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• The federal and provincial governments should be open to training and employment
partnerships with businesses working on or near reserves.
• The federal government should improve the availability of Aboriginal data.
While this report is not intended as a policy document, this section makes it clear that all
involved parties believe the status quo to be sub-optimal, both for the Aboriginal population and
the wider Canadian population. This selected review of the literature only confirms the findings
of our report: the unrealized potential of the Aboriginal population is large and hence its
potential contribution to the Canadian economy is important and will be a key factor in Canada‘s
future economic performance.
D. Aboriginal Poverty in Canada: Educational Reforms at the Band and
Provincial levels
John Richards, Phillips Scholar in Social Policy and Fellow-in-Residence at the C.D.
Howe Institute, is one of Canada‘s leading analysts on Aboriginal policy issues. In his latest
book — Creating Choices” (Richards, 2006), Richards focuses on the need for reform in several
key areas of Aboriginal policy, including education. In this section, we briefly review the context
in which Aboriginal education is delivered in Canada as outlined in Richards (2006). Then, we
review the main policy reforms contained in the book which relate to education. It is important to
note that the author draws heavily on his previous research in its section on education, more
specifically on a previous C.D. Howe report by Richards and Vining (2004).
The facts behind low Aboriginal educational attainment are well known. Aboriginal
Canadians fare much worse than their non-Aboriginal counterparts. Moreover, Aboriginal
Canadians living on-reserve attain a much lower level of education than their off-reserve
counterparts. In other words, both band-level and provincial level education systems lead to
worst outcomes for Aboriginal Canadians than for non-Aboriginal Canadians. Many factors have
contributed to these low Aboriginal education levels. Historical factors, such as family
disruptions occasioned by residential schools, have certainly played an important role. Yet, other
factors, such as the increased tendency of off-reserve Aboriginal to live in poor neighborhoods,
also contribute to perpetuate the gap between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal educational
attainment.
In the last thirty years, the federal government has transferred funds and responsibilities
for education to band governments, which now play a much greater role in the lives of on-
reserve Aboriginal Canadians. Yet, this trend was accompanied by a large migration of
Aboriginal Canadians from reserves to off-reserves cities, where the main providers of services
are provinces rather than band governments. In fact, almost 80 per cent of Aboriginal students
attend provincially run schools. In this context, a successful reform of Aboriginal education must
not only include negotiations between federal and band governments, but also reforms at the
level of provincial governments.
In terms of concrete policy, Richards assesses four alternatives to improve the quality and
the level of Aboriginal education in Canada: create separate schools; enhance student mobility;
designate magnet schools; and enrich certain schools with large Aboriginal populations. Each of
these alternatives is assessed using seven criteria, three of which relates to improving Aboriginal