UNBC to Lead National Urban Aboriginal Knowledge Network in Western Canada
July 17, 2012
The University of Northern British Columbia is partnering with the National Association of Friendship Centres (NAFC), government ministries, and regional research centres across Canada to develop the Urban Aboriginal Knowledge Network (UAKN) and research the policies and issues that affect Canada’s city-dwelling aboriginal population. The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) recently approved $2.5 million dollars in funding over five years to go towards the project led nationally by Trent University and by UNBC in western Canada. “Although more than half of Canada’s Aboriginals live in urban centres, the realities of urban Aboriginal people remain much less understood by researchers, government officials, and many service agencies than those of on-reserve First Nations people and Inuit in the North,” says UNBC professor of First Nations Studies Ross Hoffman, who along with UNBC Economics professor Paul Bowles, will be coordinating UNBC’s research activities in the project. “This is the first time universities, government ministries, and friendship centres have ever been brought together at the national level to address issues of aboriginal policy.” The network’s research activities will be focused around four broad themes:
A key component of the network's strategy is to provide opportunities for emerging scholars—Aboriginal scholars in particular—to engage in research about urban Aboriginal issues. The knowledge created will be available for use in courses on Aboriginal issues at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. The network's research will also provide new knowledge to community-based and government partners, in an effort to improve policy, programs, and services for urban Aboriginal peoples. | Media Download |