Running head: ABORIGINAL EDUCATION INEQUALITY

Aboriginal Education Inequality in Canada

Research Assignment
Matthew Bennett
MacEwan University

ABORIGINAL EDUCATION INEQUALITY

The thought of equality amongst all members in society has been something that many people
have wanted to achieve. In reality though there is a lot of inequality in our country that negatively
impacts individuals and communities.
Social inequality occurs when resources of society are unfairly distributed amongst the
different social classes (Symbaluk & Bereska, 2016). Some of these resources include money, power,
and prestige. Social inequality can also affect peoples education, the job they get, and the health care
they can receive (Symbaluk & Bereska, 2016). There are many different kinds of social inequality.
This can include wealth in the social classes and any type of resource a person can obtain that is spread
unevenly, depending on their social rank.
Despite legislation to help remove the barriers to inequality, there are still some problems in
Canada (Frank, 1996). Frank states that in Canada there have been limitations placed on ethnic
minorities, Francophones, women, residents of particular regions, and Aboriginals. More specifically,
there is differences in health, income and education between Aboriginal people and other Canadians,
and Aboriginal people continue to experience discrimination and racism (The Truth and Reconciliation
Commission, 2015).
The inequality I chose to explore is educational inequality experienced by our Aboriginal
communities. In this paper I will examine two major sociological perspectives on social inequality and
review one public policy that addresses this social inequality in Canada. A review of the theoretical
perspective present in the policy will be followed by a look at the strengths and weaknesses of the
theoretical perspective and the selected policy. I will conclude with an overall reflection on social
inequality and public policy in Canada.
Sociologists study all facets and ranks of society and have developed different theories, or
perspectives, that help explain how we behave in society. Two of these theories are functionalist
perspective and the symbolic interactionalist perspective (Symbaluk & Bereska, 2016). The

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functionalist perspective is a macro level perspective, which means that it is based on a large scale and
on society as a whole. The functionalist point of view is a positivist way of thinking. It identifies that
every person is an important part of society and each person plays their specific role in society so it
will run smoothly. Every person and institution needs to contribute in their specific way so that
everything will run smoothly (Symbaluk & Bereska, 2016). If you think of a house of cards structure,
every single card is doing its part to keep the whole house up. If you were to take a card out, the whole
house would fall down. This same situation works with the functionalist view on society. Every single
institution plays its part, and if one does not do its part the whole society will suffer.
The symbolic interactionist, also known as interactionist view, is a micro view. A micro view is
very small scale; it refers more to ones individual choices and is more personal with how one person
will do something. The interactionist perspective is a view of how people communicate individually
and how these communications will have their own specific meanings later on. These communications
can be done directly or indirectly between people (Symbaluk & Bereska, 2016). Direct would be face
to face contact with the person or communication through a text message or phone conversation.
Indirect communication would be by someone on television or radio talking to an audience or a group
of people.
The private troubles experienced by our Aboriginal community members are not just personal,
they are shared with others. The way social life in Canada was structured in the past has created
common social problems. These concerns should be addressed as community concerns that need a
group response to resolve (Little et al., 2005). The Government of Canada has put into place strategies
to address the social problems that are negatively impacting Aboriginal people's drive and ability to
pursue higher education.
The road to getting an education can be challenging and obstacles have to be overcome.
Challenges will come to almost everyone. Due to historical and current circumstances, the Aboriginal

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community experiences even more obstacles, therefore they have not achieved the educational success
that people from other cultural groups have. This is described as the education gap (Howe, 2011). The
education gap is the difference between the educational success of Aboriginal students compared to the
general population. This includes the number of people who have a high school education and those
who have attended post-secondary education (Howe, 2011).
The Indian Act (Government of Canada, 2016) is a Canadian federal policy that is
administered by Indian and Northern Affairs Canada and that was put into place to support the
Aboriginals as they integrated into Canadian society. Through assimilation, the Aboriginal people lost
many of their cultural practices, particularly those students who attended residential schools as they
were removed from their families and homes and were not able to practice their Aboriginal culture or
speak their own language. Attending these residential schools forced Aboriginal children to give up
their way of living and get an education that endorsed the "Euro-Canadian and Christian ways of
living" (Hanson, 2009). The Indian Act was a way for the Canadian government to create a cultural
genocide of the Aboriginal culture. This assimilation caused, in part, the educational gap amongst
Aboriginal people. Having to abandon the only way of living they knew, students would have
experienced a sense of insignificance while attending residential schools. There is "mistrust of
education in general, making it difficult for Aboriginal communities and individuals to break the cycle
of poverty" (Hanson, 2009).
Though Aboriginal children were attending school and they were receiving the education that
would help them contribute to society and fit in with the dominant culture, they were losing all of the
cultural teachings and life skills they received from their families and were only gaining the skills
needed to complete manual labour (Hanson, 2009) in Canadian society. Believing that the Aboriginal
culture was inferior caused the cultural genocide which continues to impact Aboriginal students
success in academic pursuits.

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Aboriginal students have not achieved the same level of academic success as the rest of the
general public. This education gap has seen Aboriginal people not completing high school education,
thus not attending post secondary education. In 1996, 23.9% of the general public over 15 years of age
did not have a high school education, whereas it was 53.6% for the Aboriginal community. Only 3.3%
of Aboriginal people were acquiring a university education while 17% of the general public was
(Wotherspoon & Schissel, 1998). In the last 10 years these numbers have stayed rather consistent. In
2006, 20.3% of the general public did not have a high school education and it was higher for
Aboriginals; 35.5% of Metis and 51.5% of First Nations people did not have a high school education.
When looking at post-secondary education, 18.8% the general public achieved a higher education,
whereas only 6.1% of Metis and 4.3% of First Nations people were getting a university education
(Howe, 2011).
Aboriginal families are fearful that the Aboriginal students getting an education are not getting
a positive look on their culture and history, their whole identity as an Aboriginal person, and what the
Aboriginal communities have done for Canada. Aboriginal people want to be included in this countrys
future and its success (Laboucane, 2010). If Aboriginal students received the same amount of
education as other Canadians, $71.1 billion would be added to the Canadian economy. Losing the
opportunity to educate another generation of Aboriginal students would be a big hit on the Canadian
economy (Laboucane, 2010).
Canada has made an effort to help Aboriginal students achieve their educational goals by
creating government public policies and programs. Addressing this problem is an important initiative
for this countrys success and the individual successes of our Aboriginal students. In 1995 the
Government of Canada created the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC). It's
directive was to inform Canadians about what happened in residential schools and to guide the process
of reconciliation, with the hope of initiating the development of renewed and respectful relationships

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amongst all citizens (The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, 2016). This could be
facilitated with the help of an education system that respects Aboriginal culture and families and that
meets the needs of Aboriginal students (The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, 2015).
The TRC presented a final report on the legacy and history of Canada's residential schools that
included 94 calls to action. These calls to action address child welfare, education, health, and justice.
Strategies to eliminate the educational gap between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Canadians are
recommended, and all levels of government - aboriginal, territorial, provincial, and federal, are to work
together to move ahead with reconciliation (The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada,
2016). These strategies include funding to provide Indigenous teaching methods and knowledge in
kindergarten to grade 12 schools and to educate post-secondary instructors on how to integrate
Indigenous teaching methods and knowledge into their instruction. It also calls for the creation of
curriculum that will provide an understanding of Aboriginal people's historical and current
contributions to Canada, the legacy of residential schools, and information about treaties and
agreements with First Nations (The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, 2016).
New legislation that would provide sufficient funding to close the identified educational
achievement gap and improving educational attainment levels of Aboriginal students were other calls
to action. One of the initiatives already in place to help narrow the education gap is Indigenous and
Northern Affairs Canadas (INACs) Post-Secondary Student Support Program. This program
provides Aboriginal students with up to $35,000 to attend post-secondary school. The program has
already awarded more than $322 million to 22,000 students who have met the program requirements
(Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada [INAC], 2015).
Access to this financial assistance in pursuit of post-secondary studies may help bridge the gap
in education between Aboriginals and the rest of the population. Completion of post-secondary
education could result in a $44.2 billion increase in Aboriginal peoples earnings (Howe, 2011).

ABORIGINAL EDUCATION INEQUALITY

The education gap has caused a large problem with the Aboriginal people. They are not
finishing high school which is then causing them not to attend post secondary education. The
Aboriginal people have not been motivated to attend school and attain academic success, which then
caused them to not be able to contribute the way they potentially can to society. When the Aboriginal
people are not feeling motivated to finish school, then the whole society suffers.
Functionalists believe that education is important and if the education system is working
properly and teaching the necessary skill sets to students, then society will function effectively.
Education teaches society's norms, roles, and values. Students learn socialization skills and gain a
sense of belonging (Symbaluk & Bereska, 2016). If students learn about First Nation, Metis and Inuit
and their history, they may empathize with the residential school legacy and may even feel more of a
connection to all members of society, in particular the First Nation, Metis and Inuit communities. This
in turn may help the First Nation, Metis and Inuit students feel a sense of respect, belonging, and
understanding from their non-Aboriginal community members. This may help them feel the
importance of their contribution to their communities and pursue their educational goals.
A good thing about the functionalist perspective is that everybody in society has a job to do, no
one has a free ride with no work involved, and everyone must do their part. Another good thing about
this perspective is that it promotes cohesion within a society. This perspective believes that if everyone
works together and works towards the goal of keeping a society strong, then society will be strong.
This perspective also talks about all parts of society which is a good thing because everything needs to
be considered for the society to be running smoothly. The TRC and adoption of the calls to action will
get people working together and encourage a common understanding amongst people.
A weakness of the functionalist perspective is that they believe this consensus of society will
always be there and that everyone is doing their part to help society, but in reality there are people who
are not doing their part to help the society run as smoothly as possible. Another weakness is that the

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functionalist perspective is not very good with social change; it likes to stick with what is working.
This could create challenges for people who are trying to implement some of the TRC's calls to action.
There may be some resistance.
The development of the TRC and the calls to action in education works well with the
functionalist view, which is a macro level perspective. The functionalist perspective is a perspective
where all parts of society need to play their part or else the whole society will crumble. Because of the
education gap impacting the Aboriginal community, a lot of Aboriginal people are not getting the
education they need to be good contributors in society, which can cause the whole society to crumble.
The TRC is trying to help Aboriginal people receive the necessary education that will then help clear
up the educational gap and help keep society running smoothly. In functionalist perspective the
Aboriginal people play a very key role in society's success. Receiving the support from the TRC and
seeing the calls to action happen, more Aboriginal students will get the necessary education and
support to finish high school and attend post-secondary. They, along with society, will thrive.
The discussion in my paper tells me a lot about social inequality in Canada. It shows me that
there is still a lot of things in our society that are socially unequal. Social inequality is still a major
issue and will be for a long time. I also learned that there is a lot of inequality in educational
achievement amongst Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people. Finding the statistics about the
Aboriginal educational gap surprised me and I realized that if this cultural group received help and
support they may be interested in finishing high school and attending post-secondary. They would then
be able to contribute to our society to help make it better. I also learned that there are efforts to get rid
of social inequality. The TRC is a big help in trying to eliminate the many social inequalities amongst
Aboriginal people and I feel they have made a good start in sharing what they know and have learned
with all society members. From an educational perspective, the opportunity to make changes to the
education system so Aboriginal students are more interested in education and want to succeed and so

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that their non-Aboriginal classmates learn about the residential school legacy and their culture is very
good. I am happy there are policies in place to help that. I believe that the education gap is still the
same as it has been, but with the help of the TRC and its calls to action, we can slowly try and make
the social inequality in the education gap diminish and that will positively impact society.
It will take many changes to see Aboriginal experience more success in school. For example,
the government of Alberta has already put into place policies to address the calls to action set out by
the TRC. The Department of Education has a teaching quality standard (TQS) and it applies to
"teacher certification, professional development, supervision and evaluation, and which is supported
by descriptors of selected knowledge, skills and attributes appropriate to teachers" (TQS, 2013, p. 1).
There is now a draft copy in place that addresses foundational knowledge about First Nations, Metis
and Inuit (Government of Alberta, 2016). Once the draft copy is approved, all students in the province
of Alberta will be taught by teachers who have this foundational knowledge. Using the program of
studies, teachers will provide opportunities for students to develop knowledge, understanding and
respect for First Nations, Metis and Inuit (Government of Alberta, 2016). This will help advance the
process of Canadian reconciliation.
In conclusion, due to historical and current circumstances, Aboriginal students have not
achieved the educational success that people from other cultural groups have. Students were not
learning about their culture, were receiving an inferior education, experienced horrible abuse in
residential schools, and did not receive the necessary skills to share with future generations. With
implementation the TRC and putting into place the TRC's calls to action, Aboriginal and nonAboriginal students, can learn about First Nations, Metis, and Inuit, their history, and their culture. This
may help motivate Aboriginal students to finish high school and go on to post secondary studies. The
right interventions and supports for Aboriginal students can help them reach their educational goals so
they can live their best overall life and positively contribute to Canada and its economy.

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References
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Social inequality in Canada: Measures the consistency and logic of perceived social
conditions and priorities in Canada. (pp. 18-38). Montreal: MQUP
Government of Alberta. (2016). Department of education draft teaching quality standard. Retrieved
from http://www.lethsd.ab.ca/documents/general/Teaching%20Quality%20Standard%20%20Draft%202016%2003%2002.pdf
Government of Alberta. (2013). Department of education teaching quality standard applicable to the
provision of basic education in Alberta. Retrieved from
https://education.alberta.ca/media/1626523/english-tqs-card-2013_3.pdf
Government of Canada. (2016). Indian act. Retrieved from Government of Canada Justice Laws
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Howe, E. (2011). Bridging the Aboriginal education gap in Alberta. Edmonton: Rupertsland Centre
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Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada. (2015). Post-secondary student support program. Retrieved
from Government of Canada website: https://www.aadnc-aandc.gc.ca/eng/1100100033682/
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Symbaluk, D. G., & Bereska, T. M.(2016). Sociology in action: A Canadian perspective (2nd ed.).
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%20and%20Reconciliation.pdf
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