Evidence of meeting #34 for Indigenous and Northern Affairs in the 39th Parliament, 2nd session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was 2006.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Director, Social and Aboriginal Statistics Division, Statistics Canada
Yes, you can get that.
Conservative
Dave Van Kesteren Conservative Chatham-Kent—Essex, ON
I'd also like to know the percentage of home ownership off-reserve and the percentage of home ownership on-reserve. Can we get that as well?
Then there were statistics on overcrowding. Do I understand correctly that this means if a home has six rooms and there are six people, anything over and above that is crowding? “Rooms”--does that include bathrooms?
Director, Social and Aboriginal Statistics Division, Statistics Canada
No, it does not include bathrooms, halls, or rooms used solely for business purposes. It's the main living rooms.
Conservative
Dave Van Kesteren Conservative Chatham-Kent—Essex, ON
Do you have comparisons between non-native and native? I'm just guessing, but I would think....
Again, I was up in Iqaluit, and you really can't build a house much bigger than four or five or six rooms, because it would cost you.... We stayed at a place that was worth half a million dollars or something, and it wasn't that big.
Do you have comparisons between native and non-native in those same areas too?
Director, Social and Aboriginal Statistics Division, Statistics Canada
Yes, we do.
Conservative
Director, Social and Aboriginal Statistics Division, Statistics Canada
Not today, but that's something that would be available.
Conservative
Dave Van Kesteren Conservative Chatham-Kent—Essex, ON
I think that would be true also in the north. The homes here are much bigger, so subsequently the same thing might be true. If not, that would be interesting, but it would be interesting too to see how much that brings it out of average.
Would overcrowding be more prevalent in the north, compared to southern populations? Do you have those stats?
Director, Social and Aboriginal Statistics Division, Statistics Canada
What we reported was that certainly 36% of the Inuit lived in a crowded dwelling. That was in 1996, and that's since dropped to 31% in 2006.
I don't have the non-aboriginal population for the north, though. I'd have to look at the north specifically from that.
Conservative
Conservative
Liberal
The Vice-Chair Liberal Nancy Karetak-Lindell
There's a minute left. Mr. Kramp, do you want to take it or wait for the next round?
Conservative
Conservative
Daryl Kramp Conservative Prince Edward—Hastings, ON
I have two questions.
A few years ago a report came to public accounts regarding aboriginal education. It was as a result of the investigation by the Auditor General, and of course the results were just shocking. At that particular point there was a statistic that said it would take roughly 20 years to bring the aboriginal educational community up to a par with the regular citizens. It said it would take 15 years to do it. Yet five years later, after that first thing, now they've said it's going to take 25 years.
In other words, we're not making progress; we're actually regressing. Why is that? Is that the terms of reference of the two studies, or is it actual fact?
Director, Research and Analysis Directorate, Strategic Policy and Research Branch, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
It depends on where you set your bar. If you set your bar low in terms of basic literacy, as I said, we're closing the gap. If you set your bar high in terms of university attainment, the gap has actually been widening and continues to widen, such that you'll never close the gap.
We have an article we just published in Horizons, which is the federal government's policy journal. One of my staff, John Clement, did an analysis of cohorts over time for university attainment. What we see, for instance, is that in the registered Indian population, it's the same proportion that's been graduating from university for the last 20 years. So we see no improvement whatsoever, whereas for the rest of the Canadian population, we've seen increases proportionally every five years, such that the gap continues to widen.
Conservative
Daryl Kramp Conservative Prince Edward—Hastings, ON
I'll come back to the other question later. Thank you.
Liberal
Bloc
Yvon Lévesque Bloc Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC
It is the first time I have been so blessed, Madam Chair.
Given the demographic explosion that is happening in these communities, is Statistics Canada in a position to let us know whether or not these young people will have access to schools, and in sufficient numbers? If that is the case, will we be able to estimate how many extra schools will be needed, for example by 2010?
Senior Research Manager, Research and Analysis Directorate, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
I would like to provide a small clarification. In fact, the population is growing quickly and families are having many children, but they are not having more than they did in the past. As a result, there is not really a population explosion, there is no baby boom as compared to what the situation was in the past. There are more and more births because this population is very young. Therefore there are many births.
The issue of supply in terms of education is very important, because it must correspond to the demand that is linked to the demographic growth and to the number of children reaching the age of five or six. And there again, the work is along the same lines as what we are trying to do regarding housing. We are discussing it with our colleagues responsible for programs.
Bloc
Yvon Lévesque Bloc Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC
Indeed, let us discuss housing for the aboriginal population, including on reserves. I am wondering, furthermore, if an area like the village of Kitcisakik is taken into consideration when the issue of on-reserve housing is being discussed. This village is located in the La Vérendrye wildlife refuge. Furthermore, there is another reserve that is not recognized as such at Notre-Dame-du-Nord. It is more an aboriginal village than a reserve, but it does not receive anything more than a reserve.
Does the census take into account the teachers that go to these areas, the housing needs of these teachers and of the other people coming from outside to provide services?
Senior Research Manager, Research and Analysis Directorate, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
I think I can safely say that the census does not deal with that aspect. In fact, your question is very specific. It goes beyond the scope of my knowledge and abilities in this area, particularly as far as education is concerned.
Moreover, I know that these situations vary enormously from one community to another across the country, having met with many people and discussed it over coffee. Unfortunately, that is the only answer I can give you for the moment.
Bloc