Invitation

Dear Colleagues:

As you know, the National Network on Urban Aboriginal Economic Development has been busy since our inaugural National Gathering in October of last year. We have been actively building up the network; supporting the creation of Learning Circles in urban Aboriginal communities; supporting and encouraging scholarly research; engaging graduate students in research projects and learning circles; and most importantly, encouraging a national dialogue between practitioners, policy analysts, and scholars about this critical issue.

As we enter the second year of our work together it is time to reconvene, share what we have learned, and set the direction for the final stage of the Project. Most learning circles across the country are now up and running and have chosen various agendas and areas to work on. As we move into the second phase, we encourage circles to move to action learning while at the same time sharing the results of their work.

Accordingly, we are hosting a gathering in Vancouver November 5 & 6th to meet the following needs:

  • Connect learning circles to one another

  • Connect practitioners and researchers across the country

  • Establish a national priority agenda

  • Identify and recruit participants for a national policy development steering committee that would continue beyond the initial phase of this project.

  • Begin to create an implementation strategy for policy change as a result of the initiative.

Some of the questions that have emerged so far include:

For Learning Circle Participants

  • How have different Aboriginal groups been able to effectively work together in the urban setting? What impact does collaboration between Aboriginal groups have on economic development? What are the issues and opportunities, and what are the limits?

  • What are the examples/models of spiritual and cultural practices in urban  Aboriginal communities that contribute to the economic development of those communities? What practices, relationships, or understandings make Aboriginal economic development Aboriginal?

  • How have the efforts of urban Aboriginal communities to organize and advocate for their members impacted on the policies of the four levels of governments (First Nations, federal, provincial, municipal).

  • What are the most significant limits facing collective action on economic development, and what are the opportunities?

For Policy Experts and Academics

  • What are we noticing about how urban Aboriginal economies really work? What are the implications of this learning for the ways that governments fund urban Aboriginal economic development initiatives?

  • Most current models of Aboriginal economic development are focused on land-based First Nations’ communities. What are the limits to applying this to urban Aboriginal communities? Are state centred models effective in this context? What is the relationship between community development and economic development in an urban context?

  • How are the economies of urban areas tied to (or separate from) those of land based First Nations? To what extent is there movement (of goods, people, knowledge, etc) between urban Aboriginal, Métis, and First Nations communities, and what is the impact on the economy?

  • What role do urban Aboriginal organizations actually play in supporting economic development? Is this different than the role they should play, and if so, do urban organizations currently have the right capacity?

  • What forms of advocacy, engagement, and representation from practitioners and researchers would be most effective to establish a sympathetic and supportive policy regime?

Academics, Policy People and Practitioners

  • What are the ways in which we can generate more social capital in order to set the foundation for institutional and economic development?

The above are some of the key issues that have emerged in our dialogues. As you can see, there are numerous possible research agendas and practical activities to pursue. An important outcome of the November National Gathering will be to develop a focused agenda for future network activity.

Accordingly, the outcomes we are anticipating include:

  1. Discover and support practitioner led priorities

  2. Identify a small group of priorities for policy shift so that we can work these at the next level.

  3. Identify research themes that academics will endorse.

  4. Create a network governance body of practitioners to steward the network's potential and design an implementation infrastructure for the KIS results. What would it take to keep this work alive after the grant runs out?

We invite you to give some thought to what would be a focused, strategic, and productive agenda for future activities, and ask that you come prepared to work, together, to develop a set of priorities that can guide our collective action.

Moving to a Community of Practice

Following the gathering in November, our intention is to support the national network with policy design workshops on the priorities. We can also intend to broaden the outreach to the circles, perhaps with a series of webinars. Part of our gathering in November will look at these options and other ways to knit the network more tightly together.

We will also be working with the emerging policy priorities so that we can define what kinds of changes need to be made in the policy sphere and begin to work with our government partners to effect these changes.

We need you to champion one or more ideas of your choosing. If your interest is described above, let us know. If your interest is not, please describe it to us.

Thanks, and look forward to working with you in November.

Steering Committee,
Network on Urban Aboriginal Economic Development