboriginal issues within the Vancouver Police Department and City of Vancouver, the workshops were designed to give participants a basic background on the historical, cultural and social aspects of the urban Aboriginal community as well as an overview of pressing issues facing them. This project provides the follow up to these initial workshops to determine outcomes, initiatives and whether changes in practice were inspired.
