Preface

This book r esulted from sever al years of r esearch to reconstruct the history of a largely Métis community that lived on the outskirts of the developed area of southwest Winnipeg from 1901 to 1961.Drawing on a wide variety of sources, this study counters the silence around urban Métis histories and geographies, and exposes the role colonial institutions, attitudes, and practices played in shaping Métis inhabitants' urban experiences. 1It also brings to light the common but largely ignored history of Métis communities that grew up near prairie and British Columbia cities, in western Canada's early years of settlement.In the process, the book illustrates specific urban experiences of Métis people-a topic that has received very little scholarly attention to date.The academic literature focusing on communities that emerged on the fringes of urban areas in North America between the early to mid-twentieth century is sparse.Probably most well-known is geographer Richard Harris's research on the emergence of working-class suburbs in Toronto between 1900 and 1950. 2 Harris found that, at the turn of the twentieth century, the lack of municipal regulations had made it possible for immigrant, workingclass families to achieve their goals of owning a house and a plot of land by building their own houses, or self-building.Because the land at the fringe of the city did not receive municipal services, the cost of the land was within reach of less well-off households.With the Great Depression and resultant job losses, many working-class families moved back into the inner city where casual employment was more accessible.The extension of services and transit routes in the 1930s increased taxes, leading to tax debt for many remaining suburban working-class residents, and many lost their land as a result.Federal mortgage legislation and minimum building standards also discouraged suburban self-building during this time, and working-class suburbs declined.The severe housing shortages that emerged after the Second World War brought in a short second boom of working-class suburbanization by

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