No Easy Answers: Insights into Community Well-being among First Nations

Employment Key to Improving First Nations' Community Well-Being

• Increased employment is crucial to improving the well-being of First Nations communities, and should be a high priority in the Prairie provinces which have the lowest employment rates and lowest per capita regional incomes across Canada.
• Author John Richards looks at data from Indigenous Services Canada’s Community Well-Being Index for all First Nation and Inuit communities, and reveals Prairie trouble spots where community well-being lags.
• In Manitoba and Saskatchewan, average community income scores are more than 10 points lower than First Nation scores in Atlantic Canada and Ontario, and roughly 16 points lower than in Quebec and British Columbia.