The Frontier Centre for Public Policy today released a background paper analysing Indigenous Well-Being in Four Countries: An Application of the UNDP’s Human Development Index to Indigenous Peoples in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States, a study prepared by four researchers in Canada and Australia. The study was originally published in the journal BMC International Health and Human Rights in December 2007.
The Centre’s background paper, Indigenous Peoples from an International Perspective: How is Canada Faring? and written by Joseph Quesnel, used the report’s results to determine how First Nations in Canada could do better. “Anecdotal evidence,” Quesnel writes, “as well as recent empirical data, points to the persistence of poverty and dysfunction in many First Nation communities. However, as this study demonstrates, there are indigenous populations outside Canada that are doing better in key areas. What can First Nations learn from these examples?”
“A more meaningful contribution from the report,” he said, “comes from learning what ingredients are working for specific indigenous groups. In other words, what conditions within specific societies are allowing individual prosperity to occur? Since some indigenous populations are succeeding in certain areas, why can’t they all? My background paper attempts to address these important questions. It also looks to future trends in Canada and at how First Nations can improve their standing.”
Key findings:
