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• Display patience, tolerance and understanding.
• Build confidence, promote inclusion.
• Recognize, reward and celebrate successes.
Similarly, in the second report (Brunnen, (2003b)), the author develops strategies
believed to be key to encourage Aboriginal youth to remain in school. Five strategies are
elaborated in some detail:
• The promotion and dissemination of educational service information.
• The implementation of initiatives that focus on the motivations of all individuals
involved.
• The coordination of approaches.
• The concentration on incremental progress.
• The maximization of returns and sustainable outcomes.
The final report (Brunnen, 2004) makes recommendations aimed at increasing the human
capital of Aboriginal people which is believed to be the key mechanism to improve standards of
living. The report attempts to convey the importance of Aboriginal Canadians to the western
Canadian labour market, to underline the labour market realities facing this minority group, and
to elaborate successful approaches for changing the labour market outcomes of Aboriginal
Canadians. Ten public policy recommendations emerged in this final report. They are as
follows:
• Governments must identify Aboriginal human capital as a top priority, and communicate
this message broadly.
• The federal and provincial governments need to work together on Aboriginal human
capital policy.
• Governments should cooperate to set quantifiable on- and off- reserve Aboriginal
education targets.
• Governments should require all primary and secondary schools to include Aboriginal
content, and should provide all education staff with the training and tools to help ensure
the success of Aboriginal students.
• The federal and provincial governments should coordinate K-12 education grading
criteria to ensure all provincial residents holding a high school certificate (both on-
reserve and off-reserve, Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal) satisfy provincial K-12 skill
requirements
• Provincial governments, the federal government, school boards and post-secondary
institutions should coordinate and communicate human capital opportunities for
Aboriginal students, and should evaluate Aboriginal post-secondary completion rates.
• Governments should cooperate to set quantifiable Aboriginal employment targets (both
on- and off-reserve), and should gather sufficient data to assess short- and long-term
progress
• Governments should fund locally-based non-profit support and outreach services that
focus on Aboriginal labour recruitment and retention issues for small- and medium-sized
organizations.