April 28, 2011 – Quebec’s Aboriginal poverty is severe, and the large gap between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal education levels is the most important factor in explaining it, concludes a report from the C.D. Howe Institute. In Aboriginal Education in Quebec: A Benchmarking Exercise, John Richards, a professor at Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, examines the relationship between education levels and employment – for Quebec Aboriginals. Comparing outcomes within the province’s Aboriginal identity groups to results for other Quebecers, and for Canadians overall, Richards finds that the province’s Aboriginal education outcomes rank below the Canadian average, which itself is disturbingly low. Richards makes six broad recommendations to address the crisis in Aboriginal education – in Quebec and the rest of Canada.
Professor Richards, who is the Roger Phillips Scholar of Social Policy at the Institute, notes that the overall Quebec Aboriginal dropout rate in the age 20-to-24 cohort is 43 percent, 28 points higher than for non-Aboriginal Quebecers, and three points higher than the Aboriginal dropout rate in the rest of Canada. Among the six provinces with more than 100,000 Aboriginals, Quebec ranks third in terms of incomplete high school: lower than Manitoba and Saskatchewan but higher than Alberta, Ontario and British Columbia. Within Quebec, median Aboriginal 2005 earnings were two-thirds that for non-Aboriginals; median Inuit earnings were below three-fifths of non-Aboriginals’.
In contrast to the scarring policies of the past, says Richards, the goal of education reform is not to suppress Aboriginal cultures. On the other hand, primary and secondary education is about more than cultural transmission – its goal is to teach core skills in reading, writing, mathematics and science, necessary knowledge if Aboriginal students are to enjoy a realistic choice as adults between participation in Canada’s urban industrial society or a rural, more collective style of life. Richards makes the following six broad recommendations:
- Pre-kindergarten early childhood education (ECE) is a valuable investment for children from marginalized communities, few of whose members have a tradition of formal education. All Aboriginal children should have access to ECE, either on- or off-reserve.
- Provincial education ministries should expand existing provincial precedents that enable school districts to undertake discretionary Aboriginal education initiatives.
- To improve quality of school management, bands should form school authorities equivalent in size and jurisdiction to provincial school districts and professionalize administration.
- Provinces should enable local Aboriginal organizations and individuals to participate meaningfully in school governance where numbers warrant.
- Provincial education ministries, band councils and reserve-based school authorities, where relevant, should engage in comprehensive performance measurement activities, and results should be publicly reported, preferably at the school level. One key activity is gathering data on Aboriginal student performance in core competency tests.
- The provinces should aggressively encourage Aboriginal post-secondary students to become teachers, and aspiring teachers in school districts with sizeable Aboriginal cohorts should have strong knowledge of Aboriginal culture and history.
Click here for the full report.
For more information contact:
John Richards, Professor, School of Public Policy, Simon Fraser University, 778-782-5250; email: jrichard@sfu.ca;
Colin Busby, Senior Policy Analyst, C.D. Howe Institute, 416-865-1904, email: cdhowe@cdhowe.org