42
iii. On-Reserve/Off-reserve Aboriginal Educational Attainment
Not all subsets of the aboriginal population face the same realities. In fact, major
differences exist between those living in rural areas and those living in more urban settings. In
effect, one of the variables most strongly related to the educational attainment of Aboriginal
Canadians is their reserve status. The report titled — Encouraging Success: Ensuring Aboriginal
Youth Stay in School, reviews much of the data comparing outcomes for aboriginals on and off
reserves (Brunnen, 2005b). The author finds that an individual‘s area of residence has the largest
influence on educational attainment.
Table 4: Educational Attainment of Aboriginal Canadians On- and Off-Reserve in the
Western Provinces 1996, 2001
|
On-Reserve Aboriginal |
Off-Reserve Aboriginal |
1996 |
Non-Aboriginal | ||||||
|
1996 |
2001 |
Change |
1996 |
2001 |
Change |
2001 |
Change | ||
|
Less than High School |
63.9 |
60.4 |
-3.5 |
51.1 |
45.0 |
-6.1 |
33.5 |
30.2 |
-3.3 |
|
High School Certificate |
5.8 |
7.2 |
1.4 |
9.1 |
10.2 |
1.2 |
12.3 |
12.1 |
-0.2 |
|
Some Post-Secondaiy |
13.2 |
10.6 |
-2.6 |
10.0 |
14.1 |
-3.9 |
10.1 |
12.4 |
-5.7 |
|
Post-Secondaiy Certificate and/or |
17.1 |
21.8 |
4.8 |
21.8 |
30.7 |
8.8 |
36.1 |
45.2 |
9.2 |
Source: Derived by CWF from Statistics Canacfa
Off-reserve residents have consistently higher educational outcomes than on-reserve
residents (Table 4). On-reserve residents are twice as likely to have left school before grade nine
than Aboriginal Canadians residing off-reserve. Moreover, in both 1996 and 2001 there was a
larger proportion of off-reserve Aboriginal in every category of educational attainment beyond
high school graduation. Finally, between 1996 and 2001, an additional 8.8 percentage points of
off-reserve Aboriginal Canadians had a post-secondary certificate, diploma or degree compared
to a 4.8 percentage point increase for on-reserve Aboriginal Canadians. This suggests that not
only is educational attainment much higher for Aboriginal Canadians living off-reserve, but the
off-reserve Aboriginal population also appears to be progressing faster than its on-reserve
counterpart.
C. The Income of Aboriginal Canadians
In 2001, the average employment income of Aboriginal Canadians aged 15 and over was
$12,866, 65.2 per cent of that of non-Aboriginal Canadians. This income gap reflected the
influence of a number of factors. Given the importance of education in the determination of
employment income, the below average level of educational attainment of the Aboriginal
population directly contributed to the gap through lower wages. But even at the same level of
educational attainment, the employment incomes of Aboriginal Canadians were below those of
non-Aboriginal (Appendix Table 53).