VII Policy Challenges and Strategies to Improve Educational
Attainment for Aboriginal Canadians: A Selected Literature Review
This report does not focus on the policy-relevant questions related to the improvement of
the educational attainment of the aboriginal population. However, there is a vast literature in this
area. This section highlights four important contributions to this literature. The first, by Bert
Waslander, examines the implications for government expenditures of the Aboriginal status quo.
The second, by Michael Mendelson, discusses the challenges associated with increasing
educational attainment for the Aboriginal population. The third, by the Canada West Foundation
(CWF) under the pen of analyst Ben Brunnen, is a set of three reports which put forward
strategies and recommendations to improve labour market outcomes and increase human capital
for the Aboriginal population.
A. Implications for Government Expenditures
This report has argued that increased educational attainment for the Aboriginal
population will have many positive benefits both for the Aboriginal community and for society at
large. Government can play a role in assisting the Aboriginal population attain this objective by
allocating additional resources or investing in Aboriginal education. The first article reviewed in
this section provides a useful framework for the analysis of the costs and benefits of additional
investment for the Aboriginal community.
Some might be tempted to argue that current levels of expenditures, which already are
much larger on a per capita basis for Aboriginal population than for the rest of Canadians, are
sufficient and should not be increased. In an article published in the Canadian Tax Journal
entitled —Government Expenditures on Aboriginal Peoples: The Costly Status Quo ”, Bert
Waslander argues otherwise. Expanding on the findings of the 1996 Royal Commission on
Aboriginal Peoples, Waslander convincingly argues that increasing government expenditures on
the Aboriginal population now would be wise from an investment perspective. Increased
government expenditures now would decrease the dependence of the Aboriginal population on
future government expenditures and foster greater productivity growth in that community and
hence lead to higher future tax revenues.
Waslander calculates that total expenditures by all governments on the average Canadian
for 1992-1993 amounted to $10,026 whereas the equivalent figure for the average of Aboriginal
Canadians was $15,714. This is equivalent to saying that per capita government expenditures on
Aboriginals were 57 per cent higher than expenditures for the general population. Waslander
contends that this gap is likely wider today given that the late 1980s and early 1990s saw large
increases in expenditures for programs directed towards Aboriginal Canadians, due mostly to
increases in the number of registered Indians following changes to the Indian Act of 1985, the
changing age structure of the Native community and the policies of the federal government at the
time.
Three main factors are believed to contribute to the difference in average government
expenditures between Aboriginal Canadian and other Canadians: (i) differences in the range and
quality of services; (ii) differences in the cost of providing services; and (iii) differences in the
need for government services. The range and quality of services offered differs due to