Why would you avoid Hobbema? Perhaps, rather, it should be a place to go. First Nations and Metis do have higher rates of alcoholism and violence - but that is true of most poor. marginalized groups. I seem to remember there was a shoot-out at a trailer park in Edmonton last summer while I was biking thru Alberta.

And here's some info:
"The icy, impassive City of Edmonton, which is a little more than one-quarter the size of Toronto, had 37 homicides in 2005." http://72.14.207.104/search?q=cache:...s&ct=clnk&cd=3

The point is that people like the Oklahoma State University basketball coach can wreck a car with a blood alcohol level nearly 3 times the legal limit and go to the Betty Ford Clinic. Native peoples get picked up for public intox and thrown in jail.

I've spent time with native/ First Nations peoples from the Southwest to the Mackenzie. From North Carolina to the BC coast. I have always been treated well.