Substate administrative institutions such as municipalities, hospital boards, and school districts may help resolve conflicts between minority and majority groups, particularly where a minority forms a majority in a substate territory. Minorities can use substate institutions to counter majority rule exercised through statewide political institutions. Minorities seek control over substate institutions to legitimize nationalist claims over crucial public functions and space and to support identity projects. The present case study, in a Canadian urban area, explains the rise of administrative nationalism  and raises theoretical, practical, and empirical questions that summon scholars of nationalism and public administration.