Aboriginal / Canada

Since the Europeans landed on Canadian soil a few centuries ago, there has been conflict between the Aboriginal people of Canada and the Canadian political system.   To this day the First Nations people feel that they have been marginalized.   This is because they have not been able to maintain significant status in the Canadian political and economic system.   The government has been paternal, and has supported the Aboriginals, rather than encouraging independence.   As a result, many of them live on a minimum source of income, and often in impoverished comditions.   The government was relied on, and provided them with basic needs.   As a result, the Native people failed to seize opportunity when it was present because they did not have the proper tools to do so.   The First Nations people are also faced with the concern that by integrating themselves in the Canadian society, they will no longer be a distance culture.   The First Nations people can maintain their unique and distinct entity as a race within the Canadian cultural, political, social and economic infrastructure.


The fundamental tool of a progressive and advanced society is education.   Unfortunately, the greatest discrepancy in Native advancement is the lack of quality education.   It is obvious that there is a problem with the Canadian education system education for First Nations people living on reserves.   In 1985 the Aboriginal Rights Coalition of British Colombia did a study on the educational welfare of the Aboriginal Rights Coalition of British Colombia.   The results were shocking, 35.6% of on reserve Indians over 15 years of age have less than a grade 9 education, and only 20% of Native children complete grade 12, compared to 75% of the British Colombians who finish grade 12.   Figures from 1989 show that only 3/10 on reserve Indians are employed.   Of the few who are employed, 26% work in the Primary sector, which includes logging, fishing, and trapping.   Figures also show that their average...