Today's Native people thrive in the urban centres

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Lori Sokoluk is going to change the world. At 26 she has worked at Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, the Metis Nation of Ontario and other mainstream and Aboriginal organizations. She has attended seminars, taken courses and sat through lectures. Last year she volunteered at the Canadian Aboriginal Festival to help promote Metis cultural awareness, and she visited elementary schools to teach young children about Canada's Aboriginal peoples. Currently, she is pursuing a degree in Native Studies from Trent University.

Following a study of resistance, both peaceful and aggressive, Lori has decided that public education is the way to make the changes she feels are necessary.

"I haven't completely come to that place where I know exactly how, but the desire and the need is there. I know it will be through dialogue."

She believes that much of the tensions involved in Native/non-Native relations are due to misinformation and lack of education. Sokoluk wants to help people see another perspective through creative means.

After attending several sweat lodge and full moon ceremonies, participating in women's drumming and obtaining her traditional name from an urban Elder, the Cree/Metis youth is confident that being Aboriginal in the city is achievable.

"Initially I thought it was [impossible] until I met Wanda Whitebird, (a councilor at Anishnawbe Health, one of the many havens for Aboriginal people in Toronto). You have to be innovative and creative about how you live your life and keep your ties to your traditions and culture."

Lori, like thousands of other young Native people, is away from her rural Native community and even further away from the majority of her family. Being isolated in an urban setting can be intimidating and overwhelming in the best of circumstances. For Aboriginal people, it can be detrimental.

"You have to find a place where you belong," Lori said when asked about the prospects of being a traditional Native in the city. "You have to find that place where you belong and where you're welcome." And as with any young professional, it's difficult to find the time.

"Life seems to go really quickly here. You have to find time to do those things that you need to survive, as well as the things that you want to do, like being active within your community." No matter what the opinion on urban existence may be, living in a metropolis like the Greater Toronto Area has become a necessity for many young Native people.

The reality of today is that the unemployment rate on many reserves is in the 90 percentile and the jobs are in the city. With bleak prospects back home, many Aboriginal youth are moving to the urban centres seeking education, training and, ultimately, good employment.

So, how do they remain true to their traditions and themselves? How do they contribute and grow without assimilating? One key can be found in Toronto's Native cultural centres and the people who work there. The city offers many options and opportunities for those seeking out their culture in the concrete jungle.

The Skydome festival is a huge example of how Aboriginal people have become visible in the city. With more than a thousand dancers competing for $75,000 in prizes, the festival, which attracted 40,000 people this year, is the biggest in the country.

This city is full of hundreds of young Native professionals like Lori who manage to practice their traditions, teach the youth their stories and remain true to their beliefs while holding down executive positions. And, in the end, they will be the torchbearers that will ensure that the next generation of industrious Native people get their chances as well.

Sokoluk, who moved to Toronto from Alberta in 1998, is quick to point out that she is only at the beginning of her journey to living a good life as a woman, a Native and an urban professional, "I only have one foot on the Red Road so far."

Lori shrugs when asked how living in the city has affected her sense of self.

"In the end, what's important are the ties that you have to your community, urban or otherwise."