Public Policy and Aboriginal Peoples in Canada: Taking a ... · Jennifer McWhirter Canadian Public Policy, Volume 37, Supplement, April/avril 2011, pp. ... Life course, Aboriginal

Public Policy and Aboriginal Peoples in Canada: Taking a Life-CoursePerspective

Martin CookeJennifer McWhirter

Canadian Public Policy, Volume 37, Supplement, April/avril 2011, pp.S15-S31 (Article)

Published by University of Toronto PressDOI: 10.1353/cpp.2011.0006

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Public Policy and Aboriginal Peoples in Canada: Taking a Life-Course Perspective S15

Canadian PubliC PoliCy – analyse de Politiques, vol. xxxvii, suPPlement/numéro sPéCial 2011

Public Policy and Aboriginal Peoples in Canada: Taking a Life-Course Perspectivemartin CookeDepartment of Sociology and Legal Studies, and Department of Health Studies and Gerontology University of Waterloo, OntarioJennifer mCWhirterDepartment of Health Studies and Gerontology University of Waterloo, Ontario

L’étatdesantéet lesconditionssocialesdesPremièresnations,desInuitsetdesMétisauCanadaresteunequestiondepolitiquessocialespréoccupante.Certainschercheursontproposél’approchedesparcoursdeviecommecadred’analysepourlaconceptiondepolitiquesquifavoriseraientl’inclusionsocialedespeuplesautochtones.Danscetarticle,toutenexpliquantquenoussommesd’accordaveccettedémarche,noussoutenonsquelecadred’analysedoitaussiprendreencomptelasituationparticulièredespeuplesautochtonesenmatièredepolitiquessociales.Nousillustronsnotreproposendonnantquelquesexemplesquenousavonsélaborésàpartirdesdonnéesdel’Enquêteauprèsdespeuplesautochtonesde2001.

Mots clés : parcoursdevie,peuplesautochtones,Canada,politiquessociales

ThehealthandsocialconditionsofFirstNations, Inuit,andMétispeoples inCanada remain importantpolicyconcerns.ThelifecoursehasbeenproposedbysomeasaframeworkforanalysisthatcouldassistinthedevelopmentofpoliciesthatwouldimprovetheeconomicandsocialinclusionofAboriginalpeoples.Inthispaperwesupportthegoalofapplyingalife-courseperspectivetopoliciesrelatedtoAboriginalpeoplesbutsuggestthattheframeworkneedstoconsidertheuniquerelationshipbetweenAboriginalpeoplesandpublicpolicies.Weprovidesomeillustrationsusingdatafromthe2001AboriginalPeoplesSurvey.

Keywords: Lifecourse,Aboriginalpeoples,Canada,socialpolicy

introduCtion

ThesocialandeconomicinclusionofIndigenouspeoplesisamajorandongoingpolicyconcern

inCanada.Asiswellknown,thedescendentsoftheoriginalpopulationsofNorthAmericacontinuetoexperiencehealth,economic,andsocialconditions

that are, on average, much worse than those oftheir fellow citizens.These conditions have beenresistanttochangedespiteaconsiderableamountofresearchattentionandsomemajorchangesinthelegalrelationshipsbetweenFirstNations,Inuit,andMétis peoples and theCanadian state.Moreover,therearenowreasons tobelieve thatsomeof the

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S16 Martin Cooke and Jennifer McWhirter


gaps betweenAboriginal populations and otherCanadians may have widened, not narrowed, inrecentyears(CookeandGuimond2009;GuimondandCooke2008),somethingthatshouldbeaseriousconcerntoCanadianandAboriginalgovernments.

One perspective that may help us understandthese continuing disparities, and point to policyoptionstoaddressthem,isthelifecourse.Sincetheearly1990s,thelifecoursehasbecomeanincreas-inglyimportantframeworkforresearchinavarietyofdisciplinesandresearchareas,includingsociol-ogy, social psychology, aging and gerontology,criminology,healthandepidemiology,andothers.Its popularity among analysts can be attributedpartlytotheincreasingavailabilityoflongitudinaldata and analysis techniques and to demographicandsocialchanges,suchaspopulationaging,thathavefocusedattentiononhoweventsinearlierlifecanaffectwell-beinginlaterlife.

Oneoftheimportantthemesoflife-courseresearchhas been uncovering the interrelationships betweenindividual lives and various types of social policy.Life-course frameworks have been used to providecritical perspectives on particular social policies(Marshall2009;MarshallandMcMullin2010).MorethantheirNorthAmericancounterparts,Europeanre-searchershavefocusedattentiononhowsocialpolicyinstitutionalizesparticularlife-coursepatterns.Afterall,socialandeconomicpoliciesformacriticalpartofthecontextinwhichwelive,andithasbeenpointedoutthatthestandard“tripartite”workinglifecoursehaslargelybeenthecreationofeducation,socialinsur-ance,andpensionspolicies(Kohli1986).

More recently, the lifecoursehasbecomea lensthroughwhichtoviewthedevelopmentofpolicy,inadditiontoimprovingourunderstandingofhowpoli-ciesaffectlives.InCanadathishasmainlytakenplacethrough thework of the PolicyResearch Initiative(PRI)intheearly2000s(Marshall2009;MarshallandMcMullin2010).ItwasproposedthatthePRI’slife-courseframework,alongwithsomeadvancedanalytic

methods,wouldhelppolicyanalystsunderstandtheflows of resources between individuals,markets,families,andotherinstitutions,acrossthelifecourse(PolicyResearchInitiative2004).Thiswouldfacilitatethedevelopmentofpoliciestoaddressvarioussocial,economic,anddemographicconcerns,includingen-couraginglongerworkinglifeandhigherlabourforceparticipationatolderages(PolicyResearchInitiative2005).Aswell, itwas proposed that this approachtopolicycouldhelptopromotesocialinclusionandlabour force participation, especially among threeidentifiablegroupsinCanadiansociety:lonemothers,recent immigrants and, notably,Aboriginal peoples(Hicks2006).

In this paper we support the proposal that alife-course approachmay help us understand theongoinginequalityfacedbyAboriginalpeoplesinCanada, and that it can improve our purchase onhowAboriginalconditionsmaybeaffectedbysocialpolicy.However,wearguethatthereareimportantanduniqueconsiderationsinapplyingalife-courseapproach toAboriginal inequality in Canada, inadditiontotheevidencethatAboriginallivesdifferfromthoseofotherCanadiansintermsofthetimingandexperienceofvariouseventsandtransitions.

Oneisthatpolicyapproachesmustconsiderthepossibility that differencesbetween the lifepathsofAboriginalpeoplesandotherCanadiansmaynotbeadequatelysupportedby“mainstream”policiesandinstitutions.SomeofthedisadvantagefacedbyAboriginalpeoplesmaybeattributabletothislackofcorrespondencebetweenthelifepatternsimplicitinmainstreampoliciesandthosegeneratedbyeitherculturaldifferenceorthesocialandeconomiccondi-tionsofAboriginalpeoples.

Aswell,aframeworkmustrecognizethatAborig-inalpeopleshavebeensubjecttodifferentpoliciesfrom the rest of the Canadian population, withpotential implicationsfor life-coursepatterns.Weillustratesomeofthisthroughanalysisofthe2001AboriginalPeoplesSurvey(APS)andthelife-course




predictorsofgoodhealthoradequateincomeinlaterlife.Although a cross-sectional survey, theAPSincludesanumberofitemsthatcanbeinterpretedas providing information about conditions earlierin life, andwhichmay affectwell-being at olderages.Weconcludewithsuggestionsforfutureap-plicationsofthisperspectivetoAboriginalissues.

baCkGround: ChanGinG outComes, ChanGinG demoGraPhy, and ChanGinG Contexts

Thewell-beingofAboriginal peoples is rightly amajorpolicytopicinCanada.Recentresearchintowhetherthesocial,economic,andhealthconditionsofAboriginal populations have been improvinghave foundwhat is amixed picture at best. Thiscontinuinginequalitymustalsobeconsideredwithinacontextofchangingdemography,andachanginglegalandpolicycontext.Aswetrytoarguebelow,thereareseveral reasons that thesecircumstancessuggestthatalife-courseperspectivemaybeusefulbothforunderstandingcontinuinginequalityinthecontextofchange,andfordevelopingappropriatepolicyapproaches.

Thepersistent inequality of outcomesbetweenAboriginal peoples and Canadians has been thetopic of a considerable amount of research, in anumber of disciplines, overmany years. Indeed,the low social and economic status ofAboriginalpeoples was one of the major findings of JohnPorter’s seminal work on Canadian social strati-fication,The Vertical Mosaic (Porter 1965). TheRoyalCommissiononAboriginalPeoples(RCAP)commissionedanenormousamountofresearchintheearly1990s,andreportedonthepoorsocialandhealthconditionsofFirstNations,Inuit,andMétisinallpartsofthecountry:incities,ruralareas,andAboriginal communities. Challenges reported bytheRCAPandothersincludedinadequatehousing,highratesofcrimeandvictimization,loweducation(e.g.,Whiteetal.2009),poorhealth(e.g.,Waldram,

Herring,andYoung2006),andotherongoingsocialandeconomicproblems,manyofwhichcontinuetoexist(AssemblyofFirstNations2006).

Previous research has attempted to measurewhethercertainaspectsofthewell-beingofAborig-inalpopulationshave improved in recentdecades(seeWhite, Beavon, and Spence 2008).As onewouldhope and expect, these analyseshavegen-erally found improvements in thehealth, income,and educational attainment ofAboriginal popula-tionssincethe1980s.Forexample,theproportionof Status First Nations1 people with high schoolor some post-secondary education has increasedrapidly, as has life expectancy (Cooke, Beavon,andMcHardy 2004; Cooke andGuimond 2009).ExaminingFirstNationscommunities,O’Sullivanetal.(2006)foundageneralimprovementinhous-ingstock,averageeducation,averageincome,andemploymentandlabourforceparticipationbetween1981 and 2001. Using a similar methodology,Sénécaletal.(2008)foundimprovementinthewell-beingofInuitcommunitiesbetween1991and2001.

Butatthesametimeastherehavebeenimprove-ments on some outcomes, there have been otherindications that differences betweenAboriginalpopulations and other Canadiansmay have beengrowinginrecentyears.Averageindividualincomefor Status First Nations increased between 1981and1996,butthelastdecadehasseenoverallFirstNationsincomeremainnearlyconstant,while theaverageincomeofotherCanadianshasrisen(Cookeand Guimond 2009). Similarly, Clement (2008)hasexaminedtheuniversityattainmentofsucces-sivecohortsofStatusFirstNations,andfoundthattherehasbeenverylittleincreaseintheproportionwith university degrees, resulting in a wideninggapwithotherCanadians.Althoughoverallhouse-holdincomehasincreased,theaverageincomeofhouseholdswithStatusFirstNationsyouthdidnotincreaseappreciablybetween1980and2000(Gui-mond and Cooke 2008).Wilkins and colleagues(2008), using an ecological approach to estimate




lifeexpectancyinInuit-inhabitedareasofQuebec,foundthatlifeexpectancymayhavefallenslightlybetweenthe1990sand2000s.

Thislackofrelativeprogressonsomemeasures,andthelackofabsoluteimprovementonothers,isworrying.The possibility that inequality betweenAboriginal populations and other Canadiansmaybewidening raises important questions about thepolicies thatmight prevent the social, economic,and sometimes physical exclusion ofAboriginalpeoples from continuing.Moreover, these social,economic,andhealthoutcomesmustbeconsideredinthecontextofsomeotherdemographicandsocialchangesthatprovidefurtherreasonsforalife-courseapproach.OneistheagingofAboriginalpopulations.Although still demographically younger than theCanadianpopulation,Aboriginalpeopleshavebeenaffectedbyfallingfertilityandmortality,andarela-tivelylargeAboriginalbaby-boomcohortisslowlymoving into older adult ages (Statistics Canada2003a).This aging suggests questionswith regardtotheadequacyofpensionsandincomeprovisionatolderages,healthandservicesforolderpeople,aswellashowtheconditionsinolderagesareaffectedbyexperiencesandchoicesinyoungerages.Theseare,ofcourse,similartotheissuesthatgaveimpetusto life-course policy approaches in Europe.Otherimportant changes include the growth ofAborig-inalpopulationsinthecities,meaningthatyoungercohortsofAboriginalpeopleareincreasinglymorelikelytogrowupinurbancontextsthanwereprevi-ousgenerations(seeNewhouseandPeters2003).

Thesedemographicchangeshavebeenoccurringatthesametimeasdramaticchangestothepolicyandlegalcontext.Thesechangesaretoonumeroustoreviewhere,butimportantlegaldecisionssuchas theDelgamuuk’wandMarshalldecisionshavechanged the legal basis forAboriginal title andrights, and the 1982 inclusion ofMétis rights intheConstitution Actandthe2003PowleydecisionhavechangedtherelationshipbetweenMétispeopleandtheCanadianstate.The1985Amendment to the Indian Act(BillC-31)changedthedefinitionofwho

iseligibleforIndian Actregistrationor“status,”andtheCorbieredecisionchangedthedefinitionofwhocouldvoteinbandelections.Therehavealsobeenalargenumberofpolicychangessincethe1980s,includingdevolutionofcontrolovereducationandhealthservicestoFirstNations,andrecentchangestotherulesregardingmatrimonialrealproperty.

All of these social, demographic, and policychangesmeanthatnow-youngercohortsofAborig-inal peoples will experience key life transitions,including decisions to get married, to move, topursueeducation,andtotakeajob,inconsiderablydifferentcontextsthandidpreviousgenerations.Forthosewhoareconcernedabouttheconditionsthatthesecohortswillexperienceinadulthoodandolderadulthood,alife-courseapproachoffersanappropri-atelydynamicperspectiveonpolicyandinequality.

a life-Course aPProaCh to PoliCy and inequality

Asdescribedabove,thelifecourseisaperspectivethathasbecomepopularinanumberofsocialandhealthsciencedisciplines,foranumberofreasons.Itisnotatheoryitself,butratheraframeworkthatcan incorporate theoretical andempirical insightsfrom sociology and economics, psychology, ger-ontology,demography,andbiology(MarshallandMueller2003).Fundamentally, it isareminder toresearchers to consider lives as theyare lived: astrajectoriesthroughavarietyofage-relatedeventsandstatuses,ininterrelateddomainsofhealth,workandeducation,andfamilyevents,andinthecontextofthesocialandeconomicconditionsofaparticularplaceandtime.

There are several excellent sources for the in-tellectual history of the life course (seeMarshall2009),butoneoftheforemostproponentsofwhathasbeenseenas theAmericanversionof the lifecourse has beenGlenH. Elder, Jr. The shape oflife-course trajectories, which can be empiricallyobserved as the timing and experienceof various




events,isdescribedbyElder(1994)asaffectedbytheprocessescapturedinthecentralthemesoftheparadigm:historical time,thetiming of lives,linked lives,andhuman agency.

Thefirstthemeishistorical time,andtherecogni-tionthatsuccessivecohortsareborninto“differenthistoricalworldswiththeirconstraintsandoptions”(Elder1994,5).Furthermore,historicaleventsandconditionswill affect cohorts differently, as theireffectsareconditionedbytheageatwhichtheyareexperienced.Thesecondisthetiming of livesandthesocialmeaningofage.Ageisitselfanaspectofsocialstructure,carryingwithitsetsofnormativeexpectationsandroles.Moreover,theageatwhichvariouseventsareexperienced,and the timingofevents in relation to each other, can have criticalimplications for later experiences. Third is theconceptoflinked lives andtheunderstandingthatindividual trajectories and transitions are linkedtothoseofothersinanynumberofways,perhapsmostimportantlywithinfamilies.Moregenerally,linkedlivesreferstothewaysthatindividuals’so-cialworldsarelinkedandhowresourcesaresharedandtransferredinvariouswayswithinhouseholds,families, and communities, such that events thathappentoonememberaffectothers.Livesarealsolinked through relationships in the labourmarketandotherinstitutions.Thefourthaspectofthelife-course perspective is human agency, recognizingthat people actively shape their own lives in thecontextofvariousconstraintsandwith theaidofvariousresources.Thismayseemobvious,butitisoneofthecontributionsofthelife-courseparadigmthatitavoidswhatcanbetheoverlydeterministicapproachofsomestructuralperspectivesonpovertyandsocialexclusion,andemphasizesthepurposivedecisionsmadebyindividualsandcommunities.

From the longitudinal perspective of the lifecourse, previous events and decisions form thecontextoflaterones.Life-courseresearchershavetherefore invoked Robert K.Merton’s “MatthewEffect”todescribethephenomenonofpositivelife-courseexperiencesbegettingincreasinglypositive

transitions, and negative events tending tomakefuture transitionsmoredifficult.Themechanismsbywhichthisoccurscanbethoughtofintermsofstocksandflowsofthevariousformsofcapitaloverthe life course, including financial capital, healthcapital,socialcapital,andhumancapital.Negativeevents tend to draw down these resources, mak-ing future transitionsmore difficult.This idea ofcumulative advantage and disadvantage hasprovenusefulforexplainingvarioustypesofoutcomesinlaterlife(O’Rand1996).

An important theme inAmerican life-coursestudieshasbeengender,racial,andclassdifferencesinthetimingandexperienceofvariousevents,suchasmarriage,education,andchildbearing,andtheef-fectsofthesetrajectorydifferencesforconditionsinlaterlife.Racial/ethnic,class,andgenderinequalityareseenasoperatingoveralifetime.Thesedimen-sionsofinequalityresultin,andarereinforcedby,different life-course patterns depending on sociallocation. For example, women’s life courses, onthe whole, are characterized by different transi-tions in thedomainsof familyandwork thanaremen’s(MoenandHan2001).Thisisevidentinthegreaterconsequencesofchildbearingforwomen’semployment and income trajectories. Timing andexperienceofvariouseventscanalsocontributetothemaintenanceofclassandracial/ethnicinequal-ity.ElmanandO’Rand(2004)findthatthetimingof educational attainment, and the pattern of dis-advantagedgroups’latercompletionofschooling,contributes to reinforcing the lower earnings ofAfricanAmericans.Healthhasbeenan importantdomainofinterestinthisregard,withresearchersstudyinghowthehealthofolderpeopleisshapedbytheireconomicandsocialsituationsatyoungerages.Work in this vein has investigated how theeffectsoflowincomeandemploymentinsecurity,forexample,canresultinwidehealthdisparitiesatolderages (Willson,Shuey,andElder2007).Thelife course has also brought useful perspectivesonotherevents, suchas individual trajectoriesofinvolvement in crime and the factors that lead toprolongedinvolvement(SampsonandLaub2005).




Instudyinginequalityfromalife-courseperspec-tive,wemayexpectmanyeventsorconditionstohavesimilareffectsacrossgenderorrace/ethnicity.Lower education or later educational attainment,exposuretoviolence,oryoungchildbearinglikelyincrease social and economic risk nearly univer-sally, although these effects will bemediated bythe availability of other resources or supports.However, some events and transitionsmay havedifferent implications for later life depending onotherdimensionsofsociallocation,includingrace/ethnicity, class, or gender. For example,Willson(2003)findsthatamongAmericanwomenthelinksbetweenmarriageandincomesecurityaredifferentforAfrican-Americanandwhitewomen,meaningthat family transitionshavedifferent implicationsforincome,dependingonrace/ethnicity.Similarly,thelife-courseprocessesthroughadolescenceandyoungadulthoodthatshapedepressioninmenlaterin life have been found to differ by race (Mizell1999). These findings suggest that life-coursestudies of inequality need to understand both thegeneral characteristics of life courses that leadto disadvantage, and how race/ethnicity, class, orgendermay interact to create distinct life-coursepatternsanddynamics.

WhereasNorthAmerican life-course research-ershave largelyfocusedon individual life-coursetrajectories,Europeanresearchershavefocusedontheinstitutionalizationofthelifecourseasasetofnormativetransitions(Leisering2003).Particularlyimportantworkfromthelatterperspectivehasfo-cusedontheroleofwelfarestateprogramsinthisinstitutionalization (Kohli 1986; Settersten andMayer 1997).As Leisering and Leibfried (1999)put it,modernsocialpolicyis infact“life-coursepolicy,”andcanbethoughtofasprimarilyworkingbyaffecting the timingandexperienceofvariouslife-coursetransitions.

Thereareseveralaspectstotherelationshipbe-tweenwelfare stateprogramsand the life course.The first is that programs are often explicitly orimplicitly age-targeted. Education and retirement

pensionprogramsareobviouslyaimedatpeopleofparticular ages, but other programs are implicitlytargeted,insofarastheytendtohaveclientgroupsthat are at a particular stage in the life course.AlargeproportionofCanadiansocialassistancere-cipientsarewomenbetweentheagesof20and40,for example, and although theseprogramsdonotexplicitly focus on one age group, they aremorelikely to impact people at certain ages and life-coursestages,suchasyoungparenthood.Anotheraspect of this relationship is how social policies“canalize”lives,orpromoteinstitutionalizationofthelifecourse(Settersten2003).Forexample,pen-sionpoliciesnotonlyservepeopleinaparticularagerangebutalsoenforcearatherrigidtimingofretirement,bymeansoffinancialincentives.Otherpoliciescanalsobethoughtofashavingthese“can-alizing”effects.Studentloans,forexample,maybedifficulttoobtainforthosewhoalreadyhavelabourforceexperienceorwhohaveacquiredassets,suchasahouse,thusreinforcingpost-secondaryeduca-tion asmainly attainable in young adulthood andbeforefullentrancetothelabourmarket.

Researchquestionsfromthisinstitutionalizationtraditiontendtofocusontheroleofstateprogramsandpoliciesinshapingthelifecourse.Aswell,theypointourattentiontotheeffectsofpoliciesforthosewhoselifecoursesmaynotfollow“normative”orinstitutionalizedtimelines.Thisisoneoftheimport-antaspectsthatmustbeconsideredifwearetotakealife-courseperspectiveonAboriginalinequality.

PoliCy and the life Courses of aboriGinal PeoPles

Despite the large amount of research focusingonAboriginal inequality in NorthAmerica andelsewhere,andthegrowthinpopularityofthelifecourse as a research framework and as a tool forpolicy analysis, there has been very little workthat has explicitly combined the two to examinethelifecoursesofAboriginalpeoples.Thismaybepartlydue to a lackof longitudinaldata.Mostof




thesourcesofsurveydatainCanadadonotincludeenoughAboriginal peoples for detailed analyses,andtherearefewsourcesoflongitudinalprospectivepanel data currently available.As yet, there havebeen no serious attempts to apply a life-courseapproach toAboriginal research inAustralia, theUnitedStates,orNewZealand,thecountriesmostoften compared toCanada in termsofAboriginalwell-being, although oneAustralian study is cur-rentlycollectinglife-coursedataonanAboriginalbirthcohort(Sayersetal.2003).

Fromourperspective,therearethreeimportantconsiderationsthatshouldbepartofalife-courseframeworkforresearchorpolicydevelopmentre-latedtoAboriginalpeoples.Thefirstisthat,despitetheabsenceoflife-coursestudiesinthearea,thereiscertainlyevidencethatthelifecoursesofAboriginalpeoplesaredifferentfromthoseofotherCanadians,in terms of the timing and experience of variousevents inhealth, family,andworkandeducation.Althoughthereisnotthespacetothoroughlyreviewthemhere,differencesincludeamuchhigherriskof variousnegative experiences, such as a higherriskofpoverty,ofcrimeandvictimization,ofearlyschool-leaving,ofvariousnegativehealthevents,and so on. These different risks vary, naturally,with age, but may result in the accumulation ofdisadvantage across the life course.As the PRIframeworksuggests,alife-courseapproachtopolicymay help address the accumulation of deficits inhealth,financial,orhumancapital(PolicyResearchInitiative2004).

That much may be uncontroversial, but thesecondconnectionbetweenthelifecoursesofAb-originalpeoplesandpolicymaybemoredifficulttotranslateintoclearpolicyprescriptions.Manyofthelife-coursedifferencesbetweenAboriginalpeoplesandotherCanadiansthatcontributetodisadvantagemaynotinvolve“negative”transitionsoreventsperse,buthavenegativeoutcomesinaspecificcontext.In particular, some life-course differences ofAb-originalpeoplesmaynotbeinlinewiththeregular“institutionalized” life course, andmay interact

withpolicyinsuchawaythatthesetransitionsarepoorly supported or have negative implications.Loneparenthoodisanexampleofatransitionthatisnotwell-supportedbysocialpolicy,asevidencedbythehighratesofpovertyforloneparentfamilies,andahigherrateofloneparenthoodisonewayinwhich the life courses ofAboriginal peoples dif-ferfromthoseofotherCanadians.Likewise,highratesofmobilitybetweenAboriginalcommunitiesandother areasmight not bewell accommodatedbyvarioussocialpoliciesandinstitutions.Schoolsmaynotadequatelysupportchildrenwhosefamiliesarehighlymobile(Norrisetal.2004),withnega-tiveimplicationsforeducationalattainmentamongAboriginalstudents(AmanandUngerleider2008).Familyforms,fertilitydecisions,andotheraspectsofthelifecoursemaybestronglyrelatedtoculturalnorms,whilemobilitymayberelatedtotheuniquerelationshipbetweenAboriginalpeopleandplace.Lookingatpolicythroughalife-courselensshouldincludeconsideringhowpoliciesmayincorporatenormative“mainstream”ideasabouttimingofthelifecourse,andmaythereforecontributetosystemicdisadvantage if these ideasconflictwithdifferentcultural conceptions of the life course. This alsorequires understandingAboriginal conceptions ofageandage-gradedexpectations,inordertohigh-lighthowthesemayconflictwiththeassumptionsinherentinexistingpolicy.

Athirdconnectionbetweenthelife-coursedif-ferencesofAboriginalpeoplesandsocialpolicyisthat particular policies and legal institutionsmaybepartlyresponsibleforlife-coursedifferencesofAboriginalpeoples.Ifpolicyshouldberesponsivetothedifferencesinthetimingofkeylifeeventsandlife-coursetrajectoriesbetweenAboriginalpeoplesandotherCanadians,weshouldalsobesensitivetothefactthatAboriginalpeopleshavebeensubjecttodifferentpoliciesthanhaveotherCanadians,andthat these policiesmight result in differences inresourcesacrossthelifecourse.Oneoftheclearestexamplesofthisisthepolicyofresidentialschool-ing, which has been identified as having effectsnotonlyon thosewhoexperienced it but alsoon




subsequentgenerations(Bartonetal.2005).Thereare other important policies to consider, though.Thelegallegacyofcolonialinstitutions,includingtheIndian Act,hasmeant thatAboriginalpeoplesareoftenexposedtodifferenteducational,health,employment, and family policies than are otherCanadians.ThisisperhapsmostobviousinthecaseofRegisteredIndiansorInuitforwhomeducational,health,andsocialservicesareultimatelyprovidedbythefederalgovernmentratherthanbyprovincialgovernments(e.g.,HealthCanada2009).

Furthermore,theIndian Actestablishesrulesthatgovernotheraspectsoflife,suchasthedivisionofmatrimonial property after marital dissolution—rulesthathavebeenrecentlychanged.TheseruleshavebeenfoundtodisadvantageAboriginalwomen,includingmany living off-reserve (Abbott 2004).Other differences include the former restrictionson Canada/Quebec Pension Plan contributions ofincome earned on-reserve, potentially affectingthe resources of Registered Indians in retirement(Gyimah,White, andMaxim 2004). The Indian Act itself and the complex legal distinctions thatit and theC-31amendmenthavecreatedbetweencommunities and families (Clatworthy 2001) canbe thought of as a policy that shapes the lives ofAboriginalpeoples.Throughthelife-courseconceptof“linkedlives,”thesedifferencesinresourcesandlegalstatuspotentiallyaffectnotonlyindividuals,butalsofamiliesandcommunities.Althoughthesepoliciesmayhavebeenundertakentorectifypastdiscrimination and to provide communities withmorecontrol, theyarealsopartofa legal regimethataffectsthelivesofAboriginalpeoplesinwaysnotexperiencedbyotherCanadians.

some additional evidenCe: the 2001 aboriGinal PeoPles survey

Aswehavedescribed,oneofthebarrierstotakingalife-courseviewonAboriginalpolicyinCanadais a lack of truly longitudinal data. The variouslongitudinalsurveysconductedbyStatisticsCanada,

includingtheSurveyofLabourandIncomeDynam-ics, the National Population Health Survey, andothers,generallydonotsampleenoughAboriginalpeople formeaningful analyses.Likemostof thecross-sectionalsurveysavailablefromthatagency,on-reservepopulationsarealsorarelysampled.EventheFirstNationsRegionalLongitudinalHealthSur-vey(RHS),conductedexclusivelyinFirstNationscommunitiesandmaintainedundertheauspicesoftheAssembly of First Nations, has not producedlinked, longitudinal individual-level data of thetypethatmostlife-courseanalystswouldprefer.Butalthoughlongitudinalstudiesmaybetheidealforalife-courseanalysis,theyarenottheonlysourceof information thatmight be useful.Aswe haveargued elsewhere, many cross-sectional surveysinclude retrospective questions that can provideusefulinformationabouthowpreviouseventsandexperiencesaffectlaterconditionsinpeople’slives(CookeandGazso2009).Moreover,evenseeminglystaticcharacteristics,suchascurrenteducationormaritalstatus,canbethoughtofastheend-pointsof unobserved trajectories in these domains. Fornon-renewableeventslikethetransitionfromsingle-hoodtohavingeverbeenmarried,ortheattainmentofhighschool,weareaware thata transitionhastakenplace,althoughwemaynothaveinformationonitstiming.

Inthesectionbelow,weusesomeresultsfromananalysisofthe2001AboriginalPeoplesSurvey(APS)2toillustratesomeoftheseimportantaspectsofthelifecoursesofAboriginalpeoples.TheAPSisapost-censalsurveyofthepopulationthatself-identified asAboriginal in the 2001 census. TheAPSwasconductedoff-reserveand inAboriginalcommunities; Statistics Canada (2003b) does notconsider the data to be representative for the on-reservepopulation.

Although thesedataare limited in theirabilitytodescribethelifecourse,weusedindividualchar-acteristics, interpreted through a life-course lens,to predict “well-being”of those aged50or olderandlivingoff-reservein2001.Weoperationalized




“well-being” broadly, as having a higher level ofself-rated health, and as living in an economicfamily with an income above the Low IncomeMeasure(LIM)3in2000.Weestimatedanorderedlogisticregressionmodelofself-ratedhealth(1=poorthrough5=verygood)andabinarylogisticregressionmodel of living in a low-income eco-nomicfamilyin2000(1=economicfamilyincomebelowtheLIM,0=economicfamilyincomeabovetheLIM).

Ourstrategywas to includepredictors that,al-thoughmeasured cross-sectionally, gave us someinformation about previous life courses thatmayaffectwell-beingatolderages.Weincludedcontrolvariables for age, region of residence, and rural/urbanresidence.Independentvariablesofinterestweredividedintotwogroups.Thefirstwereaspectsofthelifecoursethatcouldbethoughtofasaffect-ing thewell-beingatolderagesofanyCanadian,although some of these characteristics or experi-encesaremorelikelytobepresentinthelivesofAboriginalpeople.Maritalstatuswasincludedasacategoricalvariableindicatingwhethertherespond-entwas currently living common-law,was singleandhadneverbeenmarried,orwasdivorced,separ-ated,orwidowed(combined).Asdescribedabove,thetrajectoriesofAboriginalpeopleinthedomainofmarriageandthefamilyaredifferentfromthoseofotherCanadians,intermsofhigherprobabilityofdivorceorseparationandlowerprobabilityofmar-riage,aswellasdifferenttimingsoftheseevents.Anotheraspectoffamilytrajectoriesisthenumberofchildren,andhigherfertilitymaybeanimportantaspectofthelifecourse.Educationalattainmentisalsoanimportantcharacteristicexpectedtoaffecthealthandincomeinolderadultages.

Aswellasthesecharacteristicsthatareexpectedto affect thewell-being of Canadians in general,theAPSallowedustoincludesomeaspectsofthelife course that are unique toAboriginal peoples.The ability to speak anAboriginal languagewasincludedas avery roughmeasure for the inherit-ance of aspects of traditionalAboriginal culture,

orperhaps as an indicatorofhavinggrownup inanAboriginalcommunity.Clearly,havingattendedanIndianresidentialschoolisanaspectofthelifecoursethatisuniquetoAboriginalpeoples,andwasexpected tobenegativelyrelated towell-beingatolderages,controllingfortheothervariables.Being registeredunder the Indian Act isalsoasituationunique toAboriginal peoples and, since the 1985amendments,nolongeridenticaltobeingamemberofanIndianBandorFirstNation.Thedistributionof these independentvariables isdescribed in theAppendix.

Table1presentstheresultsoftheorderedregres-sionmodelsofself-ratedhealth,separatelyformenandforwomen.Menwhowerecurrentlylivingincommon-lawrelationshipshadsignificantlyworseself-rated health than those who were currentlymarried,whilewomenwhowereincommon-lawre-lationshipshadsignificantlybetterself-ratedhealththanmarriedwomen.Althoughithadnosignificanteffectonmen’sself-ratedhealth,womenwhoweredivorced,separated,orwidowedweresignificantlymore likely tohave lowercategoriesofself-ratedhealth.Asmentionedabove,giventhehigherratesofbothdivorceandwidowhoodamongAboriginalwomen,compared tootherCanadianwomen, thismaybeevidenceofanimportantlife-coursediffer-encecontributingtooverallpatternsofinequality.

Education, as expected, had some effect onself-rated health,with bothmen andwomenwhohadlessthanhighschooleducationmorelikelytohave lower levelsof self-ratedhealth in later lifethanthosewithhighschool.Thosewithuniversitydegreesalsohadhigherlevelsofself-ratedhealththanthosewithhighschoolonly.Theseeffectswereindependentofanyeffectsoffamilyincome,whichalso had a positive effect on self-rated health formenandwomen.

As described above,marital status, education,andincomeareexpectedtohaveeffectsonhealthregardlessofAboriginalornon-Aboriginalidentity,althoughdivorceorwidowhood,loweducation,or




Table 1Ordered Logistic Regression Models Predicting Self-Rated Health Status, Aboriginal Men and Women 50 and Older Living Off-Reserve, 2001

Off-Reserve Men Off-Reserve Women

B Exp (B) SE (B) Pr >X2 B Exp (B) S.E. (B) Pr >X2

Intercept 5 –3.394 – 0.429 <.0001 –4.147 – 0.392 <.0001

Intercept 4 –2.028 – 0.427 <.0001 –2.737 – 0.389 <.0001

Intercept 3 –0.739 – 0.426 0.083 –1.423 – 0.388 0.000

Intercept 2 0.571 – 0.426 0.181 0.036 – 0.387 0.926

Age group (55–59 = ref ) 50–54 –0.103 0.902 0.080 0.197 0.283 1.327 0.076 0.000 60–64 –0.101 0.904 0.097 0.295 0.204 1.226 0.091 0.024 65–69 –0.174 0.841 0.107 0.106 0.111 1.118 0.108 0.304 70–74 –0.808 0.446 0.128 <.0001 0.079 1.082 0.125 0.527 75–79 –0.885 0.413 0.182 <.0001 0.425 1.530 0.158 0.007 80–84 –0.516 0.597 0.192 0.007 0.148 1.160 0.206 0.472 85+ –0.030 0.971 0.308 0.923 0.621 1.860 0.285 0.029

Region of residence (Ontario = ref ) Atlantic 0.225 1.252 0.125 0.071 0.411 1.508 0.130 0.002 Quebec 0.350 1.419 0.115 0.002 0.643 1.902 0.103 <.0001 Prairies –0.070 0.932 0.078 0.369 0.373 1.452 0.073 <.0001 British Columbia 0.136 1.145 0.091 0.135 0.533 1.704 0.089 <.0001 North 0.119 1.126 0.349 0.734 0.317 1.373 0.332 0.340 Rural –0.443 0.642 0.169 0.009 –0.806 0.447 0.178 <.0001 Arctic –0.443 0.642 0.169 0.009 –0.854 0.426 0.174 <.0001

Marital status (married = ref ) Common law –0.306 0.736 0.109 0.005 0.322 1.379 0.108 0.003 Divorced/sep/widowed 0.026 1.027 0.081 0.745 –0.311 0.733 0.071 <.0001 Single, never married –0.092 0.912 0.099 0.356 0.033 1.034 0.106 0.753

More than two children 0.014 1.014 0.036 0.703 0.034 1.035 0.036 0.340

Highest level of schooling (high school = ref ) Less than high school –0.483 0.617 0.101 <.0001 –0.691 0.501 0.092 <.0001 Some post-secondary 0.140 1.150 0.132 0.289 0.003 1.003 0.116 0.980 Non-university PSE –0.040 0.961 0.108 0.712 0.137 1.147 0.101 0.174 University degree 0.573 1.774 0.146 <.0001 0.537 1.712 0.137 <.0001

Log-family income 0.242 1.274 0.031 <.0001 0.247 1.280 0.028 <.0001

Aboriginal language –0.046 0.955 0.077 0.554 –0.395 0.674 0.072 <.0001

Residential school –0.269 0.764 0.109 0.014 –0.013 0.987 0.088 0.884

Registered Indian –0.006 0.994 0.095 0.953 0.114 1.121 0.107 0.286

Band membership 0.078 1.081 0.094 0.406 –0.226 0.798 0.105 0.032

N 3,117 3,548

–2LL 11143.819 12197.425

Notes: Variance estimated using Statistics Canada bootstrap weights.Source: 2001 Aboriginal Peoples Survey.




low incomearemore characteristic ofAboriginallife courses than those of otherCanadians.How-ever,theexperienceofresidentialschoolisuniquetoAboriginal peoples. Controlling for the othervariables,menwhohadattendedresidentialschoolhadsignificantlyworseself-ratedhealth,althoughtherewasnosignificanteffectforwomen.However,womenwhospokeanAboriginallanguagealsohadsignificantlyworseself-ratedhealth.

InTable2wepresentsimilarmodelsofthelike-lihoodoflivinginalow-incomeeconomicfamilyin 2000, predicted by a similar set of variables.In thismodelwe includeeconomic family status,as well as marital status.As expected, being anunattached individual or having never beenmar-riedsignificantlyincreasedtheprobabilitythatanAboriginalman orwoman 50 or older lived in alow-income economic family, compared to thosewhoweremarriedorpartnersinacouplefamily.Asinthepreviousmodels,beingdivorced,separated,orwidowedsignificantlyaffectedthewell-beingofolderAboriginalwomen,inthiscaseincreasingtheprobabilitythattheylivedinalow-incomefamily.Educationalsohadtheexpectedeffect,withthosewithlessthanhighschoolmorelikelytoliveinlowincomethanthosewithhighschool,andthosewithpost-secondaryeducationsignificantlylesslikely.

Forbothmenandwomen,thosewhocouldspeakanAboriginal language were significantly morelikelytoliveinalow-incomeeconomicfamilythanwere thosewho did not.Aswe suggested above,someoftheexplanationmaybethatthosespeakingAboriginallanguagesaremorelikelytohavemovedfromAboriginal or First Nations communities,perhaps recently. This may be supported by theevidencethatmenwhoweremembersofanIndianBandoraFirstNationwerealsosignificantlymorelikelytoliveinlowincome,althoughthiswasnotsignificantforwomen.

Aswith themodelpredictingself-ratedhealth,oldermenwhohadattendedresidentialschoolswere

significantlymorelikelytoliveinlow-incomeeco-nomicfamilies,whiletheeffectwasnotsignificantforwomen.

disCussion and ConClusions

The cross-sectional nature of theAPS data doesnot allow us to systematically investigate manyofthequestionsthatareimportanttoalife-courseperspective, such aswhether, andhow, disadvan-tagemay accumulate across the life course, howthe timing of various transitions and experiencesaffectslateroutcomes,andhowtrajectoriesinthedomainsofhealth,workandeducation,andfamilytransitionsmight interact. Nor can these data beusedtocomparetheexperiencesofcohorts,tohelpusunderstandhowthelivesofAboriginalpeopleshavechangedwithchanges in thesocialandeco-nomiccontext.

However, cross-sectional data like these canpointoutsomeaspectsofthelifecoursethatmaybeimportanttounderstandingtheongoinginequalityofAboriginalpeoples.Forexample,thecontinuedloweducationalattainmentofAboriginalpeoples,fortheoldercohortsrepresentedinour2001APSsample,hasimplicationsforhealthandtheriskofpovertyinlaterlife.Aswewouldexpect,someas-pectsofmaritalandfamilyhistoryhaveindependenteffectsonhealthandincomeadequacyatolderages,althoughthesedatadonotallowustoinvestigatethecomplexitiesoftrajectories.

Thesefindingsarenotsurprising,astheselife-coursepatternsarelikelyseen,althoughperhapstoalesserdegree,inthelivesofotherCanadians.TheAPSdatado,however,showthatsomeaspectsofthelifecoursethatareuniquetoAboriginalpeoplesmayhave some effect onwell-being in later life.Perhapsmost importantly,havingeverattendedaresidential school had independent and negativeeffects onmen’s education and economic familyincomeafterage50.




Table 2Logistic Regression Models of Low-Income Economic Family Status, Aboriginal Men and Women 50 and Older Living Off-Reserve, 2001

Off-Reserve Men Off-Reserve Women

B Exp (B) SE (B) Pr >X2 B Exp (B) SE (B) Pr >X2

Intercept 3.511 – 0.710 <.0001 2.949 – 0.485 <.0001

Age group (55–59 = ref ) 50–54 0.016 0.985 0.125 0.901 0.029 1.029 0.111 0.797 60–64 0.631 1.879 0.141 <.0001 0.558 0.572 0.137 <.0001 65–69 0.746 0.474 0.181 <.0001 0.987 0.373 0.161 <.0001 70–74 0.858 0.424 0.228 0.000 0.864 0.421 0.180 <.0001 75–79 0.857 0.424 0.315 0.007 1.477 0.228 0.230 <.0001 80–84 0.106 1.112 0.250 0.671 0.384 0.681 0.270 0.155 85+ 1.494 0.225 0.593 0.012 1.025 0.359 0.387 0.008

Region of residence (Ontario = ref ) Atlantic 0.543 1.722 0.199 0.006 0.859 2.361 0.185 <.0001 Quebec 0.748 2.112 0.173 <.0001 0.219 0.803 0.157 0.163 Prairies 0.405 1.499 0.127 0.001 0.229 1.257 0.110 0.037 British Columbia 0.285 1.330 0.144 0.048 0.183 1.201 0.129 0.156

Rural 0.065 1.067 0.100 0.518 0.075 0.928 0.100 0.453

Economic family status (partner in couple family = ref ) Unattached individual 1.402 4.064 0.662 0.034 1.534 4.636 0.444 0.001 Lone parent economic family 0.258 1.294 0.703 0.714 0.160 1.173 0.457 0.726 Child in economic family 1.031 0.357 0.776 0.184 1.269 0.281 0.786 0.107 Non-family person in household 0.356 0.700 0.668 0.594 0.015 1.015 0.443 0.973

Marital status (married = ref ) Common law 0.064 1.066 0.673 0.924 0.480 1.617 0.454 0.290 Divorced/separated/widowed 0.484 1.622 0.661 0.464 1.315 3.725 0.438 0.003 Single, never married 1.226 3.408 0.666 0.066 1.249 3.485 0.447 0.005

More than 2 children 0.152 1.164 0.059 0.010 0.025 1.026 0.065 0.695

Highest level of schooling (high school certificate = ref ) Less than high school 0.952 2.590 0.182 <.0001 0.459 1.582 0.135 0.001 Some PSE, no certificate 0.065 1.067 0.234 0.780 0.221 0.802 0.172 0.200 Non-university PSE 0.577 1.781 0.194 0.003 0.311 0.732 0.154 0.043 University degree 0.557 1.745 0.250 0.026 0.848 0.428 0.227 0.000

Speaks Aboriginal language 0.296 1.344 0.115 0.010 0.498 1.646 0.101 <.0001

Attended residential school 0.879 2.409 0.157 <.0001 0.179 1.196 0.124 0.150

Registered Indian 0.051 0.951 0.146 0.728 0.249 1.282 0.151 0.100

Band membership 0.300 1.349 0.147 0.041 0.017 1.017 0.155 0.915

N 3,117 3,548

–2LL 3012.260 3691.582

Notes: Variance estimated using Statistics Canada bootstrap weights.Source: 2001 Aboriginal Peoples Survey.




These findings can be connected to ourmainargumentswhichare,first,thatthelifecoursecanbeausefulperspectiveforunderstandingAboriginalinequality and its relation to policy and, second,that there are unique considerations for such anapplication. Taking a life-course perspective onAboriginal inequality requires attention to bothindividual trajectories and the roles of policy inshapinglives.Ontheonehand,thetrajectoriestakenbyAboriginalpeople,throughmarriageandfamily,health, andworkandeducation,maybedifferentfromthosetakenbyotherCanadians,andsomeofthesedifferencesmaycontributetothedifferencesin health and income ofAboriginal peoples andother Canadians. Lower educational attainment,for example, likely contributes a great deal topoorer outcomes. Following theNorthAmericanemphasisonindividualtrajectories, thisleadsourattentiontothevariouseffectsoftheselife-coursedifferences,includingthepossibilityofcumulativedisadvantage, the importanceof timingofevents,andtheinteractionsbetweeneventsinthedifferentlife-coursedomains.

However, the European focus on institutional-ization turnsourattention to the roleofpolicy inshapinglivesandreinforcingparticularlife-coursepatterns, and how some transitionsmay be nega-tiveintheireffectsprimarilybecausetheyarenotsufficiently supported by existing policies, notbecausetheyarenegativeinthemselves.ThelivesofAboriginal people are more likely to includefrequent mobility andmigration or lone parent-hood and, although there are not yet longitudinaldatatotestthis,theseexperiencesmaybehypoth-esizedtocontributetodisadvantageofAboriginalpeoplesinlaterlife.Lastly,therearesomeaspectsofAboriginallifecoursesthatareunique,suchastheexperienceofresidentialschooling,andwhicharethedirectresultofpolicy.Thesepoliciesmaycontribute to the systematic differences betweenAboriginalpeoplesandnon-AboriginalCanadians.

Oftheimplicationsofalife-courseperspectiveforpolicytowardAboriginalinequality,thefirstis

thatbetterdataareneededifwearetotrulyunder-stand,asthePRIframeworkproposes,howpolicycanprovidesupportsfortransitionsacrossthelifecourse.Thiswouldentailtheinclusionofsufficientsamples of First Nations, Inuit, andMétis in theexisting longitudinal studies conductedbyStatis-ticsCanadaandanyotherlong-termpanelstudiesthatmaybeconductedinthefuture.IncorporatingAboriginalconceptionsofageand the lifecourseintothispolicyresearchareawillalsobeimportant.Culturalideasregardingthestatusesandrolesoc-cupiedacrossthelifecourseandtheresourcesthatareavailabletohelpnegotiateorfacilitatevarioustransitionsmaybedifferentforAboriginalpeoplesandnon-AboriginalCanadians.Anyapplicationofalife-courseframeworkshouldthereforebeinformedbytheknowledgeofAboriginalpeoplesthemselvesaboutthemeaningofvariouslife-coursetransitionsand the resources, from family and communities,markets, and institutions, that are important forthosetransitions.

Beyond the need for better data, a life-courseapproachmayhelppointpolicy-makerstotheim-portanceofearliereventsforlateroutcomes.Thismayincludeanemphasisontheconditionsinchild-hood,andpolicyinterventionsatyoungagessuchasAboriginalHeadStart(PublicHealthAgencyofCanada2008),butalsoprograms thatwouldhelppeople to access the resources needed tomanagetheeducation,family,andlabourforcetransitionsthat theyseeasimportantfor theirownlives.Al-thoughsomeoftheseprogramsmaybetargetedtoAboriginalpeoples,a life-courseperspectivemaydrawattentiontothedifferentwaysthattheseparatepolicy regime experienced byAboriginal peoplesmay have unintended consequences for equalityandsocialinclusion.

Onepotentialoutcomeofalife-courseapproachwouldbetobroadlyattempttomakeAboriginallife-coursepatternsmoresimilartonon-Aboriginalones,intermsofthetimingandorderofvariousevents.Rather,wehopethatabetterunderstandingofthesourcesoflife-coursedifferencesmayavoidthisin




favourofencouragingflexibilityininstitutions,sothatAboriginallife-coursepatternsneednotresultinaccumulationofdisadvantage.ThiswouldbeanapproachthatismoreconsistentwiththePRIframe-workandrecognitionofthediversityinlifepaths.

Notes

Versionsof thispaperwerepresentedat the2008Can-adianAssociationonGerontologyannualmeetings,andattheHumanResourcesandSkillsDevelopmentCanadaandPopulation,Work,andFamilySymposium,“PolicyDialogue:Lifecourseas aPolicyLens,”on30 January2009.Funding for thispaperwasprovidedbyHRSDCandtheSocialSciencesandHumanitiesResearchCouncilofCanada.

1StatusFirstNationsor“RegisteredIndians”arepeopleregisteredundertheIndian Act of Canada.

2ThesedatawereprovidedbyStatisticsCanadathroughthe ResearchData Centres program.The opinions ex-presseddonotrepresenttheviewsofStatisticsCanada.

3TheLowIncomeMeasure (LIM) indicatesan incomeof less than half the overallmedian. It is adjusted foreconomicfamilysize.

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aPPendix

Table a1Sample Description, 2001 Aboriginal Peoples Survey, Off-Reserve Adults Aged 50 and Older

Variable % Variable %

Gender Highest level of schooling Male 47.5 Less than high school 49.3 Female 52.5 High school 12.1Age group Some post-secondary 34.5 50–59 51.1 Some university 9.5 60–69 13.3 University degree 5.6 70–79 11.4 Low-income economic family 25.9 80+ 3.8 Marital statusRegion Married and not separated 37.7 Atlantic 6.5 Divorced/separated/widowed 18.8 Quebec 9.1 Unattached individual 15.8 Ontario 25.6 Economic family (EF) status British Columbia 18.9 Partner in EF 72.1 Prairies 45.5 Lone parent EF 5.4 North 0.8 Non-family/other person in EF 22.5 Rural 36.4 Two or more children 38.9 Urban 63.6Registered Indian 51.6Residential school 8.6Aboriginal language 37.0Band membership 49.9 Total N (unweighted) 6,665

Source: 2001 Aboriginal Peoples Survey.


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