Indigenous Organizations in Canada

Frideres and Gadacz (2012) lay out a useful framework for thinking about the different types of Indigenous organizations in Canada:

Public service organizations serve the general public – these organizations reflect the beliefs and values of mainstream Canadians, and are usually government-funded. Examples include education, welfare, and justice organizations.

Acculturating service organizations are large organizations that “draw their staff from the middle class and act to promote or maintain the assimilation of Aboriginal people into Euro-Canadian culture” (Frideres & Gadacz, 2012, p. 143). A good example is post-secondary institutions.

Accommodating organizations are publicly funded institutions and programs that try to fill the gaps between the needs of mainstream Canadian society and the needs of non-dominant groups, such as Indigenous Peoples and many others (for example, women, refugee claimants, people living in poverty, etc.). These institutions try to address the specific needs of a target population. Examples of accommodating organizations include Aboriginal counselling programs and Aboriginal-focused health-care services.

Finally, member organizations are those that represent Indigenous perspectives, support efforts at cultural resurgence, and serve the interests of Indigenous communities. These organizations may or may not be funded by governments, or they may rely on grants and other sources of funding. They are member-driven, and they are able to respond to the priorities of communities directly. Indigenous Peoples are far more represented in leadership positions in these organizations than in mainstream organizations.

Employment Centres

Many urban centres have employment centres focused specifically on helping Indigenous Peoples gain access to training, employment preparation, and other job-related services. These centres are generally provincially funded. Examples include Anishinabek Employment and Training Services in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Oteenow Employment and Training Society in Edmonton, Alberta, and Kagitamikam Aboriginal Employment and Training in eastern Ontario. These kinds of centres provide employment counselling, assistance with resumés, and access to job boards, and connect potential employers with job seekers.

Aboriginal Health Centres

Health care for First Nations people living on reserves is administered in Canada by the First Nations and Inuit Health Branch (FNIHB). This federally funded government organization has around 200 health-care centres and/or nursing stations on reserves, and the FNIHB also delivers a wide range of public health programs and funds health-care expenses like prescription drugs, travel for medical reasons, and some vision and dental care. Sometimes individual communities, band councils, or tribal councils coordinate with FNIHB to have funds transferred so that services can be delivered and managed more locally.

In urban centres and off-reserve, Aboriginal Health Centres are common across Canada and are aimed at meeting the specific needs of Indigenous Peoples who do not live on reserves (about half of all Indigenous people in Canada). For example, in Ontario, there are 10 regional networks of Aboriginal Health Access Centres – they operate Aboriginal Health Centres both on- and off-reserve across Ontario, providing primary health care that can be integrated with traditional healing, social service programming, and other culturally appropriate approaches to prevention and care. In Alberta, the provincial Indigenous Health Program integrates culturally appropriate care into existing programs and services. The funding formulas and the delegation of health care to provincial-level governments means that the system to provide health care to Indigenous Peoples is very complex; there are many different models of service delivery that vary regionally and jurisdictionally across Canada (Frideres & Gadacz, 2012).

Indigenous Police Services

Prior to the 1960s First Nations in Canada were policed by the RCMP. Since then, a number of different policing models have been developed in Canada. Most notably, the First Nations Policing Policy (FNPP) was approved by the federal government in 1991 and resulted in significant structural changes, new guidelines, and new funding models for policing of Indigenous Peoples and communities. Today, there are two main frameworks for First Nations policing: (1) self-administered Police Service Agreements, under which an Indigenous community creates and manages their own policing services using guidelines laid out by provincial or territorial governments, and (2) Community Tripartite Agreements, in which communities can enlist the RCMP to do policing work. As of 2016 there were 185 such arrangements across Canada, representing nearly 1300 police officers in 450 First Nation and Inuit communities (Clairmont, 2006; Public Safety Canada, 2018).

National Association of Friendship Centres

This important association, which was established in 1972, represents over 100 Native Friendship Centres located in cities across Canada. Native Friendship Centres are places where Indigenous Peoples in urban communities can connect with each other and practice their traditions and culture. Friendship Centres hold workshops, community events, and language and cultural classes, and provide meeting spaces for ceremonies, social events, and other community-oriented activities (National Association of Friendship Centres, n.d.).

The Assembly of First Nations (AFN)

The AFN is a national organization led by a national chief (currently, Chief Perry Bellegarde) and made up of 10 elected regional chiefs, as well as many councils that represent women, youth, and elders. The AFN holds elections every three years. This organization does advocacy and policy work with governments, holds national campaigns on various issues, and works to liaise between communities, the Crown, the public, and First Nations. It is one of the most important national organizations representing First Nations interests in Canada (Assembly of First Nations, n.d.).

First Nations Child and Family Caring Society

This national organization represents the interests of First Nation families and children through advocacy, research, and policy work. Led by social worker Cindy Blackstock, the organization has a number of national campaigns that focus on specific issues; for example, Jordan’s Principle, Shannen’s Dream, and Touchstones of Hope. The First Nations Child and Family Caring Society seeks to engage Canadians through their work in an effort to move forward with reconciliation (First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada. n.d.).

The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR)

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) completed its work and closed its offices in 2015; since then, all of the work to preserve the documents and materials that were part of the TRC are housed at the NCTR, at the University of Manitoba. The mandate of this organization is to ensure that the public, educators, and residential school survivors and their families have access to all the information previously gathered. The NCTR is also engaged in making sure that the TRC’s 94 calls to action are being enacted (NCTR, n.d.).

The Métis National Council

This national organization was created in 1983. Métis were previously represented by the Native Council of Canada, but in 1982, the Canadian Constitution recognized the Métis as a distinct group of Aboriginal people in Canada under section 35, and Métis leadership within existing national organizations moved to create their own representative body (Métis National Council, n.d.).

Indigenous Education Organizations

Increasingly, municipal school boards (off-reserve and non-Indigenous) are paying closer attention to the need to educate both Indigenous and non-Indigenous people about the full history of Canada, especially in light of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 94 calls to action. Across the country, on-reserve education (which is often limited to elementary school and is chronically underfunded) is administered and funded by the federal government. Off-reserve, there are many different models of education. At the elementary school level, the Toronto District School Board has a First Nations School that teaches the Ojibwe language and places Indigenous culture and world view at the centre of the curriculum. Across Canada, there are colleges and universities that are organized by and for Indigenous students, such as the First Nations Technical Institute (FNTI), located on Mohawk territory in Ontario, which provides secondary and post-secondary education, both independently and in partnership with non-Indigenous education programs. In Vancouver, the Native Education College delivers a range of certificate and diploma programs; and in Saskatchewan, First Nations University has been providing post-secondary education for over 40 years (Frideres & Gadacz, 2012).