Effort to close prosperity gap failing

Report shows aboriginals lag behind non-aboriginals

OTTAWA — B.C. has a reputation for having some of the most entrepreneurial First Nations leaders in Canada, resulting in projects such as construction of a prison on Osoyoos First Nations land and two major shopping malls on Tsawwassen First Nations property.

But figures released Wednesday show a huge economic prosperity gap remains between First Nations and non-aboriginal populations in B.C. and across Canada, especially for those living on reserves.

The board announced in 2012 it will start comparing economic performance of aboriginal and non-aboriginal Canadians, with a goal of eliminating the gap between the two by 2022.

The board’s first statistical report since setting that goal shows the effort to close the gap was launched at a time when some trends were getting worse, not better.

There were 1,400,685 people classified as aboriginal in 2011. In B.C. there were 155,020 First Nations people (103,975 living off-reserve, the remaining 51,045 onreserve), 1,570 Inuit and 69,475 Métis.

While incomes and housing conditions improved between 2006 and 2011, statistics got worse in areas like employment, dependence on government transfers and university completion rates, according to the report, which is based on Statistics Canada data from 2006 and 2011.

The report said the national employment rate for aboriginals was 53.7 per cent in 2006 and had slipped to 52.1 per cent five years later. For non-aboriginals, the employment rate went from 62.7 per cent in 2006 to 61.2 per cent in 2011.

B.C. aboriginals were in line with the national average, with a 52.2-per-cent employment rate in 2011 and a median income of $19,264, compared to the national non-aboriginal average in B.C. of 59.9 per cent and $29,313. The First Nations employment rate in B.C. was 37.7 per cent for those on reserve in 2011, and 52.5 per cent for the off-reserve population, for a total of 47.5 per cent.

The figures for aboriginals as a whole were inflated by the relatively strong performance of Métis people.

The report suggests a number of factors behind the gap.

“These include remoteness of location, lower educational attainment, insufficient training, lower proficiency in one of the two official languages, lone parenthood, increased geographic movements, and discrimination,” it stated. “Inadequate infrastructure is also associated with poorer economic outcomes, particularly in more isolated First Nations and Inuit communities.”