The 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia have just ended, and I'm taking a moment to reflect on a pattern I've noticed over the past several Games.As the Director of the International Centre for Olympic Studies at Western University in London, Ontario, it's my job to watch the Games as they unfold in real time and to provide media with commentary and insight on whatever producers deem to be newsworthy items.Well, I don't really "watch" the Games so much as I follow news about them, mostly online, and monitor the trends in reporting.It's my responsibility to influence the type of information that gets relayed to the public by educating journalists on the issues behind their stories.For instance, the estimated $3 billion USD that Putin spent on security for the 2014 Olympic and Paralympic Games to minimize the threat of terrorism also helps to legitimize the control of civilians by making sure peaceful protestors don't disrupt the biggest party in the world by inserting non-sporting narratives, like Native rights and LGBTQ 1 issues, into the public realm.The increased use of advanced surveillance systems and military force to control the public at the Olympic Games is a new phenomenon, and a frightening one at that, for the way people appear to be willing to give up important freedoms in exchange for a massive celebration organized around athletic competitions that leave mostly unused venues and huge public debt in their place.Most journalists understand these patterns when they are given an opportunity to discuss and digest them, but claim there are limitations to what they can say or write, especially if they are working for Olympic broadcasters, which go heavy on sports reporting and light on analysis.All too often, commercial interests trump the need for information.A similar pattern of reporting can be found in media on Canadian Aboriginal athletes in Olympic Games over the years, where there is a tendency to gloss over important issues and homogenize their sporting experiences.Usually these stories emphasize their struggles to get involved and stay involved in sport, and touch on issues of discrimination while focusing on their achievements in the mainstream, which reinforces the idea that mainstream sport is the best and most appropriate way to do sport.Rarely do these accounts go into any detail about the varied socio-economic backgrounds of Aboriginal athletes, the diverse geographies that structure their opportunities for sport, the role of gender in family and community life, and what this means for male and female participation-or even how appearance and self-identification pave the way for Aboriginal athlete acceptance into 1 Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgendered-Queer.

The international attention increasingly being paid to Indigenous peoples culminated in the 2007 adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples by the United Nations General Assembly. Nevertheless, the lack of accurate and consistent data on Indigenous peoples hinders the creation of concrete benchmarks and monitoring mechanisms for their development. Based on the most recent census questionnaires available for 231 countries and regions for which the United Nations Statistics Division collects statistics, this study identifies the proportion and geographic distribution of questionnaires that enumerated Indigenous peoples and variations in the questions used to enumerate them. The fact is that relatively few census questionnaires enumerate Indigenous peoples. Where they were enumerated, Indigenous cultures and identities were homogenized by many censuses, and classified as minorities rather than as distinct peoples. As a result, Indigenous peoples remain invisible in large areas of the globe and the United Nations, various governmental and non-governmental organizations, and Indigenous people themselves all face overwhelming challenges in their attempts to document the existence and circumstances of Indigenous peoples.

For decades, successive federal governments insisted that the federal fiduciary responsibility to Registered Indians ended at reserve boundaries, while not recognizing any responsibilities for Non-Status Indians, Metis, and Inuit. The recent growth of urban Aboriginal populations has changed this situation dramatically. Many federal programs for urban Aboriginal people are not delivered in a status-blind fashion, while other services are still entangled in or complicated by the provisions of the Indian Act. This paper explores the policy history underlying the current situation while identifying four issues for further discussion: (1) political self-determination in the cities; (2) problems arising from the cities' junior position in the Canadian federation; (3) the challenge of dealing with the diversity of circumstances and preferences of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal urban dwellers; and (4) the legacy of differential programs based upon differentiations among sections of the Aboriginal population that no longer have constitutional salience. Long-term solutions, such as replacing the Indian Act, creating a cities charter and creating addenda to treaties or section 35 are discussed.

aboriginal policy studies is an online, peer-reviewed and multidisciplinary journal that publishes original, scholarly, and policy-relevant research on issues relevant to Metis, nonstatus Indians and urban Aboriginal people in Canada. For more information, please contact us at apsjournal@ualberta.ca or visit our website at www.ualberta.ca/nativestudies/ aps/ or http://ejournals.library.ualberta.ca/index.php/aps/. This article can be found at:

This article is the second of a two-part series by the author, the first of which appeared in aboriginal policy studies 1(2) , that explores the issue of Aboriginal languages in urban areas from a demographic perspective. The series presents findings and indicators on the state, patterns, and trends of Aboriginal languages in urban areas over a decade, based on 1996 and 2006 Census data.. The first part of the series addressed urban areas in general. This second part focuses on specific cities, illustrating the significant variation in the state and diversity of the numerous Aboriginal languages spoken in cities across Canada. It presents indicators for twenty selected individual cities, including all thirteen cities of the Urban Aboriginal Strategy (UAS). Results reveal considerable heterogeneity within and across cities in the linguistic composition and state of their Aboriginal languages: in speaker numbers and characteristics; language use; and in transmission and learning. Findings suggest implications for policies and programs in urban Aboriginal language planning that reflect maintenance and revitalization activities based on city-specific needs and challenges.