Comparing the Lived Experiences of Urban Aboriginal Peoples with Canadian Rights to a Quality of Life

Research Start-up Summary and Abstract:
Despite government recognition of the importance of improving Quality of Life (QoL), significant barriers to QoL remain for Aboriginal peoples. Although the 2010 Urban Aboriginal Peoples Study showed strong aspirations toward improving their QoL, urban Aboriginal people felt that access to education, income gaps, and government policy impeded their progress. Building on long-term studies of QoL by Community-University Institute for Social Research (CUISR), this study will assess the lived experiences of urban Aboriginal peoples as they relate to their QoL. The research will devote attention to Aboriginal understandings of treaty, constitutional, statutory, and normative frameworks that may be significant for dealing with QoL issues. The outcomes of the research may serve as a catalyst for renewed discussion about the obligations of various levels of government to maintain the rights laid out in treaties for urban Aboriginal peoples. The study will establish baseline information about QoL for urban Aboriginal peoples using the mixed-methods research approach of CUISR’s QoL research iterations, integrating CUISR’s collaborative community-based research approach.

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

  9.3% (23,895) of Saskatoon’s population identifies as Aboriginal, 9.8% (25,350) report having Aboriginal ancestry.
• 49.2% are First Nation, 48.2% are Metis, less than 1% are Inuit and 2.2% report having multiple or other Aboriginal identities.