Urban Indigenous Governance: Rights, Recognition, and Reciprocity

** This is a hybrid event: In-Person and Online via Zoom**
Join us for the Urban Indigenous Governance: Rights, Recognition, and Reciprocity gathering, a national event held at Concordia University, in Tiohtià:ke/Montreal, Quebec on November 6th and 7th, 2026. The event is Indigenous-led and organized by the Urban Indigenous Knowledge Mobilization Hub and the University of Victoria, Concordia University’s Department of Political Science, and the Montréal Indigenous Community NETWORK.
The gathering’s purpose is to advance urban Indigenous research and build relationships between urban Indigenous communities, urban Indigenous organizations, Indigenous rights advocates, and scholars of urban Indigenous policy and politics. We invite proposals and expressions of interest from researchers and practitioners who want to build long-term relationships and produce realistic, principled strategies, tactics, and activities, to support Indigenous urban communities and urban Indigenous governance. Format will include discussions, roundtables, panels, keynote speakers, and more.
Who is invited to participate? (not exhaustive)
• Representatives of Indigenous non-profits, coalitions, and advocacy organizations.
• Indigenous practitioners and frontline workers
• Indigenous youth and youth-led networks
• Indigenous 2SLGBTQIA+ community members
• Non-Indigenous practitioners committed to strengthening their accomplice roles for Indigenous rights.
• Scholars working on research relevant to urban Indigenous communities
• Graduate students working on research relevant to urban Indigenous communities
• Scholars focused on Indigenous rights, law, or policy in Canada
Post-symposium publishing opportunity:
Symposium participants will be invited to submit their papers to a special symposium-proceedings issue of "Stories Have Always Been our Governance," the open-access journal of the Urban Indigenous Knowledge Mobilization Hub.