International Relations

What the world wants to know about Canada's Urban Aboriginal Strategy

As the only country with a national urban Aboriginal strategy, Canada is recognized as a world leader on urban indigenous issues.  Canada’s international efforts seek to bring greater attention to Indigenous issues resulting from urbanization.

Canada frequently participates, along with Aboriginal partners, in various international fora that address urban Indigenous issues such, as the World Urban Forum and the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. For example, in 2010, Canada participated in the World Urban Forum 5 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where it co-hosted a roundtable discussion on: “Indigenous Peoples in Urban Areas: Sustainable Urban Development with Culture and Identity.”

Canada continues to work with and support the efforts of UN-HABITAT to advance urban indigenous issues through the development of policy guides and toolkits/training materials for governments and local authorities.

The goal of our work is mutually beneficial exchanges. By sharing lessons learned in Canada that may be adapted to other parts of the world, we benefit from examining others’ innovative approaches.

Fast Facts:

• The United Nations Permanent Forum estimates Indigenous populations at over 370 million people living in more than 70 countries world wide with many considered disadvantaged and marginalized. 
• Worldwide, the majority of indigenous people still live in rural areas but urbanization is a growing trend.
• In some countries like Canada, the United States, New Zealand and Chile, more than half of the indigenous population lives in cities. In Mexico, almost one in every three indigenous individuals lives in a city.

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