(Ottawa) Several key social and economic indicators, ranging from household income to access to internet services, are improving among registered members of the First Nations, according to a Statistics Canada report.
The federal agency has looked into the situation of First Nations people living on and off reserves in areas such as education, housing and employment.
The report, produced in collaboration with the Assembly of First Nations and released Wednesday, reveals several examples of significant progress.
The analysis also looked at how this progress compares to results obtained in non-Indigenous populations.
Comparing the 2016 and 2021 censuses, Statistics Canada observed that high school completion rates have increased significantly since 2016, both for First Nations members on reserves and for those residing off reserves.
About 41.9% of registered First Nations people aged 18 to 24 living on reserve completed high school in 2016, but this figure increased to 52.2% in 2021. For those off reserve, the figure increased from 68.4 to 73.3% during the same period.
Graduation rates for non-Natives in the same age range were 87.7% in 2016 and 89.6% in 2021.
The report indicates that nearly 60% of First Nations people aged 25 to 64 living on reserves have a high school diploma or higher, compared to 78.2% of those living off reserves. reserves.
The proportion of people living in low-income households has also declined since 2015, which Statistics Canada attributes to increased government transfers in 2020, which included relief measures related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
About 46.7% of First Nations people living on reserves were in low-income households in 2015, compared to 13.6% of non-Indigenous people. Nearly 30% of off-reserve First Nations members belonged to low-income households.
By 2021, however, these statistics had all fallen, with the figures falling to 31.3% for registered First Nations people, 19.8% for people living off-reserve, and 10.7% for non-Indigenous residents.
The federal agency also recorded an increase in the number of Indigenous communities with access to high-speed internet.
Nearly half of on-reserve households had access to broadband services in 2019, a sharp increase from 32.3% a year earlier.
Despite progress in several areas, Statistics Canada found that registered First Nations people aged 15 or older were more likely to report their mental health as fair or poor than non-Indigenous people, with these numbers increasing respectively at 18.9% and 11.3% in 2018.
Registered First Nations people were also more likely to report experiencing homelessness in 2018: 9.7% compared to 1.9% for non-Indigenous people.
And children remain vastly overrepresented in the child welfare system.
In 2021, Statistics Canada reported that 9,440 First Nations children under the age of 15 were placed in foster care. More than one in three children in care were from the First Nations, although they represent only 3.5% of the total population under 15 years old.