Survey results opens discussion on Aboriginal issues

The attitude of Saskatchewan residents has changed little in the past decade toward Aboriginal issues.

“When it comes to Aboriginal issues, I would suggest that views and opinions have not changed much….It’s not shocking but certainly a bit disheartening,” said Jason Disano, director with Social Sciences Research Laboratories with the University of Saskatchewan.

In October, the U of S released the results of Taking the Pulse of Saskatchewan, which contained questions that related to Aboriginal issues. While the questions were not identical to a survey conducted in 2001, there were enough similarities to draw a correlation.

“It seems that when it comes to Aboriginal issues, there seems to be some sort of block that individuals just can’t get past,” Disano said. “I honestly don’t know why … but lack of education is part of it.”

That lack of education was no more obvious than when it came to views on taxation.  Sixty-three per cent of those polled believed that Aboriginals did not pay enough income tax.
But the facts say different: most Aboriginal people pay the same as non-Aboriginal. The Indian Act only exempts First Nations people who live on reserve and work on reserve in a job that is “intimately connected to the reserve or is an integral part of reserve life.” Only about 26 per cent of Aboriginal people qualify for tax exemption.

Self-governance was another issue that the people polled had concerns with. Just under half, at 49 per cent, felt that self-governance was not important to the future of Saskatchewan.

“I think one of the major reasons would be the lack of understanding of what self-government is,” said Rob Innes, undergraduate chair of the Department of Native Studies with the U of S. Innes believes that people associate self-government with independence. However, self-governance in the First Nations’ realm is the ability to decide land ownership, design legal and political institutions, and preserve and promote culture and language.

Innes is encouraged with the response questions on education, housing and Aboriginal contribution to the Saskatchewan economy received.

“There appears to be some movement in terms of people’s perception of importance of First Nations and Métis people to the Saskatchewan economy,” he said.

While 57 per cent of respondents believed that Aboriginal people contributed to the present economy, 74 per cent believed Aboriginal people would make a more significant contribution in the future. Innes believes this point of view links directly into the support for public funding of Aboriginal education (72 per cent held the view that public investment in Aboriginal education paid off in the long run) and better housing (71 per cent believed on-reserve housing should be properly funded by government).
Innes, a member of the Cowessess First Nation, was part of a committee that determined the questions on the survey.  Also on that committee was Ron Laliberte, a Métis.

“That was the most difficult part of this. That took a lot of discussion,” he said, “and these were definitely not the only questions that were discussed (for inclusion).”

Not everyone is pleased with the direction of the survey. In a strongly worded news release, Kim Beaudin, president of the Aboriginal Affairs Coalition of Saskatchewan, referred to the reporting of some of the polling results, in particular the view on taxation, as “a blatant example of headline seeking at the expense of the majority of Aboriginal people….”

Innes says the survey has opened up discussion to such misconceptions as Aboriginal people and taxation.

“Taking the Pulse has really allowed us to bring this to the foreground and say, ‘No, this is not true,’” he said.

But to keep this education going, individuals and the government play a role, Innes says. He notes the provincial government requested copies of the report and he is hopeful that meetings will be held with various departments to discuss the findings.
The U of S partnered in a ground-breaking move with a number of media in order to publicize the results of the survey.

“Universities across the country and some in the United States and media outlets have really looked at us as a model on how to meld media and research together to better inform the public,” he said.

Innes makes it clear that media played no role in determining the questions for the survey, which consisted of 15-minute telephone interviews conducted with 1,750 randomly-selected residents between March 5-19, 2012.

Innes expects another Taking the Pulse survey to occur in the next couple of years. While it may not focus solely on Aboriginal issues, Innes says it will include a question or two on that topic.