The Differences Between FNMI and Non-Indigenous Populations

Canada's FNMI population is growing at an astoundingly fast rate, in fact, the Indigenous population grew by 56.8% from the years 2006 to 2021. Further evidence of this was seen in 2021's Census which counted 1,807,250 Canadian Indigenous people, which equates to 5.0% of our country's total population. It has been calculated that the FNMI population is growing 4 times faster than that of non-Indigenous people, this is good news as the Indigenous people are still a great minority in Canada which can be quite obviously seen in the Southern, urban areas of Canada which has dominating populations of European descent.

Although most government given land is in the Arctic circle, the majority of the Indigenous population of Canada lives in the Southern provinces which border the United States. This is simply because there is more access to essential resources such as food, clean water, and medical care. There are some comfortable and clean rural reserves within these provinces, yet they are still placed rather inconveniently. This forces Indigenous families from across the country to move onto overcrowded reserves, with small, incompatible housing in urban areas, such as the surrounding cities of Toronto.

It has been found that Canada's FNMI population is very youthful. In fact, the average age of the Indigenous population is 8.2 years younger than the non-Indigenous average age. This is a staggering amount considering that if you were to transfer that to real ages, that would mark the difference between a new-found adult who is graduating high school, and a 10-year-old in Grade 4.

Diving deeper into these statistics, the youngest population within the FNMI communities are the Inuit people. Unfortunately, the Inuit also have the youngest life expectancy which may be the reason for the low average age. Overall, this recent Indigenous baby boom has high potential to make a difference in Canada's demography over the next several years, great news for the Indigenous people of Canada.

Canada's foster system is certainly in a crisis in regard to the Indigenous communities. Children from the FNMI groups account for more than half (53.8%) of the kids that are currently being fostered or are awaiting foster placements in the country. This is very troubling as Indigenous children make up only 7.7% of kids aged 0-14 in all of Canada. The fact that such a small population has such a high margin in the foster care system is a telltale sign that there is something significantly wrong and that major adjustments are needed.

For Indigenous children and adolescents that are not in the foster care system, they too have quite an uphill battle. Teens of FNMI descent are much more likely to drop out of elementary or high school than non-Indigenous kids. Furthermore, this pattern continues through college and university with higher dropout rates belonging to students of Indigenous heritage. It is clear that Indigenous children are not given the proper supports throughout their education, but one must suspect that this improves when they enter the workforce. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Instead, the discriminatory behaviors continue with the only supports being from fellow co-workers. It was found that the average annual salary of an FNMI community member was only 75% of what their colleagues in the same position were making. The only difference? Their heritage.

Arguably the most severe issue concerning FNMI communities today is living situations. 1 in 5 Canadian Indigenous people report living in homes that are overcrowded and/or require major structural repairs. This statistic means a multitude of things are occurring, such as: too many people are living in one home which eliminates the opportunity of privacy and true comfort, some FNMI people are living in homes that simply have no flooring or roofing which exposes them to the elements, and housing structures are outdated and would be deemed unsafe by today's standards. All of these problems have a common theme which is they are not comfortable or safe for families to be living in. This is especially troubling as the majority of these reported issues are occurring on reserves which are ultimately under the Canadian government's control.

Social implications of educational, housing, and family problems are significant, especially for children whose brains are still developing. First of all, if children are not given proper supports as they venture through their academic career, they will struggle socially as they feel that they are inferior or not as capable as their peers. Why? Because if a child is not given the same resources and opportunities as another child with the same intellect (the only difference being their heritage), their report cards and testing scores will reflect the discrepancy. The issue is that kids will not understand that their poor grades are not a reflection of themselves, but the poor support they were provided with and will turn to anti-social behaviours.

Secondly, an unstable home life is a large factor to social issues. This only escalates in a foster situation where children must adapt quickly to rapid, major changes to their environment. To make matters worse, many children who were in the foster care system of Canada report that they feel that their displacement was their fault and that they ruined their family's dynamic. Additionally, they feel unwanted as other children around them seem to come and go while they remain without families. Such trauma and self-deprecation undeniably lead to anti-social, anxious, and depressed behaviors, taking a heavy toll on a person's social life moving forward.

Finally, many Indigenous people feel alienated as they face racism and discrimination every day. This not only lowers self-esteem and confidence, but also can damage one's relationship to their heritage as they feel that is embarrassing. In some situations, members of FNMI groups must give up their Indigenous status if they wish to attend certain colleges and universities. This is simply inexcusable.

If there are not proper supports for Indigenous people in the educational system, then there are less people with the proper qualifications to complete jobs that support Canada's economy. This causes a ripple effect as professions such as nurses and doctors (who are already in a staffing crisis) will be so overworked that they will simply not be able to care for people efficiently and to the best of their ability. As we have recently become aware of, Canada's population is aging, meaning that there will be more retirees and that our country is simply desperate for people to fill jobs. This is the main reason that educational adversity must stop now, as it is will deeply affect our economy in the future if we do not change.

As Indigenous communities migrate to the Southern provinces to live in large cities off reserve due to poor living conditions, there is also more demand for housing, retail shops, medical care, and many other businesses. These demands can only be met if there are facilities that are able to provide these services, and building new structures consumes land, wasting its natural resources and destroying the habit of its native creatures. Another term for such an event is “Urban Sprawl” which is a serious problem on a large scale, such as the urbanization and migration of our country’s Indigenous communities.

The political side of the Indigenous inequality crisis in Canada is not large when considering physical issues, rather it is an umbrella category which influences the others. At its core, the discrepancies that FNMI people face today are caused by outdated beliefs and racist rhetoric which are simply not addressed out of pure convenience to the government. Politics in Canada can be seen as a popularity game, and by avoiding discussions concerning “controversial” topics, they can target a larger group of people and win the vote. The problem with such a belief is that there is such a need for Indigenous equality in our country, with daily incidents of racism and micro-aggressions, that addressing the problem would most likely be the favourable decision as they will most certainly gain the votes of FNMI communities facing such adversity. In other words, politically, the Canadian government is currently a bystander while the Indigenous people are being bullied.

The most crucial piece to fill the gap between Indigenous and Non-Indigenous privileges is government support. Of course, citizen protests and creating awareness do make a difference, but to create significant changes there must be a permanent shift of the policies regarding Indigenous rights on a national level.

When proposing the idea of policy shifts, we must consider the logistics of each issue and how easily they could be solved on a governmental level. For example, the provincial governments of each province have the power to implement more support for Indigenous children in the educational system, as well as increase Indigenous youth mental health services. Federally, the government has power to close this wage gap, create and extend reserves to make more comfortable living situations for FNMI people, open more opportunities for Indigenous people to fill job positions that they are otherwise qualified for, provide financial support to Indigenous families who are in dire need of structural repairs to their homes, and simply create an equitable society.

Since these changes are yet to be made, you may find yourself feeling helpless or doubtful that there will ever be change if it is left in the hands of the government. I can assure you that there is still plenty that you can do to direct our society onto the right path. For instance, continuing to celebrate Truth and Reconciliation Day allows us to acknowledge the terrible situations the Indigenous people have endured and hear their voices. Additionally, signing petitions and protesting can help spread awareness of the issue and put pressure on the government to change.

Government of Canada. (2022, September 21). The Daily — Indigenous population continues to grow and is much younger than the non-Indigenous population, although the pace of growth has slowed. Statistics Canada. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/220921/dq220921a-eng.htm

AMMSA. (2023) Canada’s Aboriginal education crisis Ammsa.com. https://www.ammsa.com/publications/windspeaker/canada%E2%80%99s-aboriginal-education-crisis-column

‌Reserves in Canada | The Canadian Encyclopedia. (n.d.). Www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca. https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/aboriginal-reserves#:~:text=Although%20conditions%20are%20improving%2C%20First

Paul, T. (2020). On Unequal Terms: The Indigenous Wage Gap In Canada. MA Research Paper. https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/sociology_masrp/46/#:~:text=While%20Indigenous%20women%20experience%20an

‌Kumar, M. B., & Tjepkema, M. (2019, June 28). Suicide among First Nations people, Métis and Inuit (2011-2016): Findings from the 2011 Canadian Census Health and Environment Cohort (CanCHEC). Statistics Canada. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/99-011-x/99-011-x2019001-eng.htm

‌Joseph, B. (n.d.). Inadequate Housing and Crowded Living Conditions - #3 of 8 Key Issues. Www.ictinc.ca. https://www.ictinc.ca/blog/inadequate-housing-3-of-8-key-issues#:~:text=Almost%20one%20in%20six%20Indigenous

Zimonjic, P. (2022, September 21). Indigenous population hits 1.8M, growing at twice rate of non-Indigenous Canadians: 2021 census. CBC. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/indigenous-housing-census-statscan-1.6589825

‌Mr. Kenney’s Class Notebook!

‌

‌

‌