“This is what I wish you knew”: Identity and Well-being among Urban Aboriginal Peoples in Halifax

Research Start-up Summary and Abstract:
The separation of Aboriginal communities from their land base under colonization, the subsequent segregation on reserves, and the current influx of individuals to urban centres have created challenges for connection to traditional cultural practices, values and belief systems. Aboriginal people have suffered continuing assaults on their individual and collective identities, which has contributed to continuing health and social disparities. The current proposal seeks to use film as a method of data collection and as a dissemination strategy in a larger community-based participatory research project exploring urban Aboriginal identity and mental health in Halifax. The following research questions, which build off of UAKN Atlantic’s key questions, will guide the research:

• Who are we and how did we get here? How do Aboriginal people in Halifax define and experience different aspects of their individual and collective identities in the urban setting, and how are these interrelated?
• What do we do? What are the key strengths and challenges related to identity for Aboriginal people in Halifax and how do they navigate these?
• Where are we going and how are we getting there? How are the impacts of urban living on Aboriginal identity related to mental health and well-being? What is needed to support Indigenous people’s sense of identity, mental health, and well-being in Halifax?

Website created for this project: http://thisiswhatiwishyouknew.com

News Article Published: This is What I Wish You Knew, a project exploring aboriginal identity through a mural at the Mi’kmaw Native Friendship Centre in Halifax, is one of six art projects to receive inaugural (Re)conciliation initiative funding through the Canada Council for the Arts, the J.W. McConnell Family Foundation and the Circle on Philanthropy and Aboriginal Peoples in Canada.

Read more: http://thechronicleherald.ca/artslife/1320737-mural-for-mi’kmaw-centre-gets-boost

http://kukukwes.com/2016/03/01/clay-mural-project-aims-to-reflect-urban-aboriginal-community-in-halifax/

Mural that explores Indigenous self-identity unveils in Halifax

• Halifax’s Urban Aboriginal Identity Population (2011, NHS)

  2.5% (6,650) of Halifax’s population identifies as Aboriginal, 4.6% (17,735) report having Aboriginal ancestry.
• 60.4% are First Nation, 32% are Metis, 2.7% are Inuit and 4.8% report having multiple or other Aboriginal identities.