L’itinérance autochtone : entre nomadisme et dépossession ?

Despite the marked increase in the number of Aboriginal people living on the street or in situations of great vulnerability, the Aboriginal realities of homelessness in Quebec and Canada remain little documented. The purpose of this article is to bridge that gap by presenting an outline of recent scientific literature (2005-2016) concerning the homeless experiences of Aboriginal people in Quebec and Canada. Our contribution seeks to update and complete the survey efforts of Patrick (2014), which was an exhaustive review of mainly English Canadian scientific literature on the subject, produced between 1988 and 2012. Our work brings together recent contributions in French and English concerning Aboriginal homelessness and seeks to improve our knowledge of family factors that influence homelessness. This review of the literature shows that certain realities of Aboriginal homelessness are better documented than others; research in some areas has looked further into the question. While there are numerous contributions in the field of public health, they are much more limited in the areas of psychology and social work, where intervention practices are little document, if at all. This situation says a great deal about the systematic exclusion of Aboriginal people, who participate very little in the production of knowledge that directly concerns them.