Aboriginal Education Still Needs Work

Abstract

In late February, nearly 300 people met at a national dialogue on Aboriginal education in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. National and provincial Aboriginal leaders joined with provincial education ministers and other senior policy makers to discuss the state and future of Aboriginal education in Canada. Aboriginal people--including First Nations, Metis, and Inuit, as well as people of mixed origin--constitute more than 1 million people, or nearly 4% of Canada's population. Their share is also growing rapidly; the Aboriginal population is much younger than the overall Canadian population and has increased by 45% over the last 10 years (though some of this growth may be the result of more self-identification on the census rather than actual population growth). Although the largest number of Aboriginal people live in Canada's main population centers of Ontario and Quebec, the proportion of Aboriginal people in the overall population is highest in the prairie provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan (now about 12% Aboriginal) and even higher in Canada's northern territories. Nunavnut, the eastern Arctic territory that includes Baffin Island and much of the Artic mainland, is more than 80% Inuit, and Inuktitut is still the home language for a large number of people there. Education outcomes for Aboriginal people lag significantly behind overall Canadian norms. For example, in 2006 nearly 40% of Aboriginal people in Canada had not completed secondary school, compared with just over 20% of the total population. Outcomes are especially poor for First Nations people living on reserves--which is currently a small minority of the overall Aboriginal population, most of whom now live in urban areas and attend public schools. Although the gaps remain large, education attainment among Aboriginal people has improved quite significantly in the last 20 years. A generation ago, Canada had hardly any Aboriginal college or university graduates; now, there are thousands. The proportion of Aboriginal people who are high school graduates has grown from 54% to 66% in the last decade. Moreover, the public image of Aboriginal people among Canadians generally has improved significantly, and Aboriginal people are much more present in popular culture and the mass media, as well as in school curricula. Still, nobody could call Aboriginal education in Canada a big success story, especially on First Nations reserves. Many of these communities continue to suffer from poor housing, lack of fresh water, lack of infrastructure, lack of employment, and the associated problems of substance abuse and depression. Suicide rates among Aboriginal young people remain alarmingly high, and despite the progress in relationships, both active and passive discrimination against Aboriginal people continues to exist in Canada. These problems are deeply rooted in the story of Aboriginal people since the European arrival in Canada. Treaties were ignored. Communities were moved to inhospitable reservations where neither their traditional life nor a modern economy could operate. People were stripped of any control over their own lives; children were placed in residential schools that were often cruel places; Aboriginal people were described in school books and elsewhere as savages; and so on. Under these conditions, it's no wonder that Aboriginal people have had difficulty finding their way in Canada. Over the years, many, many reports have been written about the need to improve Aboriginal education. The federal auditor general has been highly critical of the lack of urgency that the federal government has given to education in First Nations, which remain a federal government responsibility under the Canadian constitution and through treaties made a century or more ago. Schools on reserves are funded at per-student levels well below what most provinces pay to support their schools, even though the needs and costs on reserves are significantly higher. …