A Disastrous Gap – How High Schools Have Failed Canada’s Aboriginal Students - report
First Nations education not keeping pace with other Canadians: Report
October 28, 2008
TORONTO - Aboriginal teens have "disastrous" high school completion rates, leading to a "yawning gap" in education between aboriginal and non-aboriginals in Canada, a report released Tuesday says.
Closing that chasm is one of the great social policy challenges facing Canada, according to the report from the C.D. Howe Institute, titled A Disastrous Gap - How High Schools Have Failed Canada's Aboriginal Students.
"A marginalized community such as aboriginals living in a modern economy can only escape poverty through an educational transformation," said John Richards, author of the report.
The professor in the graduate public policy program at B.C.'s Simon Fraser University also said that, while younger aboriginals are seeking and getting more education than previous generations, they have not kept pace with other Canadians.
The report found that, among aboriginals living on reserves, high school completion rates are "disastrous" in Manitoba, at 28 per cent; Alberta, at 32 per cent, and Saskatchewan, at 38 per cent.
By comparison, non-aboriginals enjoy high school completion rates ranging from a national high of 91 per cent in British Columbia to a low of 84 per cent in Newfoundland.
"Whether measuring aboriginals or non-aboriginals, the Canadian employment rate nearly doubles with high school certification," said Richards.
Richards argues in favour of creating aboriginal-run school authorities that are able to operate schools on reserves that are independent of individual band councils.
Off-reserve, he said, "provinces should build on the practices of school districts that achieve good results."
The C.D. Howe Institute is a non-profit policy research organization based in Toronto.
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C.D. Howe Institute press release
A Disastrous Gap – How High Schools Have Failed Canada’s Aboriginal Students: C.D. Howe Institute
TORONTO, Oct. 28 - The yawning gap in education levels between Aboriginals and non-Aboriginals poses a huge social policy challenge in Canada, according to a study released today by the C.D. Howe Institute. In "Closing the Aboriginal/non-Aboriginal Education Gaps," John Richards reports on widening Aboriginal/non-Aboriginal education gaps. While younger Aboriginals are getting more education than previous generations, they have not kept pace with other Canadians.
Among Aboriginals living on-reserve, high-school completion rates are disastrous in Manitoba, at 28 percent, Alberta at 32 percent and Saskatchewan at 38 percent. Off-reserve, the completion rates are worst in the Northwest Territories at 46 percent, Manitoba at 63 percent and Alberta at 64 percent. By comparison, for non-aboriginals, completion rates range from a national high of 91 percent in British Columbia to a low of 84 percent in Newfoundland.
Professor Richards argues for creating Aboriginal-run school authorities that are able to operate on-reserve schools - independent of individual band councils. Off-reserve, provinces should build on the practices of school districts that achieve good results.
Click here for the report Backgrounder
For further information: Professor John Richards, Graduate Public Policy Program, Simon Fraser University, (778) 782-5250; Ben Dachis, Policy Analyst, C.D. Howe Institute, (416) 865-1904