# data[].attributes.headline
How do we fix the Socioeconomic Gap for Indigenous People in Canada?

# data[].attributes.subject
How do we fix the Socioeconomic Gap for Indigenous People in Canada?

# data[].attributes.headline
What are the scars in Indigenous history?

# data[].attributes.subject
What are the scars in Indigenous history?

# data[].attributes.headline
Why do you think it is important to address this issue?

# data[].attributes.subject
Why do you think it is important to address this issue?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Introduction

Background

Socio-economic well-being of First Nations people

5.1 According to Indigenous Services Canada, in December 2017, there were almost one million (987,520) individuals registered under the Indian Act, belonging to one of 618 First Nations or unaffiliated with a specific First Nation. Slightly more than half of the registered population (509,016) live on reserve or Crown land. Unless otherwise specified, "First Nations people" in this report refers to First Nations people on reserves.

5.2 First Nations people tend to have significantly lower socio-economic well-being than other Canadians. Socio-economic well-being can be measured by tracking indicators in areas such as education, income, and health. Closing socio-economic gaps means improving the social well-being and economic prosperity of First Nations people living on reserves.

Data for gauging progress in improving lives

5.3 To close socio-economic gaps and improve lives on reserves, federal decision makers and First Nations need information about the socio-economic indicators of First Nations people that is reliable, relevant, and up to date.

5.4 Indigenous Services Canada requires First Nations to provide extensive data about their on-reserve members. The Department also obtains data from Statistics Canada, other federal government departments, Indigenous organizations, and other sources.

5.5 Improving the lives of First Nations people requires a long-term approach. The first step in improving the lives of First Nations people is knowing what the current socio-economic gaps are. The second step is to regularly measure the gaps: If the gaps are not smaller in future years, it will mean that progress has not been made, which would mean that federal programs need to change. The federal government has access to data that can be used to inform decisions on federal programs and support and that can help effect real change and improve lives.

Federal commitments and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission

5.6 The federal government has made numerous commitments to meet Canada's obligations to First Nations, Inuit, and Métis people. Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada was the lead government department responsible for meeting such commitments. The Department's mandate was to support Indigenous and northern peoples in their efforts to

improve social well-being and economic prosperity;

develop healthier, more sustainable communities; and

participate more fully in Canada's political, social, and economic development.

5.7 In August 2017, the federal government announced the dissolution of Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada and the creation of two departments: Indigenous Services Canada, and Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs. We audited Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada before August 2017 and, afterward, the newly formed Indigenous Services Canada, which is now the responsible department. Hereafter, this report refers only to Indigenous Services Canada.

5.8 The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, created in 2008, had a mandate to inform Canadians about what happened in Indian residential schools. The Commission's final 2015 report included 94 calls to action, many of which referred to the socio-economic factors discussed in this audit. In 2015, the government committed to implementing these calls to action, coordinated by Indigenous Services Canada, including commitments to

jointly develop strategies to eliminate education and employment gaps;

identify, measure, and close the gaps in health outcomes between First Nations and other Canadian communities; and

prepare and publish annual reports on these and other issues.

5.9 Also in 2015, the federal government committed to a renewed relationship with Indigenous people, based on rights, respect, cooperation, and partnership. The Department's 2017-18 Departmental Plan forecast that it would spend about $10 billion to carry out its mandate.

5.10 In his mandate letter of November 2015, the Prime Minister directed the Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs to make real progress on issues essential to Indigenous communities, such as housing, employment, health care, community safety, child welfare, and education.

5.11 In 2000 and 2004, the Office of the Auditor General of Canada released reports highlighting the significant education gap between First Nations people on reserves and the Canadian population as a whole. These reports included recommendations to Indigenous Services Canada to improve its education programs and support for Indigenous post-secondary students. In the 2011 June Status Report of the Auditor General of Canada, Chapter 4-Programs for First Nations on Reserves, the Office criticized the federal government's progress in improving the lives and well-being of people on reserves.

Focus of the audit

5.12 This audit focused on whether Indigenous Services Canada satisfactorily measured and reported on Canada's overall progress in closing the socio-economic gaps between on-reserve First Nations people and other Canadians. It also focused on whether the Department made adequate use of data to improve education programs to close the education gap and improve socio-economic well-being.

5.13 Our reasons for examining the Department's education programs include that

education is critical to improving well-being on reserves;

Indigenous Services Canada is the federal department responsible for providing education support for on-reserve First Nations students, and education has been the Department's largest program in terms of overall spending; and

Indigenous Services Canada collects significant amounts of education data from First Nations.

5.14 This audit is important because Indigenous Services Canada-the lead federal department responsible for managing federal support to improve quality of life for on-reserve First Nations people-needs to collect and analyze appropriate data to know whether its approach to improving lives on reserves is working.

5.15 We did not examine the performance of non-federal organizations, First Nations communities, or First Nations organizations. Nor did we assess whether the amount of money spent on programs and services on reserves was adequate.

5.16 More details about the audit objective, scope, approach, and criteria are in About the Audit at the end of this report.

Findings, Recommendations, and Responses

Measuring well-being on First Nations reserves

The Department did not have a comprehensive picture of the well-being of on-reserve First Nations people compared with other Canadians

5.20 Our analysis supporting this finding presents what we examined and discusses the following topics:

5.21 First published in 2004, the Department's Community Well-Being index is its only publicly available overall measure of the socio-economic well-being of First Nations communities in comparison with other Canadian communities. The index is based on 1981 to 2011 census program data collected every five years for all Canadian communities, including First Nations that have a population of at least 65. The index measures four components:

education (high school and post-secondary graduation),

labour force (participation and employment),

income (total per capita), and

housing (overcrowding and need for major repairs).

5.22 The issues contributing to the socio-economic gaps between First Nations people and other Canadians are complex and challenging, and solutions depend on collaboration among First Nations, the federal and provincial governments, and other parties.

5.23 Our recommendation in this area of examination appears at paragraph 5.37.

Analysis to support this finding

5.24 What we examined. To determine whether Indigenous Services Canada adequately measured and reported on overall progress in closing socio-economic gaps between First Nations communities and other Canadians, we examined the Community Well-Being index, departmental documentation, and selected publicly available information. We also interviewed Department officials and representatives from selected provinces, First Nations, and First Nations organizations. In addition, we calculated rates of on-reserve and overall Canadian high school graduation (or equivalent) from 2001 to 2016.

5.25 Inadequate measurement of well-being. We found that the Department did not adequately measure well-being for First Nations people on reserves. The Community Well-Being index measured only four components of well-being: education, employment, housing, and income. While these are important aspects of well-being, the index did not include critical variables such as health, environment, language, and culture. First Nations have identified language and culture, in particular, as critical to their well-being.

5.26 Although the Department recognized that the index was incomplete, it did not modify the index to make it more comprehensive or establish a more complete measure or set of measures for assessing the well-being of on-reserve First Nations people.

5.27 In 2015, all member countries of the United Nations General Assembly, including Canada, adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The 2030 Agenda contains 17 sustainable development goals and 169 associated targets for achieving economic growth, social inclusion, and environmental protection. The 2030 Agenda is intended to mobilize global efforts to ensure healthy lives, end poverty, and fight climate change. In our opinion, Canada's results against those 17 goals for First Nations people would likely be significantly worse than those for the whole Canadian population. In fact, according to the 2011 Community Well-Being index, 98 of the 100 lowest-scoring Canadian communities were First Nations communities.

5.28 From 2001 to 2011, the Community Well-Being index showed that gaps for all four components had widened. According to Indigenous Services Canada, between 2006 and 2011, about one third of First Nations communities (compared with one fifth of other Canadian communities) experienced a decline in the index scores. As of December 2017, the Department had not yet updated the Community Well-Being index with 2016 Census data.

5.29 Limited use of available data. We found that the Department could have used the volumes of available data from multiple sources to more comprehensively compare well-being relative to other Canadians and across First Nations communities, but did not. The Department had data and access to data from public sources, other departments, and First Nations, but did not include it in either the Community Well-Being index or another comprehensive measure or set of measures. We identified numerous sources of potentially useful data:

The Department's internal First Nation Community Profiles contained a large amount of data, including information on housing needs and water quality.

Employment and Social Development Canada collected data about participation in skills training that Indigenous people received through the Aboriginal Skills and Employment Training Strategy and the Skills and Partnership Fund programs. These programs are intended to support Indigenous people in obtaining professional and industry certificates, diplomas, or degrees, as well as work experience and employment.

Health Canada collected information about First Nations health, including information about oral health services and benefits that it provided to First Nations, as noted in the 2017 Fall Reports of the Auditor General of Canada, Report 4-Oral Health Programs for First Nations and Inuit-Health Canada. The First Nations and Inuit Health Branch, which was responsible for that program at Health Canada, has since been transferred to the newly formed Indigenous Services Canada.

In 2015, the Provincial Health Officer of British Columbia and the First Nations Health Authority issued a joint report, entitled First Nations Health and Well-being: Interim Update. This report provided an update on progress made on seven indicators: life expectancy, mortality rate, youth suicide rate, infant mortality rate, diabetes prevalence, childhood obesity, and the number of practising certified First Nations health care professionals.

Provinces had data on how many Indigenous children were placed in the care of families with one or more Indigenous members, rather than in families with no Indigenous members. A different culture and language could make it more difficult for children to adjust to the new family environment.

The First Nations Regional Health Survey 2008-10, conducted by the First Nations Information Governance Centre, identified the prevalence of chronic health conditions reported by First Nations adults on reserves across Canada.

5.30 Department officials told us that it did not incorporate this additional data into the Community Well-Being index because comparative data for other Canadian communities was not available. In our view, the Department should make better use of such data to more comprehensively assess and understand First Nations well-being in comparison with that of other Canadian communities, and to measure whether progress is being made.

5.31 In 2000, Indigenous Services Canada committed to measuring and reporting on the education gap every two years. As of December 2017, we found that the Department had not met this commitment. The index included a score for each of its four components, including education, to produce an overall score of well-being every five years. For example, in 2011, the average education score for First Nations communities was 36, while for Canadian non-Indigenous communities, it was 53. In our view, these scores did not provide a meaningful picture of the education gap because they did not provide a clear way to measure and report on education results.

5.32 Using census program data, we calculated on-reserve and overall Canadian high school graduation (or equivalent) levels from 2001 to 2016 ( Exhibit 5.1). We found that, while results for First Nations had improved, the results for all Canadians had improved by a greater amount: The gap was 30 percentage points in 2001 and 33 percentage points in 2016. In our view, this is a clearer way to measure and report on education results and would help to provide a more meaningful picture of well-being.

5.33 Incomplete reporting on well-being. We found that Indigenous Services Canada did not issue a comprehensive report on the overall socio-economic well-being of First Nations people on reserves. In comparison, we noted that, since 2009, the Prime Minister of Australia has issued annual reports, called Closing the Gap, with progress on improving the socio-economic well-being of Australian Indigenous people. These reports outline where more work is needed ( Exhibit 5.2).

5.34 Lack of meaningful engagement. Indigenous Services Canada did not work with First Nations to develop the Community Well-Being index, first published in 2004. Since then, we found that the Department has not revised the index to include language and culture or developed another comprehensive set of measures to assess First Nations well-being.

5.35 In July 2016, the Department engaged with First Nations and the Assembly of First Nations in a national forum to discuss criteria to measure First Nations students' success. This work was targeted for completion by December 2017. We found that, in July 2017, the Chief's Committee on Education directed First Nations representatives to stop working with Indigenous Services Canada. The Committee was concerned that federal processes did not allow enough time to develop measurement frameworks to reflect the diversity, autonomy, and authority of First Nations communities and education systems.

5.36 The federal government recognizes that engaging meaningfully with First Nations is essential to its mission of working together to make Canada a better place for Indigenous and northern peoples and communities. Given this mission, it is our view that greater efforts needed to be made to measure and report on the overall well-being of on-reserve First Nations people compared with that of other Canadians.

5.37 Recommendation. Through engagement with First Nations and other partners, Indigenous Services Canada should use relevant data to comprehensively measure and report on the overall socio-economic well-being of First Nations people on reserves compared with that of other Canadians. The Department should also measure and report on those additional aspects of socio-economic well-being that First Nations have identified as unique priorities, such as language and culture, which might not be directly comparable with other Canadians.

The Department's response. Agreed. Indigenous Services Canada will build on the Community Well-Being index by co-developing, with First Nations and other partners, a broad dashboard of well-being outcomes that will reflect mutually agreed-upon metrics in measuring and reporting on closing socio-economic gaps. Much of this work is already under way with the Assembly of First Nations and other partners in the co-development of a new fiscal relationship. This includes a shared vision of mutual accountability and the co-development of a national outcome-based framework that leverages the United Nations' 2030 sustainable development goals. As a part of the co-development, the Department will continue to work closely with First Nations to ensure that the broader reporting of First Nations' well-being integrates other outcomes and measures that are important to them.

Collecting, using, and sharing First Nations' education data

5.40 The goal of Indigenous Services Canada's Elementary and Secondary Education Program is to help eligible students on reserves achieve levels of education that are comparable with those of other Canadian students. Through various funding arrangements with the Department, First Nations deliver education on reserves, buy education services from school boards, or combine these two approaches. There are also seven federally operated schools on reserves. In all cases, the Department requires First Nations to provide data about their education programs.

5.41 At the post-secondary level, Indigenous Services Canada aims to help First Nations students develop job skills by giving them financial support for education and skills development. The Department transfers funds to First Nations for eligible students, whether they live on or off reserves. All First Nations recipients are required to report the results and related spending information for funded post-secondary students.

5.42 The Office of the Auditor General reported on Indigenous Services Canada's education programs in 2000, 2004, and 2011. In response to our past recommendations, the Department made commitments to closing the education gap. In particular, 18 years ago (in 2000), the Department promised to

develop and use appropriate performance indicators,

develop and use comparative cost information, and

publish a report every two years on progress toward closing the education gap between on-reserve First Nations students and other Canadians.

The Department did not collect data needed to improve education results

5.44 We found that Indigenous Services Canada did not collect data it needed to improve education results. In particular, it did not collect

information about education, such as teachers' years of experience or student participation rates;

information about post-secondary graduation rates; and

information to compare First Nations students' education levels with those of other Canadians.

5.45 Furthermore, we found that the Department did not assess relevant data it did collect, to determine whether it was accurate and complete. For example, it did not know to what extent First Nations students were graduating from high school with diplomas recognized by post-secondary institutions, or with completion certificates, which the Department acknowledged might not be recognized by these institutions.

5.46 Our analysis supporting this finding presents what we examined and discusses the following topics:

5.47 This finding matters because reliable, relevant, and up-to-date data is essential to making evidence-based decisions for improving education levels for First Nations students. When First Nations students are unable to proceed to higher education, their socio-economic status is also likely to suffer over the long term.

5.48 Our recommendation in this area of examination appears at paragraph 5.83.

Analysis to support this finding

5.49 What we examined. We examined whether Indigenous Services Canada collected information to measure and report on First Nations' education results, such as graduation rates. We also analyzed this data for accuracy and completeness.

5.50 Not collecting relevant data. In 2010, Indigenous Services Canada developed the Education Performance Measurement Strategy to measure results for First Nations students and schools and to determine whether its students achieved education results comparable with those of other Canadian students.

5.51 We found that the Department did not collect the information needed to compare First Nations' education results with those of other Canadian students. For example, it did not collect provincial or national data on standardized test scores and student attendance rates to allow for comparisons. Without this information, the Department did not know whether its approach to managing programs to educate First Nations students was helping to close the education gap.

5.52 We also found that the Department did not collect important data from First Nations on primary and secondary education programs. For example, the Department did not collect data about teacher experience or student participation rates. Without this data, the Department did not have a complete picture of First Nations' education programs.

5.53 We also found that the Department did not have data about post-secondary graduation rates for on-reserve First Nations students. Nor did it collect complete data on the number of First Nations students who wanted to pursue post-secondary education but could not access the funds to do so. Despite commitments by the Department to review these issues in 2004, it was still unable to report on the extent to which its support for First Nations' post-secondary education improved student results or whether its delivery model ensured that eligible students had equitable access to post-secondary education funding.

5.54 Not assessing relevant data. We found that the Department did not distinguish between high school diplomas and high school completion certificates. According to the Department, the certificates might not be recognized by post-secondary institutions. We found that, for the 214 First Nations schools that offered Grade 12 in the 2016-17 fiscal year, the Department did not collect information on the type of diploma or completion certificate provided to First Nations students. Similarly, the Department did not collect this information about First Nations students attending provincially operated schools.

5.55 Using analysis that the First Nations Education Steering Committee conducted on data collected by the Ministry of Education in British Columbia, we calculated that between the 2012-13 and 2015-16 fiscal years, about 14.5% (380 of 2621) of on-reserve students who finished high school received completion certificates. In comparison, only 2% (2,365 of 118,250) of non-First Nations students in British Columbia received completion certificates over the same period. In our view, by not distinguishing between official diplomas and completion certificates, the Department and First Nations could not determine how many First Nations graduating students might not be eligible to attend post-secondary institutions.

The Department did not adequately use data to improve education results

5.56 We found that Indigenous Services Canada did not adequately use data to improve education results. We found data the Department had collected that could have been used to improve education programs, but was not. For instance, the Department did not analyze First Nations students' literacy levels to determine how they compared with those of other Canadians. Nor did it assess whether departmental support was achieving expected results, or how the support could be improved.

5.57 We also found that the Department had not adequately used data to determine education funding. We found that it was unclear to what extent funding decisions considered First Nations students' unique education needs and important factors affecting costs. We found that, despite its commitment to do so in 2000, the Department did not report on how federal funding for on-reserve education compared with funding in other Canadian education systems.

5.58 Our analysis supporting this finding presents what we examined and discusses the following topics:

5.59 These findings matter because low graduation and literacy rates have a negative impact on the lives of on-reserve First Nations people-in particular, through reduced employment opportunities. Because the education gaps are complex-varying by region, population, student age, and over time-closing the gap requires the use of data that is accurate, comprehensive, and up to date.

5.60 Our recommendation in this area of examination appears at paragraph 5.83.

Analysis to support this finding

5.61 What we examined. We examined whether Indigenous Services Canada used data to improve education program results relative to those of other Canadians. We also looked at whether it used data to inform funding decisions and whether it had reported on how federal funding for on-reserve education compared with funding in other Canadian education systems.

5.62 Inadequate use of data to improve education programs. In 2008, Indigenous Services Canada identified literacy as a national priority. According to the Department, research has shown that literacy has a strong impact on future potential careers, socio-economic stability, and decision-making abilities. As well, literacy improves education results and student retention during a student's entire educational career.

5.66 According to the Department's estimate, in one region, the cost of providing education to students over 21 was about $15 million in the 2011-12 fiscal year. Department officials told us that if students were in school when they turned 22, they would continue to be funded. However, older students requesting to return to school were denied funding. In our view, the Department could explore ways to help First Nations students over 21 years old complete secondary education.

5.67 Inadequate use of data to inform funding decisions. Through a combination of core and supplemental programs, Indigenous Services Canada funded eligible on-reserve First Nations students to attend First Nations-operated, federal, private, or provincial schools.

5.68 In 2000, the Department committed to developing and using comparative cost information. This information is important for ensuring that First Nations students receive education comparable to that of other Canadians. Knowing these costs is important for developing an effective education strategy, closing the education gap, and meeting the education needs of First Nations students living on reserves. However, we found that, as of 2017, this work was still not complete, and that the Department was still unable to report how federal funding for on-reserve education compared with funding levels for other education systems across Canada.

5.69 We also found that, in arriving at its core funding decisions, it was not clear to what extent the Department accounted for the unique needs of First Nations students. For example, education costs could increase or decrease, depending on important factors affecting costs, such as

geographic isolation of many First Nations communities;

small school populations, common in many First Nations communities;

the first language of First Nations students (English or French not being the first language for a significant number of First Nations); and

difficulty in attracting and retaining qualified educators.

According to the Department, its method of calculating core education funding for First Nations had not substantively changed since the late 1990s. The formula relied on historical and out-of-date population data and did not consistently account for the above important factors in costing.

5.70 To supplement its core education funding budget, the Department received an additional $2.6 billion over five fiscal years, from 2016-17 to 2020-21. We found that the Department's analysis to support this amount was insufficient. For example, included in this amount was $577.5 million, or $115.5 million annually, for the High-Cost Special Education Program. The only evidence the Department provided to substantiate the annual $115.5 million increase was that spending on this program had exceeded the budget by $22 million in the 2012-13 fiscal year. The Department also determined that about 4,400 of the 13,000 students in the program required a new or updated assessment, but it did not provide a cost estimate for doing the needed assessments.

The Department required considerable education data from First Nations but did not share the resulting analyses with them

5.72 We found that, although First Nations communities were required to supply extensive education data to Indigenous Services Canada, the Department did not provide the promised access to its Education Information System. Therefore, First Nations could not access the resulting information and analyses.

5.73 Our analysis supporting this finding presents what we examined and discusses the following topics:

5.74 This finding matters because without access to education data and related analyses, First Nations communities cannot meaningfully engage with Indigenous Services Canada to improve education results or identify initiatives that would contribute to student success.

5.75 Our recommendation in this area of examination appears at paragraph 5.83.

Analysis to support this finding

5.76 What we examined. We reviewed information on the Education Information System and the volume of information that First Nations were required to provide. We examined whether the Department shared useful analyses of this data with First Nations.

5.77 Limited access by First Nations to the Department's Education Information System. In 2008, the Department proposed that it would develop a system to capture First Nations' education program data, which First Nations could access as well.

5.78 In 2010, the Department again committed that the system would be a shared information resource with First Nations. The Department also identified the need to reduce the reporting burden to First Nations. First Nations were required to provide 20 annual reports, using data gathered from about 1,500 sources, including

119,000 elementary and high school students,

19,000 post-secondary students,

450 reports on proposal-based education initiatives, and

activities by 110 cultural education centres.

5.79 A December 2015 internal audit of the system found that First Nations had only limited access to reporting tools to compare, for example, how students in their communities were doing relative to those from other regions. Furthermore, First Nations received little training on how to use the system. The audit also found that some regions were using their own processes and tools to track and report on education data, which increased their workload.

5.81 High administrative burden for First Nations. First Nations told us that the reporting requirements related to education programs were burdensome. We found that, in the 2017-18 fiscal year, the Department's education reporting requirements included up to 13 forms with 920 data fields. Many of these fields had to be filled in for each student supported by the Department-about 107,000 elementary and secondary and an estimated 24,000 post-secondary students in the 2016-17 fiscal year.

5.82 We also found that the Department did not use much of the data it collected to improve education results (as detailed in paragraphs 5.62 to 5.66) or inform important funding decisions ( paragraphs 5.67 to 5.71). Furthermore, First Nations and their organizations did not have full access to the education information gathered, or to the related analyses ( paragraphs 5.77 to 5.80). In our view, not using this data created an unnecessary administrative burden for First Nations.

5.83 Recommendation. Through engagement with First Nations and other partners, Indigenous Services Canada should collect, use, and share data with First Nations appropriately to improve education results of First Nations people on reserves.

The Department's response. Agreed. Indigenous Services Canada has invested in relationships with First Nations to manage data related to education, including ongoing collaboration to identify meaningful education results that would replace the current approach. These renewed education goals, together with agreed-upon measures and a data collection strategy, will be developed as part of the upcoming education transformation for elementary, secondary, and post-secondary education. In the meantime, the Department is actively exchanging data with First Nations to support education transformation.

Reporting on First Nations' education results

The Department's reporting was incomplete and inaccurate

5.87 Our analysis supporting this finding presents what we examined and discusses the following topics:

5.88 Treasury Board policies require departments to develop valid and reliable indicators with measurable targets and to obtain reliable, regular, and accurate data to monitor and report on progress.

5.89 Our recommendation in this area of examination appears at paragraph 5.98.

Analysis to support this finding

5.90 What we examined. We examined whether Indigenous Services Canada publicly reported complete and accurate information on its overall progress on closing the education gap between on-reserve First Nations students and other Canadians. We also examined data from the Department's Education Information System to determine whether the high school graduation rate accounted for students who withdrew from school before starting Grade 12.

5.91 Incomplete reporting. In 2000, the Department committed to developing appropriate performance indicators and publishing a report every two years on closing the education gap between on-reserve First Nations students and other Canadians. In 2010 and 2014, Indigenous Services Canada developed Education Performance Measurement Strategies that committed to specific performance measures.

5.92 We found that the Department did not report results for most of the measures. In particular, its 2014 strategy contained 23 specific measures, but we found that the Department never reported on 17 of them. For example, it did not report on student attendance and First Nations' language instruction. We also found that, despite the ultimate objective of both strategies that First Nations achieve levels of education comparable to those of other Canadians, the Department did not compare First Nations results with the results of other Canadians for measures in either strategy. We noted that British Columbia published an annual report comparing the education results of Indigenous students with those of non-Indigenous students ( Exhibit 5.3). This type of report offered a good example of how the Department could report on education results.

5.93 We also found that Indigenous Services Canada did not report against consistent targets for the performance measures it had identified in its 2010 and 2014 strategies. Setting consistent and measurable targets helps to improve results and achieve systemic change. Yet, in the seven fiscal years from 2010-11 to 2016-17, the Department reported the First Nations' high school graduation rate for six years and the available literacy rates for four years. During this period, the Department's target for graduation rates changed four times, and it did not develop a specific target for literacy rates until the 2016-17 fiscal year.

5.94 Inaccurate reporting of graduation rates. We found that the Department's reported graduation rate for on-reserve First Nations students was inaccurate. It reported a graduation rate that included only students enrolled in their final year of high school. This meant that the reported graduation rate was overstated, because students who dropped out in grades 9, 10, and 11 were excluded from the Department's calculation. Using data only from a student's final year of high school is inconsistent with how most provincial governments and the Council of Ministers of Education calculate graduation rates. For example, Manitoba divides the total number of graduates by the total number of students who were enrolled in Grade 9 four years earlier.

5.95 Using departmental data from the 2011-12 to the 2015-16 fiscal years, we calculated a graduation or completion rate that accounted for all students who dropped out in grades 9, 10, and 11 ( Exhibit 5.4). We found that these rates were 10 to 29 percentage points lower than those reported by the Department. This means that the Department's reported data showed, on average, that about one in two (46%) First Nations students graduated. However, our calculations showed that, on average, only about one in four (24%) students who started Grade 9 actually completed high school within 4 years. In our view, anyone relying on departmental information would not be fully informed. For example, the Department reported that graduation rates between the 2014-15 and 2015-16 fiscal years had improved-while we found that they had worsened.

5.96 In addition, the Department's reported graduation rate (see Exhibit 5.4) included both students who graduated with provincially recognized high school diplomas (or their equivalents) and those who received high school completion certificates (or their equivalents). Yet students with completion certificates might not have been eligible for enrolment in post-secondary institutions. In our view, these different rates should be reported separately. We note that, because of this issue, our calculated rates in Exhibit 5.4 are also overstated, because the Department's data did not distinguish between high school graduation and completion.

5.98 Recommendation. Indigenous Services Canada's reporting on First Nations' education results should be complete and accurate.

The Department's response. Agreed. Indigenous Services Canada is actively working with First Nations to transform elementary and secondary education, and will be co-developing renewed education outcomes, measurements, and a related data strategy. Likewise, the Department is working with First Nations and other Indigenous partners to transform post-secondary education. Embedded in the approach to renewed education will be agreement on mutual accountability and practices promoting complete and accurate reporting.

Conclusion

5.99 We concluded that Indigenous Services Canada did not satisfactorily measure or report on Canada's progress in closing the socio-economic gaps between on-reserve First Nations people and other Canadians. We also concluded that the Department's use of data to improve education programs was inadequate.

This independent assurance report was prepared by the Office of the Auditor General of Canada on socio-economic gaps between on-reserve First Nations people and other Canadians. Our responsibility was to provide objective information, advice, and assurance to assist Parliament in its scrutiny of the government's management of resources and programs, and to conclude on whether the Department's use of data, including measuring and reporting, complied in all significant respects with the applicable criteria.

All work in this audit was performed to a reasonable level of assurance in accordance with the Canadian Standard on Assurance Engagements (CSAE) 3001-Direct Engagements set out by the Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada (CPA Canada) in the CPA Canada Handbook-Assurance.

The Office applies Canadian Standard on Quality Control 1 and, accordingly, maintains a comprehensive system of quality control, including documented policies and procedures regarding compliance with ethical requirements, professional standards, and applicable legal and regulatory requirements.

In conducting the audit work, we have complied with the independence and other ethical requirements of the relevant rules of professional conduct applicable to the practice of public accounting in Canada, which are founded on fundamental principles of integrity, objectivity, professional competence and due care, confidentiality, and professional behaviour.

In accordance with our regular audit process, we obtained the following from entity management:

The objective of this audit was to determine whether Indigenous Services Canada satisfactorily measured and reported on Canada's overall progress in closing the socio-economic gaps between on-reserve First Nations people and other Canadians, and whether the Department adequately used appropriate data to improve education programs to close education gaps.

We examined whether Indigenous Services Canada had engaged with First Nations to define what components should be used to measure the social well-being and economic prosperity of on-reserve First Nations people relative to other Canadians. We examined how the Department measured and reported on overall progress in closing socio-economic gaps.

We also examined whether Indigenous Services Canada engaged with First Nations to make adequate use of data to improve programs intended to close education gaps.

The audit scope did not include

In brief, the audit approach comprised

The audit covered the period between April 2015 and December 2017. This is the period to which the audit conclusion applies. However, to gain a more complete understanding of the subject matter of the audit, we also examined certain matters that preceded the starting date of this period.

We obtained sufficient and appropriate audit evidence on which to base our conclusion on 11 April 2018, in Ottawa, Canada.

Principal: Joe Martire
Director: Dawn Campbell

Alex Fontaine
Sean MacLennan
Joseph O'Brien
Jacqueline Warren

The following table lists the recommendations and responses found in this report. The paragraph number preceding the recommendation indicates the location of the recommendation in the report, and the numbers in parentheses indicate the location of the related discussion.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Report 5-Socio-economic Gaps on First Nations Reserves-Indigenous Services Canada

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Socio-economic well-being of First Nations people 5.1 According to Indigenous Services Canada, in December 2017, there were almost one million (987,520) individuals registered under the Indian Act, belonging to one of 618 First Nations or unaffiliated with a specific First Nation. Slightly more than half of the registered population (509,016) live on reserve or Crown land.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Who are Indigenous Peoples in Canada?

There are three categories of Indigenous peoples in Canada: Inuit, Métis and First Nations. The Inuit primarily inhabit the northern regions of Canada. Their homeland, known as Inuit Nunangat, includes much of the land, water and ice contained in the Arctic region. Métis peoples are of mixed European and Indigenous ancestry, and live mostly in the Prairie provinces and Ontario, but also in other parts of the country. First Nations peoples were the original inhabitants of the land that is now Canada, often occupying territories south of the Arctic.

The - the principal statute through which the federal government manages a variety of issues concerning Indigenous affairs - further divides Indigenous peoples into two categories: Status Indians and Non-Status Indians. ( See also Indian Status.) Status Indians are individuals who are listed in the Indian Register and are issued identification cards (known as status cards) that contain information about their identity, band and registration number. Non-Status Indians are Indigenous peoples who are not registered with the federal government ( See also Indian).

All Indigenous peoples in Canada are protected by section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982, which enshrines Indigenous rights. The federal government departments responsible for the affairs of Indigenous peoples are Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs and Indigenous Services.

Many Indigenous nations have signed treaties with the Crown. These agreements have allowed for the use of Indigenous lands in exchange for annual payments and/or other benefits. Treaties form the constitutional and moral basis of alliance between Indigenous peoples and Canada.

History

Indigenous peoples have been in Canada since time immemorial. They formed complex social, political, economic and cultural systems before Europeans came to North America.

With colonization and white settlement, traditional Indigenous ways of life were forever altered. Colonial practices and policies, such as the , pass system, reserves and residential schools, sought to control and assimilate Indigenous peoples. These have had historic and ongoing impacts on generations of Indigenous peoples.

Such practices and polices, when combined with racism, acts of segregation, loss of land, and declining or unequal access to food resources and public services, have had devastating consequences on the health and socio-economic well-being of Indigenous peoples. ( See also Social Conditions of Indigenous Peoples and Economic Conditions of Indigenous Peoples.)

The final reports of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women speak to ongoing work of reconciliation.

Demographics

In the 2021 census, 1,807,250 people in Canada identified as Indigenous, making up 5 per cent of the national population. The First Nations population numbered 1,048,405, the Métis population was 624,220, and the Inuit population reached 70,545.

The Indigenous population in Canada is growing steadily; between 2006 and 2016, it has grown by 42.5 per cent, more than four times the growth rate of the non-Indigenous population. From 2016 to 2021, the Indigenous population grew 9.4 per cent. This indicates the Indigenous population was growing at nearly twice the rate of the non-Indigenous population. Statistics Canada projected, in 2016, that in the next 20 years, the Indigenous population will likely grow to more than 2.5 million people. The changes in population reflect increased life expectancy, high birth rates, and more people identifying as Indigenous in the 2016 census.

The 2016 census showed population growth in First Nations communities both on and off reserve; from 2006 to 2016, the on-reserve population grew 12.8 percent while the off-reserve population grew 49.1 per cent. Statistics Canada also reported that the Métis are the most likely Indigenous group to live in an urban community; nearly two-thirds of the population lived in a city in 2016. For the Inuit, nearly 75 per cent of the population inhabit Inuit Nunangat, a stretch of traditional territory covering the land, water and ice contained in the Arctic.

Did you know?
In the 2016 Census, 11,620 people in Canada claimed Cherokee ancestry. The Cherokee Nation is the largest tribal nation in the United States.

Regional and Cultural Diversity

Indigenous peoples, both historical and contemporary, in North America can be divided into 10 cultural areas. Only the first six areas are found within the borders of Canada:

Contemporary political borders in North America do not reflect (and often overlap) traditional lands. For example, the Mohawk Nation at Akwesasne straddles both provincial ( Québec and Ontario) and international (New York State) borders, as its existence predates the establishment of the international border in 1783 ( See also Indigenous Territory).

These areas are based on linguistic divisions first defined by the ethnologist and linguist Edward Sapir in 1910, while he was head of the Anthropology Division at the Geological Survey of Canada, which later became the Canadian Museum of History ( See also Indigenous Languages in Canada). Sapir's geographical framework was adopted by the Smithsonian Institution's Handbook of North American Indians, the first volumes of which were published in 1978, and continues to be used widely in scholarship.

The Handbook states that these categories are "used in organizing and referring to information about contiguous groups that are or were similar in culture and history," but it is important to note that these delineations are not concrete, and neighbouring peoples always share some similarities and some differences. Rather than representing 10 distinct cultures, these areas reflect geographic and cultural groupings that are fluid and often intermixed. In addition, contemporary Indigenous peoples may live far from their ancestral homelands, and indeed may form new communities rooted in urban centres rather than traditional lands.

These cultural areas are massive and generalized; what is true of a part is not always true of the whole. For example, some sources further divide the Eastern Woodlands into the Southeast and Northeast regions, while others combine these regions into simply Woodlands, and as such one must not assume that all peoples in a cultural area shared the same experiences.

Research overviews of the six cultural areas in Canada provide only some specific anthropological information. The peoples included in these areas are in some ways similar and in other ways different. What is true for the Wendat may not have been true for the Mi'kmaq, and indeed there existed variations among bands within a group. When considering contemporary situations, it is impossible to assume that one issue, set of beliefs, or cultural reference can relate to all Indigenous people in Canada, though in contemporary politics, large-scale political movements like Idle No More have gained wide acceptance and mobilization.

The ethnologists, archaeologists and anthropologists who have written about these cultural regions were often not Indigenous themselves. Though much of this research was done through interviews and fieldwork, it inevitably operated within a settler-colonial framework - a worldview that privileges property acquisition, European-style government and economic growth - regardless of the positive intentions of the researcher. Nevertheless, this research remains valuable both as historical and historiographical tools.

List of Indigenous Peoples in Canada

In 2016, more than 1.6 million people identified as Indigenous in Canada. Below is a list of separate entries on various Indigenous nations in Canada. This is not a comprehensive list, but it provides insight into the history, society, culture, politics and contemporary life of various First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities in Canada.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In Canada, the term Indigenous peoples (or Aboriginal peoples) refers to First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples. These are the original inhabitants of the land...

# data[].attributes.body
Socioeconomic Inequality is the gap between Indigenous people and other Canadians around factors like education, income, housing and health.

# data[].attributes.body
The original people of Canada, whose land, people, and culture were stolen by colonizers. Despite the generational discrimination and issues, Indigenous ways of life still thrive in Canada

# data[].attributes.body
The economic + social gaps were created because of resource exploitation, the history of colonization, and the treatment of Indigenous peoples. The social gap will close as a result of the economic gaps closing first.

MACRO economic dev: trade developments, tariffs, government-level changes in policy, not much local input

LOCAL economic dev: urban planning, infrastructure dev., marketing, physical planning, strategic planned focuses on economic success

COMMUNITY economic dev: considering what the community has to offer, its values (like environmental and social) to find solutions to build up economic success

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Local economic development ( LED) is an approach to economic development, of note in the developing world that, as its name implies, places importance on activities in and by cities, districts and regions. Local economic development combines economic development activities, urban planning, infrastructure development and social development activities to improve local conditions. LED encompasses a range of disciplines including physical planning, economics and marketing, all with the goal of building up the economic capacity of a local area to improve its economic future and the quality of life for all.

There are several definitions for local economic development. In one of the early concept notes on LED, the World Bank in 2006 defined LED as "the process by which public, business and non-governmental sector partners work collectively to create better conditions for economic growth and employment generation. The aim is to improve the quality of life for all in the community".

In 2007 GTZ (now called GIZ) refined the definition of the World Bank by describing LED as "a process to mobilise stakeholders from the public and the private sectors as well as from civil society, to become partners in a joint effort to improve the economy of a defined subnational territory and thus increase its competitiveness".

The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation defined LED as "a broad set of activities, which aim at creating a competitive advantage for an urban or rural territory and for the enterprises in this territory to improve territorial attractiveness and economic wellbeing". This definition was developed for the SDC by Mesopartner, a research consultancy specialising in LED that was co-founded by the late Jörg Meyer-Stamer.

Different developmental organisations tend to emphasise elements in the definitions that are aligned with their specific mandate. For instance, UN-Habitat defines LED "a participatory process where local people from all sectors work together to stimulate local commercial activity resulting in a resilient and sustainable economy." and as "an approach to help create decent jobs and improve the quality of life for everyone, including the poor and marginalized".

The International Labour Organization (ILO) defines LED as "a participatory development process that encourages partnership arrangements between the main private and public stakeholders of a defined territory, enabling the joint design and implementation of a common development strategy, by making use of the local resources and competitive advantage in a global context, with the final objective of creating decent jobs and stimulating economic activity".

From these different definitions of LED there are several core elements that are common:

It takes place within a defined territory

It has a strong bottom-up orientation, it is driven by local stakeholders

It involves a range of stakeholders from the public and private sector, as well as from civil society

It is about improving the competitiveness and attractiveness of the location

It is undertaken for the purpose of fostering economic well-being

With the rapid changes in global, national and local economies, increasingly definitions of LED are adding aspects of inclusiveness, sustainability and resilience. Many international development organisations see LED as complementary to other support measures, such as improving governance, reducing inward migration and improving urban development. International development projects or national government projects can help to establish or enhance LED locally, but should not replace or displace local effort. As a consequence, the aim of an externally support should be to establish an effective LED process locally, not to solve the problems of the locality with regards to its economy. In our experience,[who? ] external development projects implemented locally often results in local stakeholders becoming bystanders to a project in their locality.[original research? ]

There are more definitions out there. Many countries, development organisations and even locations have created their own definitions.

There are two broad approaches to LED. One is about developing a strategy for a location, mainly through planning. This is often the preferred approach by international development organisations and governments in developing countries. The other approach is a more iterative approach where local stakeholders jointly learn about what is possible in the local context. In this approach a broad range of private and public stakeholders cooperate to improve local conditions to create jobs and local wealth.

According to the ILO, national and local governments, as well as enterprises and other organisations have to rethink development strategies to cope with ongoing events such as globalization. In contrast to traditional development policies, local economic development strategies promote local dialogue and enable people to be more proactive; help to make local institutions better contribute to development; make economic activity dependent on the comparative advantages of a specific territory, generating development by firms more capable to withstand changes in the global economic environment rather than top-down development imposed by national planners. Economic development activities in developing countries tend to be unidisciplinary, initiated and implemented by just one ministry or agency. An advantage of LED approaches is that they facilitate a multidisciplinary approach. South Africa has been particularly active in promoting the concept.

Local economic development responses to the COVID-19 pandemic

With the COVID-19 pandemic and associated restrictions impacting the economies of many cities and towns, local economic development responses played a particularly important role. Key approaches included support to keep businesses afloat during lockdowns and other restrictions, efforts to reactivate cities after restrictions eased, and a focus on long-term economic development. Lessons that emerged from the experience of the pandemic include the need to respond and iterate rapidly, the importance of collaboration between stakeholders and different tiers of government, and the need to maintain a focus on multiple time horizons, even in the midst of the crisis.

LED in South Africa: pro-poor vs. pro-growth

Many LED interventions in South Africa have taken a direct pro-poor intervention, leading to questions regarding whether this approach is more effective in terms of poverty relief than the spin-offs of more pro-growth focused endeavours. The Microeconomic Reform Strategy is a central component of the 2005 policy guidelines for implementing LED in South Africa. This strategy seeks to address the inequalities in the country and to build on the RDP (Reconstruction and Development Program), by focusing on issues of the geographical spread of activity, integration, black economic empowerment, knowledge-led growth, skills development and state responsiveness.

In addition to the laws and policies directly supporting and encouraging pro-poor LED, other instruments, such as Integrated Development Planning, provide additional support for implementation. Integrated Development Planning is a key process used within LED, which looks toward the use of planning to situate pro-poor development and LED specifically. The South African Forum for Effective Planning and Development in 1995 defined Integrated Development Planning as, 'A participatory approach to integrate economic, sectoral, spatial, social, institutional, environmental and fiscal strategies in order to support the optimal allocation of scarce resources between sectors and geographical areas and across the population in a manner that provides sustainable growth, equity and the empowerment of the poor and the marginalised'.

In terms of what an 'Integrated Development Plan' (IDP) should include, the Municipal Systems Act clearly brings out the pro-poor dimensions of government thinking. The Act states that an integrated development plan must reflect:

The municipal council's vision for the long-term development of the municipality. Special emphasis is to be placed on the municipality's most critical development needs

An assessment of the existing level of development in the municipality. This should include the identification of any communities which do not have access to adequate basic services

The council's long-term development vision and should consider the need for social and economic advancement of disadvantaged sections of the community

The IDP must describe in detail how the municipal council will realise its development objectives and the time frame within which those objectives will be realised

The council's spatial development framework, which should guide the way in which the physical area will be developed

It is suggested that IDP can assist in the promotion of socio-economic development in at least three ways; first, in helping to attract funds from other spheres of government, donor organisations and investors through defining and packaging attractive projects and programmes; secondly in helping to create an environment that is conducive to private sector investment and the general promotion of LED; and thirdly, by proposing direct interventions in the economy through, for example, providing incentives, developing economic infrastructure, and buying, developing and leasing/selling land.

A participatory approach to LED involves the inclusion of different stakeholders so that their views, concerns and issues can be included in the planning process. This is important because it is here that networks, partnerships and information sharing occur that make better, more practical, strategies possible.

Variables to be considered when conducting this inventory should reflect the components of a functioning economy, such as human and social capital, financial capital, physical capital and natural capital.

In South Africa, municipalities are specifically required to involve communities in the affairs of the municipality, to provide services in a financially sustainable manner and to promote development. For instance, public participation is a key element of the Systems Act, and municipalities are obliged to establish mechanisms for public participation and participatory governance.

There is entrenched policy support for pro-poor development in South Africa - often being the primary focus of municipal vision/mission statements. In many cases it is treated as the partner of pro-growth/economic growth interventions. This situation is to be welcomed and reflects both local imperatives and responsiveness and local adherence to nationally identified objectives.

Given the dual challenges faced by South African society of needing to address both chronic poverty, yet also to achieve economic growth and global competitiveness, from a policy perspective it would seem that the approach adopted by Mangaung, Cape Town and eThekwini is most appropriate. These municipalities took a middle of the road approach, focusing their LED strategy on addressing both issues of poverty and growth and the fundamental linkages between the two (World Bank, 2005, 75). The following case studies present pro-growth endeavours that have led to tangible pro-poor driven growth:Johannesburg's Fashion District; eThekwini's regeneration projects; Ingwe's rail-based tourism initiatives.

These case studies show that pro-poor, community-based initiatives that are market linked, providing a viable product and operating in an economically effective fashion, can help disadvantaged community members to effectively participate in the market economy. Similarly, community-based service provision and labour-intensive employment is an effective mechanisms to extend services and create employment and business opportunities for the poor (World Bank, 2005, 78).

Land-use planning and development control serve as measurable tools for LED. The assignment of property rights in land and third party enforcement are essential for the efficient operation of markets. Public intervention ensures the separation of incompatible land-uses, integrated planning and development of synergistic land uses, and the 'public goods' aspect of necessary public facilities, open space and infrastructure investment (Lai, 1994, 78-80). Land use planning and development control are essential for the existence and operation of land and property markets (Alexander, 48). For instance, the assignment of and control over land uses will generally reduce transaction costs and can create or enlarge markets (Lai, 1994, 91).

The following are a list of public land use and development controls that the Ontario Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing lists as useful methods in promoting economic development.

Zoning by-laws are used to specify matters such as density, uses of land, parking requirements and form-related standards - including building heights, lot coverage, setbacks, minimum lot sizes, and other building envelope specifications. To keep pace with market conditions and to create higher-quality built environments, flexible and context-relevant standards can be implemented to support economic development goals.

Height and density exchange

Municipalities can require that facilities, services and matters, as set out in an official plan and by-law, be provided in return for an increase in building height and/or density. This exchange might include streetscape and design elements - for example, protected bicycle parking, outdoor seating, non-slip pedestrian surfaces or public art - in support of municipal placemaking and economic development objectives.

Minimum and maximum standards

More efficient built forms can be achieved through by-law standards for minimum and maximum building height and density. Community resources such as nearby services, public transit, utilities, and existing road and sidewalk networks and greenspaces, can be used more effectively while expanding the number of potential customers for area businesses.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Local economic development ( LED) is an approach to economic development, of note in the developing world that, as its name implies, places importance on activities in and by cities, districts and regions. Local economic development combines economic development activities, urban planning, infrastructure development and social development activities to improve local conditions.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
What is CED?

Community economic development (CED) is an inclusive and participatory process by which communities initiate and generate their own multiple bottom-line solutions to economic problems. Community economic developers focus on creating inclusive local economies, developing nourishing livelihood opportunities, building on local resources and capacities, increasing community control and ownership, enhancing the health of the environment, and encouraging community resilience.

While community economic development approaches can look vastly different in every community, many have five basic principles in common:

The Five Principles of CED

1. Livelihoods Focused

Being "livelihoods focused" means that CED treats the economy as a tool for increasing the well-being and quality of life for everyone in our communities. Well-being is the ultimate goal of economic activity, not simply profitability and production. Along these lines, CED planning doesn't just focus narrowly on the "economy", but it also focuses on how various aspects of our communities intersect and interact with the economy. Using a "community capitals approach" CED considers how health, housing, political engagement, social standing, and many other factors both modify the ability of the economy to enrich livelihoods as well as becoming part of the outcomes of economic development itself.

2. Diverse and Inclusive

As much as economic development contributes to well-being, it is also a sorting mechanism for well-being. Historically, modes of economic development have privileged some groups over others, allocating benefits and losses unfairly. In Canada this has been most apparent in the imposition of colonialism by Europeans over our First Nations. However, it is also apparent in the focus of economic development on "major employers" rather than on "mom and pop shops" or subsistence businesses. Diversity and inclusion are essential to CED not only because they right historical wrongs, but also because they improve the ability for the economy to more equitably deliver benefits to everyone regardless of who they are or what their business is. This increases everyone's capacities and makes both individuals and communities more resilient in a world of constant change.

3. Sustainable

The Nuu-chah-nulth phrase heshook-ish tsawalk is roughly translated as "everything is one" or "everything is interconnected". The Nuu-chah-nulth and other Nations in this territory have long recognized that everything exists in complex systems that are interconnected and interdependent. CED integrates these insights into a systems approach which recognizes that any development must meet multiple bottom-lines of environmental sustainability, economic vitality, social equity, and cultural appropriateness. Being sustainable is more than just caring for the environment; it is fundamentally focused on maintaining a balance between natural and human worlds, both now and for future generations.

4. Place-Based

Traditional economic development can treat communities as "sites" or "spaces" for production and commerce, while in fact they are "places" that are rich locations of culture, environment, and people. CED uses a place-based approach which acknowledges that all development is local and must grow from local strengths and assets while serving local people. In CED, capacity building and investment is therefore aimed at improving the attachment that residents have to their regions, the ability of development initiatives to "fit" the desires and interests of residents, and return the benefits of that development to local residents and their families

5. Community Controlled

To ensure that economic and social development benefits local communities, it must be controlled by those communities. CED facilitates community control by utilizing grass-roots, bottom-up planning processes that integrate a multiplicity of voices. The foundation of community planning is supported in turn by the presence of healthy institutions that can engage stakeholders and bridge their visions and needs to senior levels of decision-making (governmental and otherwise). CED therefore focuses on both community empowerment and institutional development as tools for economic change.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Community economic development (CED) is an inclusive and participatory process by which communities initiate and generate their own multiple bottom-line solutions to economic problems. Community economic developers focus on creating inclusive local economies, developing nourishing livelihood opportunities, building on local resources and capacities, increasing community control and ownership, enhancing the health of the environment, and encouraging community resilience.

# data[].attributes.headline
Why do you think it is important to address this issue?

# data[].attributes.subject
Why do you think it is important to address this issue?

# data[].attributes.body
Governments use the lands of Indigenous people for developmental projects. Indigenous voices and environmental concerns for their land are not being considered and, if considered, have little impact.

# data[].attributes.body
"Indigenous culture, spirituality, laws and legal processes, rights and title have not been taken into account in the Crown-led and proponent-driven Canadian environmental assessment processes".

# data[].attributes.body
Courts acknowledging that the government + other companies are overstepping their bounds in regard to Indigenous land usage and assessments is important because it is an overdue act of reconciliation

# data[].attributes.body
The damages done by residential schools. These schools inflicted trauma on Indigenous children. They were being abused and mistreated at a young age instead of the traditional nurturing Indigenous ways strayed cultural identity, parenting, the parents, the future children, and generations to come. Oral history is essential in Indigenous culture, and losing the opportunities for that history to be shared is what added to damages even further.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Residential Schools and its Lasting Impacts on Indigenous Communities Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes
(TW: Violence, genocide, sexual violence)

What are Residential Schools?

Residential Schools were "schools" that were set up by the Canadian government but administered by churches. The Mohawk Institute in Brantford, Ontario, was the first to open in 1831, and the Gordon Indian Residential School in Saskatchewan, being the last to close in 1996. Nearly 130 schools were placed throughout Canada and sought to have housed 150,000+ Indigenous children throughout the years of operation.

However, these children didn't just go to the residential schools by choosing. They were taken from their families and forced into the schools. The main goals of the schools were to remove the children from their homes in order to assimilate them into the Euro-Canadian and Christian ways of living, isolating them from their own culture.

Why did they want to assimilate Indigenous Children?

Statements like "Kill the Indian, Save The Man" or "Kill the Indian in Child" were common slogans that perfectly explain the veracity of the school's intentions. Indigenous children were not allowed to speak their own language, use their own names, or practice anything of their own religion and culture.

To detach the children from their culture, they would give them new names, cut their hair short, and force them to wear uniforms. Every aspect of their identity was suppressed, they had to abandon their way of life due to the belief that their culture was inferior to the mainstream white man's ways.

For example, in 1920, Duncan Campbell Scott, the Canadian Deputy Superintendent General of Indian Affairs said of his government's policy: "Our objective is to continue until there is not an Indian that has not been absorbed into the body politic, and there is no Indian question, and no Indian Department."

The government's goal was to erase Indigenous Peoples and the easiest way for them to do so was mass genocide. They believed Indigenous peoples as ignorant, savages, a burden to society, and in need of guidance on the "right way to live".

Therefore, they assimilated Indigenous youth with similar tactics that the United States used. A tactic called "aggressive civilization", which also led to the public funding of residential schools in Canada. The major key of aggressive civilization was the use of religious instruction and skills training that would help Natives catch up with western society.

How Were Indigenous Peoples Treated at the schools? What were the treatments they used?

Given that the schools were meant for indigenous erasure, treatment was clearly not good-natured. The schools were breeding grounds for suffering and foul treatment. They had strict rules and often their days were regimented by timetables.

Family was not allowed to interact with other family members, for fear they would practice their customs and traditions. The interactions were not allowed for the same reason the children were taken away from their traditional home, to limit their culture. For example, Prime Minister Macdonald, "When the school is on the reserve, the child lives with his parents who are savages; he is surrounded by savages, and though he may learn to read and write, his habits and training and mode of thought are Indian. He is simply a savage who can read and write." Also, boys and girls were separated the majority of the time.

In terms of the education factor of the schools, children often learned practical skills instead of the standard grade school curriculum. Girls would learn how to cook, clean, sew, and do laundry. Meanwhile, boys would learn things like carpentry and farming. They made the children involuntarily complete these tasks, unpaid child labor. The labor distracted them from their actual schoolwork, meaning some students would only reach grade levels five or six at the age of eighteen.

Aside from the neglect of a proper education, the schools also abused many of the students. Many students were sexually assaulted by the priest and nuns who abused their positions of power. Nearly twenty-eight percent of the young women were assaulted and 5% of the assaults recurring every six months. The schools are often referred to as a place of institutionalized pedophilia.

A majority of the children were also beaten and tormented. Some beaten and strapped or tied and shackled to their beds. Needles piercing their tongues or electric shocks were also a recurring punishment for speaking their native language. Often they were neglected meals and had poor nutrition along with poor sanitation. Nuns and priests used the teachings of Christianity to scare the children, creating and using the fear of God to make them embrace Christianity.

Nearly one in twenty-five students lost their life to residential schools and the pain and suffering continues to torment many of the former students and their communities.

What are the Lasting Impacts of Residential Schools?

Despite the efforts to destroy and colonize Indigenous peoples' culture, Indigenous livelihood has persisted.

However, residential schools have created a detrimental intergenerational effect. Residential schools laid the foundation for the epidemic we see within Indigenous communities today. Children at the schools grew up without nurturing and loving homes that uplifted them to partake in their culture, leading them to have misconstrued ways of living. Many of them, as adults, lacked parenting skills and utilized tactics of abuse on their children. Similar to the abuse they experienced within the schools. This has created a perpetuating cycle of domestic abuse within Indigenous homes.

Also, nearly fifty percent of the children who attended the schools did not benefit from the education. They often lacked basic reading and writing skills, leading to lower paying jobs, and a lower standard of living.

The trauma of the school's colonization tactics has often led to self-abuse in an attempt to cope. According to the University of British Columbia, "Among First Nations people aged 10 to 44, suicide and self-inflicted injury is the number one cause of death, responsible for almost 40 percent of mortalities. First Nations women attempt suicide eight times more often than other Canadian women, and First Nations men attempt suicide five times more often than other Canadian men. Some communities experience what have been called suicide epidemics."

Also, simply being a descendant of a parent who attended residential schools, increases your chances of being sexually assaulted by 2.35 times.

All in all, residential schools have negatively impacted the community. Indigenous peoples are still fighting to re-learn and practice their culture. Overcoming such a mass genocide has posed many challenges, but none that we as a community can not overcome!

Remembrance

In honor of those who lost their lives to residential schools: Full List of Known Names

And to those of us who continue to work through the intergenerational suffering and trauma,

Here's to Indigenous healing and prosperity

I am of both Mohawk and Algonquin descent. My grandma and grandpa are both survivors of residential schools. My grandpa and many of his siblings, cousins, etc, attended the Mohawk residential school. On that list there are five people with his same last name, "Beaver", I know some of his siblings passed away in that school.

Growing up with little knowledge of my culture has been a challenging journey. My grandpa died before I was born and my grandma is reluctant to tell her stories, the few she remembers. It is due to the residential schools that causes separation in my culture and its understanding. Yet I will continue to fight and strive to keep my cultural practice alive.

Sources
https://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/the_residential_school_system/ https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-49884387 https://www.facinghistory.org/stolen-lives-indigenous-peoples-canada-and-indian-residential-schools/chapter-3/role-churches#:~:text=The%20stated%20purpose%20of%20the,almost%20inseparable%20at%20the%20time https://www.facinghistory.org/stolen-lives-indigenous-peoples-canada-and-indian-residential-schools/chapter-3/killing-indian-child https://www.historytoday.com/history-matters/canada%E2%80%99s-first-nations https://www.jstor.org/stable/44030407 https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/truth-and-reconciliation-commission-by-the-numbers-1.3096185 https://www.spph.ubc.ca/children-of-residential-school-survivors-and-victims-of-childhood-sexual-abuse-are-at-increased-risk-of-sexual-assault/

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Residential Schools and their Lasting Impacts - The Indigenous Foundation

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Cover illustration by Lakeisha Marie Residential Schools and its Lasting Impacts on Indigenous Communities Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes (TW: Violence, genocide, sexual violence) What are Residential Schools? Residential Schools were "schools" that were set up by the Canadian gov

# data[].attributes.body
"the British Government had given commitments to the Zionist Organization regarding the establishment of a Jewish national home in Palestine, for which Zionist leaders had pressed a claim of “historical connection” since their ancestors had lived in Palestine two thousand years earlier before dispersing in the 'Diaspora'"

# data[].attributes.body
The Israel Occupation of Palestine is a highly controversial issue that has been ongoing for decades and has led to the deaths of millions on both sides of the conflict. Palestinian land, after WWI, was given to the UK by the League of Nations, without proper Palestinian consultation. Originally, the land was to be controlled by Britain temporarily until they owed the Zionist Organization + Jewish people home after the events that occurred during WWII. During the British occupation, the Jewish community worked to have Palestine as their home while also claiming the land ancestrally/through very old history. The indigenous Palestinians who lived there for 2 millennia felt their human rights were being violated. The growing conflict made Britain go to the UN (only 2 years old at the time), and they began their involvement. The situation escalated with the solutions the UN provided, affecting the surrounding countries and their allies. Fast forward to now, innocent lives are being lost because of the multiple opposing organizations who all feel strongly and differently about who should occupy the land state.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
ERROR: The request could not be satisfied

# data[].attributes.body
Learning and educating yourself about issues like these makes you aware of the suffering that so many people go through daily. Learning about these intense situations is essential in not only realizing how lucky we are but also realizing so much change needs to happen in the world, and we are the next generation that has to help do that. It also shows how common Indigenous communities are treated globally, oppressed and disrespected by another power.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.authors[].name
United Nations Palestinian Rights Committee

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Brief Animated History of the Question of Palestine

# data[].attributes.headline
Who are they? Basic facts (biographical details)

# data[].attributes.subject
Who are they? Basic facts (biographical details)

# data[].attributes.headline
Do you think the individual’s/group’s actions were effective?

# data[].attributes.subject
Do you think the individual’s/group’s actions were effective?

# data[].attributes.body
Born in Calgary, Alberta (Feb 8, 1929)

Died in St. Alberta, Alberta (Sep 22, 2017)

Father = residential school survivor + served as a carpenter and farm hand in WWI

Mother = vegetable trader

four siblings

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Company of Young Canadians ( CYC) was a short-lived Canadian youth program sponsored by the Canadian federal government, which existed from 1966 to 1977. It was designed to be run autonomously without government direction.

It generated considerable controversy shortly after its founding: coordination with volunteers in small communities was poorly organized, and several of the youth involved in the program were prominent political activists. Among other things, it was accused in 1969 of harbouring terrorists by municipal officials from Montreal, including Mayor Jean Drapeau. These claims were never verified. In March 1970 its administration was taken over by the federal government, and in 1977 it was formally abolished.

The CYC was a co-sponsor of the National Film Board of Canada's Indian Film Crew in 1968, the NFB's first foray into Native-made filmmaking.

Notable alumni of the CYC include Gilles Duceppe, Georges Erasmus, Barbara Hall, Phil Fontaine, David DePoe and Michael Valpy, Ian Hamilton ( Canadian Writer ).

Hamilton, I. (1970) The Children's Crusade: The Story of the Company of Young Canadians. Toronto: Peter Martin Associates.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The Company of Young Canadians ( CYC) was a short-lived Canadian youth program sponsored by the Canadian federal government, which existed from 1966 to 1977. It was designed to be run autonomously without government direction.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Thelma J. Chalifoux (8 February 1929 - 22 September 2017) was a Canadian teacher and senator.

Chalifoux was born in Calgary, Alberta on 8 February 1929. One of five children, her mother, Helené, helped support the family by trading garden-grown vegetables. Her father, Paul Villeneuve, was a residential school survivor and served in the First World War working as a carpenter and farm hand. She studied sociology at Lethbridge Community College and later took courses in construction estimation at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology.

Chalifoux was a social justice activist, politician, and an active figure in the Métis community. As an employee of the government agency Company of Young Canadians, she worked to advance community development initiatives in northern communities and advocated for improved housing conditions. Chalifoux co-founded the Slave Lake Friendship Centre, assisting women struggling with alcoholism and domestic abuse. She additionally championed the teaching of Cree in northern schools. Along with her community work, Chalifoux produced programming focused on Métis culture and history. She was the first woman to host a weekly show "Smoke Signals from the Peace" on Peace River's CKYL Radio and was the co-producer of the Allarcom series Our Native Heritage. In 1994 she founded and became a senior partner of Chalifoux and Associates Educational and Economic Consulting. She also owned Secret Garden Originals, a craft, and floral design business.

Chalifoux was appointed to the Canadian Senate on the advice of Prime Minister Jean Chrétien on 26 November 1997, making her the first Indigenous woman and fourth Metis person to serve in the Canadian Senate, following Richard Hardisty, William Albert Boucher, and Gerry St. Germain. She held the position until 2004 when, at the age of 75, she retired and returned to Alberta. The following year Alberta Venture magazine ranked her number 8 on their list of 50 Greatest Albertans.

After her retirement, she founded the Michif Cultural and Resource Institute now the Michif Cultural Connections Company, an organization dedicated to preserving and sharing the Métis history of Alberta. Chalifoux was the first woman to receive the National Aboriginal Achievement Award - known today as the Indspire Award - in 1994.

Chalifoux died at the age of 88 surrounded by her family on 22 September 2017, after a period of failing health.

On 8 May 2018, the Edmonton Public School Board of Trustees voted to name the new Thelma Chalifoux School (grade 7- 9) in Larkspur in her honour.

Chalifoux joined the Métis Association in the late 1960s during the early growth of local-level activism within Métis communities. Upon joining, Chalifoux strove to fix major issues affecting the Metis by advocating within governmental bodies. She argued that there were inadequate levels of social welfare programs despite clear indications that Métis communities were among a large majority of those in Canada not meeting their basic needs. Chalifoux, advocated for the increase of affordable shelter, food, and higher welfare grants and subsidies for Métis families. She later focused her efforts on the formation of the Welfare Unit, a group of investigators that looked into complaints concerning the Alberta Government Welfare Department's dealings with Métis communities and families. Her efforts exposed welfare injustices like those that occurred at Fort Chippewa concerning the lack of funds given to various families in desperate need of assistance. Her investigations revealed accounts like that of a widow parenting "five children [and was given] $60 a month to live on." She took a special interest in helping disadvantaged Métis women who had fallen through the cracks of government bureaucracy and otherwise would have remained voiceless.[citation needed ]

National Aboriginal Achievement Award (1995)

Métis National Council Lifetime Achievement Award (2014).

Honorary Doctorate, University of Toronto (2004). (Awarded for her advocacy work.)

In 2023, Canada Post announced that Chalifoux will be one of three people, alongside George Manuel and Nellie Cournoyea, honoured as indigenous pioneers on new postage stamps.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
NAIT Metis elder, retired Sen. Thelma Chalifoux, at the Michif Cultural and Resources Institute in St. Albert. May 11, 2009.

("Thelma Chalifoux" by N A I T is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0)

Early Life and Education

Chalifoux was born to Helene (née Ingwersen) and Paul Villeneuve in 1929. Her family is Métis on her father's side, with ancestry rooted in the early Métis communities of St. Albert and Lac Ste. Anne. Born just before the Great Depression, Chalifoux grew up during a challenging economic time, one from which she learned the value of hard work early on in life. Always looking to help others, Chalifoux volunteered in soup kitchens during the Second World War. She also joined the military reserve force and worked in a Salvation Army canteen.

Chalifoux married Robert Coulter at a young age. He returned from the Korean War with what was likely post-traumatic stress disorder. She eventually left him, and according toThe Globe and Mail (6 October 2017), when she went to social services seeking support for her family in 1958, her four children were taken away from her in what has become known as the Sixties Scoop. Chalifoux worked diligently to get her children back, finishing her high school education and holding down at least two jobs. For a single mother - who had also given birth to a daughter during this time - reuniting her family was no easy task. However, by 1965, Chalifoux regained custody of her children. She gave birth to other children some time after this ordeal. Chalifoux's experience informed her activist work later on in life, particularly her work with Indigenous children, families and communities. ( See also Social Conditions of Indigenous Peoples in Canada.)

Chalifoux studied sociology at Lethbridge Junior College (now simply Lethbridge College), and took courses in construction estimation at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology.

Early Career

In the late 1960s, Chalifoux moved to Edmonton to look for work. It was there that she went into the Métis Association of Alberta to get her membership card updated, which brought her into contact with two former staff of the organization, Clarence Longmore and Ben Courtoureille, and she was offered a job as a fieldworker almost immediately. The late Stan Daniels was president of the association at this time, and gave Chalifoux the responsibility of setting up the welfare and land departments within the organization. During her time working as part of the association, Chalifoux advocated for the increase of affordable shelter, food and higher welfare grants and subsidies for Métis families. As part of her job, she was sent from cities in south and central Alberta to Slave Lake in northern Alberta, where she lived for the next 12 years.

Chalifoux served in the Company of Young Canadians, working on rural and Indigenous housing as well as community development. She was also the host and producer of a weekly radio show on CKYL Radio Peace River, making her the first Métis woman broadcast on private radio.

Political Career

Image: Elise Cotter/Historica Canada.

In the early 1980s, Chalifoux became involved in constitutional talks with Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau as part of a Métis delegation that went to Ottawa. The delegation was dedicated to getting Inuit, First Nations and Métis people recognized as separate and distinct nations.

On 26 November 1997, Prime Minister Jean Chrétien appointed Chalifoux as a senator, making her the first Indigenous woman and Métis person to serve in the Canadian Senate. She retired from the senate on 8 February 2004, at the mandatory retirement age of 75, and returned to Alberta.

During her time as a senator, she was chair of the Standing Committee on Aboriginal Peoples. She was also a member of various other standing committees, including those on agriculture and forestry, human rights, fisheries and oceans, illegal drugs, and legal and constitutional affairs.

As a senator, she was concerned with a range of issues, including Métis housing, drug company relations with the federal government, and environmental legislation. She contributed to the "Gathering Strength" report (1997) - the response of the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development to the report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples.

In an interview with Dr. Denis Wall of the University of Alberta on 13 September 1999, Chalifoux stated that her role as a senator was "partly education and partly bringing the issues forward, especially for the Métis because we are truly the forgotten people."

DID YOU KNOW?
Among her many other "firsts," Chalifoux was the first Métis woman to be appointed to the University of Alberta Senate in the 1970s. She was also the first Métis person to chair the National Métis Senate and the Senate Constitution Commission.

Community Work

Throughout her career, Chalifoux was invested in fighting for women's and Indigenous rights. ( See also Indigenous Women's Issues in Canada.) She served as co-chair of the Alberta Métis Senate and was an appeal panel member with Alberta Family and Social Services. She also served as vice-president of the Aboriginal Women's Business Development Corporation. Chalifoux spent several decades in Alberta working with organizations such as the Métis Women's Council. In Slave Lake, she co-founded the Native Friendship Centre in the 1970s, and ran the first safe house for victims of domestic violence. ( See also Friendship Centres.)

After her work in the Senate, Chalifoux founded the Michif Cultural Institute (now Michif Cultural Connections), a museum and resource centre dedicated to preserving and promoting Métis culture in the northern region of Alberta. A few years before she died in 2017, Chalifoux fought for the creation of St. Albert's Meadowview Centre for Women's Health and Wellness, which opened in 2011. Meadowview is dedicated to helping women recover from drug addiction.

Chalifoux was also concerned with preserving the Cree language and having it taught at northern schools. Her interest in language led to her writing the foreword for the book The Alberta Elders' Cree Dictionary (1998) by Nancy LeClaire and George Cardinal. ( See also Indigenous Languages in Canada.)

Chalifoux served as an Elder at both the Nechi Institute: Centre of Indigenous Learning in Alberta and the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology.

Death and Legacy

Suffering from failing health, Chalifoux died at the age of 88 at a care home in St. Albert, Alberta. She is remembered as a trailblazer for her work in Métis communities and for her support of Indigenous and women's rights in Canada.

The Senator Thelma Chalifoux Award, presented annually by the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology since 2000 to individuals or organizations outside of the institute that have consistently demonstrated a commitment to Indigenous student success, honours Chalifoux's political leadership and community work.

In June 2018, the University of Alberta announced that a residence building would be named after Chalifoux. Thelma Chalifoux Hall will house 520 students starting in Fall 2018.

Honours and Awards

Aboriginal Achievement Award, now Indspire Award (1994). (Chalifoux was the first Métis woman to receive this award).

Honorary Doctorate, University of Toronto (2004). (Awarded for her advocacy work.)

Métis National Council Lifetime Achievement Award (2014).

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
NAIT Metis elder, retired Sen. Thelma Chalifoux, at the Michif Cultural and Resources Institute in St. Albert. May 11, 2009. ("Thelma Chalifoux" by N A I T is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0) Chalifoux was born to Helene (née Ingwersen) and Paul Villeneuve in 1929.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Métis activist and retired senator Thelma Chalifoux has died.

Chalifoux's daughter, Debbie Coulter, says her mother passed away Friday evening at a care home in St. Albert, near Edmonton, and had been in declining health for some years. She was 88.

Chalifoux was appointed to the upper chamber in 1997 and served until she retired at age 75 in 2004.

Chalifoux was born in Calgary in 1929 and noted when she was named to the Senate that she raised seven children, so she was used to hard work.

She began working in community development when she was offered a job by the Métis Association of Alberta, and she later served as chairwoman of the Métis National Council Senate and vice-president of the Aboriginal Women's Business Development Corporation.

She was also the first Métis woman on the Senate of the University of Alberta.

"We spent the last couple of days in her room surrounding her with love, music and stories," Coulter said Sunday, noting that children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren were present during that time.

"We like to think that she could still hear us."

'It's like working in the trenches'

In her job with Alberta's Métis Association, Chalifoux was sent from the cities of south and central Alberta to the northern bush country of Slave Lake, where she was to spend the next 12 years.

Working with the Company of Young Canadians, a government agency that brought young workers in to help people in poor communities organize to improve their lot, she began fighting for better conditions for her people, especially better housing.

She modelled her work on the writings of Saul Alinsky, who wrote about community development in black neighbourhoods in American cities.

"When you develop communities, it's like working in the trenches. You train the people to become self-sufficient," Chalifoux told The Canadian Press in an interview in 1997.

Radio pioneer

Along the way, she became one of the first Indigenous women to broadcast on private radio, Peace River's CKYL.

She received a National Aboriginal Achievement Award in 1994.

During her time as senator she appointed a task force to consult with Edmonton's Indigenous community about violent Indigenous youth gangs, and argued for better education and partnerships between the community, police and other Canadians.

She also challenged a claim by then-Alberta premier Ralph Klein that she should have been elected to the post, noting she could have won an election.

Chalifoux said she wouldn't have a chance because she was a woman, Métis and didn't have the finances for a campaign.

After leaving the Senate, Coulter said her mother founded an organization to preserve and protect the Métis history in northern Alberta, called the Michif Institute. Coulter and her sister took it over when their mother became ill, and a version of it continues today.

"There's a saying that nobody wants on their grave that they wish they would have worked more. We were laughing about that the other day and we thought, well, except for my mother. She might have said that," Coulter said.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Thelma Chalifoux, former senator and Métis activist, dies in Alberta at 88 | CBC News

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Métis activist and retired senator Thelma Chalifoux has died. Chalifoux's daughter, Debbie Coulter, says her mother passed away Friday evening at a care home in St. Albert, near Edmonton, and had been in declining health for some years. She was 88.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Thelma Villeneuve Chalifoux was born in a blizzard in Calgary in 1929 and was told by her father that it meant she would be strong and independent. In her work and in her life, she has lived up to her father's words, whether by fleeing her abusive husband with her small children when she was in her 20s, or by speaking passionately about Aboriginal women's issues in Canada's Senate, where she was appointed in 1997 by Prime Minister Jean Chrétien as Canada's first Métis and Aboriginal woman senator.

"I won't back down and people know that," Chalifoux said in a 2005 article by Shannon Sutherland in Alberta Venture magazine. "I used to run down the halls in the House of Commons when I had an issue and literally chase people down, shouting after them. They knew they couldn't get away from me."

She didn't back down when she found herself a single mother with seven children in the 1960s. With a grade nine education, she returned to school and work, and eventually enrolled in classes at what was then Lethbridge Junior College in 1968. Two of her sons, Bob and Scott, who were 19 and 18 at the time, joined her as students on campus. "It was a real mother-son experience," Bob Coulter says with a laugh. "We were all part of the yearbook committee, and all enrolled in a humanities class taught by Mr. Schmidt. We loved him. He was a great teacher and a really very open-minded guy. He really got us thinking about governments and social responsibility and having a social conscience." Coulter says the lessons Mr. Schmidt taught in that Lethbridge College classroom stayed with all three throughout their lives.

"He was a little known but huge influence on mom and the rest of us," Coulter says. "He could back up philosophical arguments and that was important. At our house, if you didn't have a point of view at the dinner table you were in peril. You had to defend your position. And so we talked about social responsibility and what we were learning in the classroom in the context of the Aboriginal community and the Métis. When you extrapolate that out, what a huge difference he made, not only in our lives but in the lives of thousands of people in Mom's case."

Coulter says the Lethbridge College campus seemed very open to First Nations and Métis students during this time, even though it was less than a decade after Aboriginal peoples were given the right to vote in Canada without having to give up any treaty rights in exchange.

"The college faculty was accepting," he recalls. "It was all about ideas - the exchange of ideas. If you had a point of view you were heard and acknowledged. You weren't told you were wrong because of your colour or racial background, but you did have to defend your ideas based on your intellect and your mind."

After two semesters, Chalifoux became ill with pancreatitis, so she and her family returned to northern Alberta. She went on to study at other post-secondary institutions and became the first Aboriginal woman to broadcast on commercial radio on CKXL Radio Peace River. She later spent time as a land claims negotiator, a social activist in the community development movement with the Company of Young Canadians, a social worker, an educator, and a founder of the Slave Lake Native Friendship Centre.

"She's been a big influence in all of our lives," says her daughter Sharon Morin, who works at the Michif Cultural and Research Institute in St. Albert that Chalifoux helped to found after leaving the Senate. "We all strive to be like her in some aspect."

One of her son's favorite stories to tell is about her work advocating for the Cree language, and in particular the time when Chalifoux received the call from Prime Minister Chrétien to formally invite her to join the upper chamber.

"I was in the room with her when the call came," Coulter says. "The prime minister said 'We need you in the Senate,' and then he asked if she spoke French. She replied 'No' - in Cree. They both laughed." The family was sworn to secrecy for several days before the prime minister made his announcement, and Coulter says they spent that time "talking about how this could happen, that this little Métis gal who struggled as a single mom could be named to the Senate."

Chalifoux's work in the Senate from 1997 until her mandatory retirement in 2004 at the age of 75 is still vividly recalled by her colleagues.

"Thelma Chalifoux was such a wonderful presence of wisdom and generosity and warmth and good cheer," says Sen. Joan Fraser of Quebec. "She was in many, many ways a role model, particularly for the women in the Senate. She helped to deepen my understanding of Aboriginal issues significantly." Sen. Fraser was sorry to see Sen. Chalifoux retire. "She taught me many things about being a good person - and she taught me something about the Senate as well," says Sen. Fraser. "I remember she said to me one day 'Senators are Elders,' and she of course herself is a Métis Elder. What a beautiful way to sum up what we do."

Senator Maria Chaput of Manitoba agreed that Chalifoux was an outstanding advocate for Aboriginal and Métis issues. "Thelma cared very much about Aboriginal issues and she always spoke in the Senate about what needed to be changed for the best of her people," says Sen. Chaput. "She was always diplomatic and collaborated with her colleagues and tried to change things for her community and her people. She had the respect of her colleagues, even though they might not have agreed with her. Some of her colleagues maybe needed to know more about the reality facing many Aboriginal people and especially women. She wasn't scared to speak, and she wasn't scared to work."

Sen. Pana Merchant from Saskatchewan vividly recalls a speech Sen. Chalifoux delivered in the Senate to bring attention to the particular challenges of Aboriginal women residing in northern Canada.

"Aboriginal women continue to face enormous barriers when seeking to solve their problems by way of accessing fairness and access to services in remote parts of our nation, a task that most women take for granted in southern Canada," Sen. Merchant says. "It was my pleasure to work with her and learn from her. Her early life experiences became the forceful backdrop to a long and distinguished public career culminating in being summoned to the Senate of Canada. On her arrival in Canada's upper chamber of parliament she brought her passion of purpose that had been accumulated by her championing of many urgent and noble causes."

Sen. Mobina Jaffer of British Columbia, who is Canada's first Muslim senator, first African-born senator, and first senator of South Asian descent, says Sen. Chalifoux accomplished much as Canada's first Métis woman senator. "Sen. Chalifoux changed the way the Senate looked at issues," says Sen. Jaffer. "She brought the reality of Métis and Aboriginal issues to the Senate, especially about women. She never said no to taking on any challenge. She showed me what inner strength was all about."

While Lethbridge College's Métis Elder Rod McLeod (Child and Youth Care 2003) never met Chalifoux personally, he is familiar and appreciative of her work.

"Sen. Chalifoux is someone we can all look up to," McLeod says. "She raised a family of seven, went through so many hardships and did so much good work. She is a role model for all of us."

After leaving the Senate, where Chalifoux worked closely with her children Bob and Debbie, she gave her time to the Michif Cultural Centre with her daughter Sharon, and was an Elder at NAIT and for the Canadian Armed Forces Edmonton Garrison. She remained an ardent advocate for Métis, Aboriginal and women's issues as well as a loving mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, although in recent years, her son says, she has been struggling with memory loss. "Now I bring my pictures and we just start talking about the good old days and all of the stories," Bob Coulter says.

Over the years, the Honourable Thelma Chalifoux has been called a force, a firecracker and a voice for the underprivileged - including during her days as a student at Lethbridge College. But above all, she has been a bold leader whose legacy still flourishes in the province and through the country.

"Sen. Thelma Chalifoux gave us a wake-up call about the reality of Aboriginal and Métis people, and women especially," says Sen. Jaffer. "Her work continues now with other senators but she really opened our minds. She absolutely was a trailblazer, but more than that, she set a fire here. She made us wake up and see we have to be more responsible for all people. She taught us that it doesn't matter how much you have - there is always more to give."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Passion and purpose: Thelma Chalifoux changed, challenged and 'set a fire' in the Canadian Senate | BE READY

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Thelma Villeneuve Chalifoux was born in a blizzard in Calgary in 1929 and was told by her father that it meant she would be strong and independent.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
by Clint Buehler

EDMONTON - Thelma Chalifoux, a high-profile member of Alberta's Metis and Indigenous community and once a Canadian senator died with friends and family at her bedside on September 22, 2017. She was 88 years old.

I had the pleasure and privilege of having Thelma as my friend, and as a colleague on many projects and initiatives over the years, beginning in 1971. So this is an eulogy as much as it is an obituary.

Thelma was born in Calgary in 1930 to Paul and Helen Villeneuve, who instilled in her their pride in their Metis heritage, and the importance in life of being of service to others.

After leaving an abusive marriage in the 1950s, she went back to school to study sociology at Lethbridge Community College and construction estimating at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology, while working to support her seven children.

She became a newspaper journalist and broadcaster in Peace River, where she more firmly established her dedication to exposing and alleviating the plight of the less fortunate, especially Indigenous people. She was the first full-time Metis woman staff announcer, first Metis woman to serve on the Senate of the University of Alberta.

Her activism assumed a new formality when she became one of the fledgling Company of Young Canadians' (CYC) first fieldworkers, Canada's version of the Peace Corps in the U.S., and charged with promoting and assisting activism at the community level.

As Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau launched his vision of a Just Society, and put the funding in place to make it a reality. the early 1970s was a time of unprecedented encouragement and financial support for Native controlled (via societies with Native board control) initiatives all responsive to the issues Thelma had been urging for years: including friendship centres, Native courtworkers, addictions treatment, communications, housing. education and training, economic development, Women's issues and political representation organizations.

Thelma took an active interest in all of them, sometimes as board member or staff, and sometimes behind the scenes. Whatever her role, she did her part to ensure these new entities had the best vision and did the best job possible.

A major focus of Thelma's attention was the organization representing the political activities of the Metis, the Metis Nation of Alberta and the Metis National Council. But not as an elected representative. As an appointed Metis Senator removed from the often intense battles over policy and priorities, Thelma and her Metis Senate colleagues were free to provide the benefit of their wisdom and experience without political influence.

She would take that same attitude and approach with her when she was appointed to the Canadian Senate by then Prime Minister Jean Chretien, the first Metis and the first Indigenous woman appointed to that post. In the Senate, while Indigenous issue were certainly a priority, she also served on numerous other committees.

Since mandatory retirement from the Senate in 2004 when she turned 75, Thelma has focused on the Michif Cultural Institute in St. Albert while dealing with lifetime health issues that had grown more severe as she aged.

Thelma Chalifoux made a positive contribution to country, to the province and to the Metis community. She will be remembered well as a Metis role model and a lifetime activist.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Thelma Chalifoux was a Metis role model and lifetime activist - Alberta Native News

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
by Clint Buehler EDMONTON - Thelma Chalifoux, a high-profile member of Alberta's Metis and Indigenous community and once a Canadian senator died with friends and...

# data[].attributes.body
employee of a government agency called Company of Young Canadians (youth-led government-backed change that harboured several other political activists, later abolished due to controversies)

appointed to senate thanks to PM Jean Chretien (on Nov 26, 1997)

first indigenous woman and fourth indigenous person to serve in the senate

focused on Metis housing, drug relations to the government and environmental legislation

# data[].attributes.body
before the abolition, she worked to make community development initiatives in northern areas + improve housing conditions

worked to assist women struggling with alcoholism and domestic abuse at (SLFC)

Started her career as a field worker focused on welfare and land dep. with the Metis Association of Alberta (MAA)

At the (MAA) she aimed to make shelter + food affordable + better welfare grants traveling over Alberta to do so for 12 years

# data[].attributes.body
taught Cree in northern schools

founded the Slave Lake Friendship Centre (SLFC) Aboriginal Womens Business Development Corporation (AWBDC) and the Metis Womens Council (MWC) all in support of fixing Indigenous and Metis issues

produced programming that focused on Metis culture and history

this made her the first Metis woman to broadcast on a private radio

# data[].attributes.body
Helped found SLFC for Indigenous women

Had her own radio show, fought in a movement for land claims

# data[].attributes.body
"a key backroom strategist for Metis during constitutional talks in Ottawa"

worked on Indigenous housing issues (in Edmonton)

# data[].attributes.body
Jean Chretien (PM at the time) offered senator position, Chalifoux served until 2004, retiring at 75 as per requirement

“She was a change agent extraordinaire and her Senate colleagues said she taught them to be better senators,”

“She made them aware of the Aboriginal issues that needed to be addressed at the federal level.”

Even paid for her own constituency office in Alberta due to lack of liberal representation

# data[].attributes.headline
"When you develop communities, it's like working in the trenches. You train the people to become self-sufficient,"

# data[].attributes.subject
"When you develop communities, it's like working in the trenches. You train the people to become self-sufficient,"

# data[].attributes.headline
"There's a saying that nobody wants on their grave that they wish they would have worked more. We were laughing about that the other day and we thought, well, except for my mother. She might have said that," 

# data[].attributes.subject
"There's a saying that nobody wants on their grave that they wish they would have worked more. We were laughing about that the other day and we thought, well, except for my mother. She might have said that," 

# data[].attributes.body
Not only did she teach youth, become a senator, fight for Indigenous + women + land rights, and break boundaries and records, but she also brought a perspective on the high levels of government needed and also in every other workplace she entered. She was a role model for all her peers, and every article has quotes in admiration, acknowledging her influence on the people in their industries today. Her devotion and drive to work for the people is truly remarkable. So, while Chalifoux made significant physical changes throughout her life through her policies and organizational contributions, her ability to open people's eyes and minds has stayed with them. Chalifoux was and continues to be an influential member of Canada's government.