Canadians rate Native issues a low priority

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According to a recent poll, most Canadians do not consider improving the quality of life of Aboriginal Canadians to be a high priority for the federal government.

The poll, conducted by the Centre for Research and Information on Canada (CRIC), suggests almost one in two Canadians (49 per cent) believe that Aboriginal Canadians are on an equal footing with, or better off than, other Canadians. Forty-four per cent say Aboriginal people are worse off than other Canadians.

Twenty-nine per cent of Canadians rated improving the quality of life of Aboriginal Canadians a high priority, the same percentage that rated increasing military spending a high priority.

People polled were asked to place, in order of priority, a list of government tasks. Protecting the environment was on top, followed by health spending, and co-operation between federal and provincial governments.

In tenth spot was improving Aboriginal people's quality of life. This beat out increasing federal spending on big cities.

"It's a reflection of what the future holds," said Lorena Fontaine, professor of Indigenous studies at the First Nations University of Canada in Regina.

"Unless the issues are definitely affecting the public, why would they place it high in terms of their considerations?"

Yet, according to Health Canada, suicide on reserves and in Inuit communities runs three to five times greater than in the rest of the Canadian population. New cases of AIDS in Aboriginal people have increased over the last decade, while they have leveled off in the rest of the population. And diabetes among Aboriginal people is three times the national average.

The disconnect doesn't surprise Fontaine. She said many of her own students don't realize the complexity of Aboriginal issues.

"It takes them a whole [school] term to understand the impact. Education is the key."

Indeed, an ominous aspect of the poll was the views held by Canadians age 18 to 34. The poll found that group to be the least likely to rate improving the quality of life of Aboriginal Canadians a high priority. Twenty-nine per cent said it should be a low priority, the most of any age category.

The interim director of research for CRIC, Gina Bishop, said the centre was disappointed by the findings. Further, it seems efforts to educate Canadians on Aboriginal issues are falling short.

"It doesn't seem to be working yet. And the fact it doesn't seem to be getting through to young Canadians is troubling."

The survey's co-director, Amanda Parriag, said that, since at least 1998, concerns over Aboriginal quality of life have been "relatively static. Aboriginal issues come at the bottom of the list."

She added there are spikes of interest, though. The recent Aboriginal round tables and Prime Minister Paul Martin's Aboriginal Affairs cabinet committee got attention, and public sympathy increased. But otherwise, most Canadians seem indifferent.

"It's not right in front of their faces," Parriag said.

Campbell Morrisson, press secretary for Indian Affairs Minister Andy Scott, said he didn't think the poll's results were negative. The twenty-nine per cent of Canadians rating Aboriginal issues high was "pretty good," he said.

"The department is always looking for better understanding. I think the public can always be better informed. There's always work to do."

Asked whether public support of the department's public education initiatives was important, Morrisson said "Public support helps the department achieve its objectives. That's certainly true. The more public support we get, the better off we are."

The department, however, does not operate on public whims, Morrison said.

"We do what's right."

Native issues have been in and out of the public consciousness for centuries. But what's stayed steadfast, say Native leaders, is the government's study-it-to-death-but-don't-do-anything-about-it attitude.

"I feel like it's just another study on Aborginal issues that's been shelved," Lorena Fontaine said of the 1996 Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (RCAP) report. In 1999, a United Nations human-rights panel ruled that by not implementing the recommendations of the 1996 royal commission, the Canadian government was not complying with the international covenant on civil and political rights, one of the UN's key human-rights treaties.

The UN panel said the social situation of First Nations in Canada is "the most pressing human right issue facing Canadians." The RCAP report, presented to the Government of Canada, held a host of recommendations, among them to better educate the general public on the history of Aboriginal people in Canada.

The government has made strides in this area, but may still be coming up short. The recent poll may support this idea.