2005. However, the fundamentally uncritical nature of this choice excludes the systemic and political constraints that actually restrict the development of a truly transformative quality-of-life agenda for Aboriginal people in Canada today. “Suicide Attempts among Inuit Youth: A Community Survey of Prevalence and Risk Factors.” Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 94 (1): 8-17. Journeying Forward: Dreaming First Nations’ Independence. He is a member of the UQAM-based Centre de recherche sur l’immigration, l’ethnicité et la citoyenneté (CRIEC). CANDO was founded in 1990 by economic development officers (EDOs) from across Canada to provide a national body to focus on the training, education and networking opportunities necessary to serve their communities and/or organizations as professionals. London: Lawrence and Wishart. Whether a community decides to adhere to unadulterated principles of market capitalism or renounce them, whether it chooses to enter into partnerships with external, private or public economic agents or act alone, or again whether it works within the institutional and structural limits of the state or creates its own is relatively immaterial. Jean Allard, a Métis politician and former NDP Manitoba MLA, argues that modern checks and balances applied to Aboriginal leaders do not operate, as there is no real separation between politics and administration on reserves. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press. Accessed May 12, 2006. www.cprn.org/en/doc.cfm?doc=90. Les études québécoises en sciences sociales sur les peuples autochtones du Nord, 1960-1989. Citizens Plus: Aboriginal Peoples and the Canadian State. Among these are the Ryerson Social Reporting Network’s Structural Exclusion Index (Burke and Shields 2000) and the Economic Freedom for the Rest of Us Index (Brown and Stanford 2000), which have been devised to better reflect the structural vulnerability to which Canadians’ standard of living and sources of income are exposed, as well as Alberta’s Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI) Sustainability Circle, GPI Atlantic and Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness (Findlay and Russell 2005), which put community values at the centre of considerations of well-being. New York: Orion. 2004. “De l’“infériorité négociée” à l’“inutilité de négocier” : la Loi sur la gouvernance des Premières Nations et le maintien de la politique coloniale.” Politique et sociétés 23 (1): 59-87. One of the objectives of the Aboriginal Qualify of Life research program, completed in 2008, was to document and analyze innovative approaches to improving the living conditions and community life of Canada’s indigenous peoples. Ottawa: Policy Research Initiative. These challenges severely curtail the ability of Aboriginal people to enjoy levels of general well-being that other Canadians expect for themselves. It has been conceptualized in a number of different ways, and for that reason it does not easily lend itself to one straightforward and clear-cut definition (Hunter 2004; Woolcock 2001). The literature reviewed here includes almost exclusively works published in English. Assembly of First Nations. Scholarship and analysis are devoted both to documenting successful cases of community economic development initiatives that led to tangible empowerment and positive social transformation at the local level, and to drawing out the theoretical and methodological implications that can inform action and help economic field workers develop adequate and adapted tools for capacity-building in their own environment. Communities that succeed in building and maintaining greater social cohesion and in facilitating personal empowerment and integration into the mainstream will improve their quality of life. Dion-Stout, Madeleine, and Gregory Kipling. They argue that, when Aboriginal communities make their own decisions about what approaches to take and what resources to develop, they consistently outperform non-Aboriginal decision-makers. quality of life. Best countries for quality of life in 2019: Canada is number one in the world. The radical and uncompromising tone of their respective positions and their emphasis on issues of identity, sovereignty and constitutional law lend their work a political — some would say ideological — resonance. It is these things that are the true guarantees of peace, health, strength, and happiness — of survival — for Indigenous peoples. The PRI was created in 1996 to enhance the policy capacity of the federal government, and brought together most of the key policy and research outfits of the state in a collective and focused effort to identify and act upon important social and economic issues likely to affect the future of Canada. In this, I follow accepted Canadian usage as well as the definition in section 35(2) of the Constitution Act, 1982. The works of political scientist Kiera Ladner (2005), political theorist James Tully (1995) and legal scholars John Borrows (2002) and Patrick Macklem (2002), to name but some of the more compelling voices, suggest paths of institutional reconfiguration that can potentially address and resolve the difficult political questions. How much longer can they submit to the state’s guessing game as to what may or may not work to improve their situation? Asking Citizens What Matters for Quality of Life in Canada: Results of CPRN’s Public Dialogue Process October 2000. 2005. Accessed June 1, 2006. www.taxpayer.com. True democracy requires no less. In still another CPRN report, Frances Abele (2004) argues that, despite the persistence of some of its historically discriminatory practices, the Canadian state has mended its ways since the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples and has embarked on a number of capacity-developing initiatives in concert with Aboriginal organizations and governments. What Governments’ Aboriginal Policy Is Doing to Canada. 1, edited by Jerry P. White, Paul Maxim, and Dan Beavon. Helliwell, John F. 2005. The fact is, as things stand now we cannot sincerely carry on without coming to terms with them. In other strands of the literature, quality of life and well-being are not associated to the same extent with the state’s role; some do not even consider it a pertinent factor. Development thinking and practice can be divided into two major strands: “One…stresses the need for sound policies (especially efficient markets) to sustain growth, coupled with sound financial and legal institutions to foster investment and trade. The appearance of other terms, such as “Indian” or “native,” reflects usage in certain official documents and quotations from some of the authors reviewed. Cairns believes that current Aboriginal claims of self-government and self-determination exaggerate the otherness of Aboriginality, for he thinks that, in the end, there is actually little, culturally and normatively, that differentiates Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Canadians. However, few, if any, address the social rigidities of market forces, the difficulty of transforming market-driven social relations of power to the advantage of groups that have not historically benefited from a position of strength in the market. O’Sullivan, Erin, and Mindy McHardy. Ottawa. Only his ideological and political attitudes remain to be considered. A kind of bureaucratic and political inertia is at play, casting Aboriginal people as inferior, subaltern beings, precluding as a result the establishment of a truly egalitarian relationship between them and the Canadian state and blocking any possibility of renewing Aboriginal governance (Ladner and Orsini 2004, 2005). _____. Therein lies one of the most urgent analytical challenges that confront us in our search for the improvement of Aboriginal quality of life and in the process of devising transformative policy alternatives. The Web site of the Manitoba Department of Aboriginal and Northern Affairs, for instance, informs readers that the departmental vision is “an improved quality of life and opportunities for Aboriginal and northern Manitobans,” and lists among its goals “to support the mental, emotional, physical and spiritual health of northern communities and Aboriginal people” and to “strengthen the participation of Aboriginal and northern people in Manitoba’s economy.” In its Aboriginal policy framework, Strengthening Relationships (Alberta 2000), Alberta claims to foster “goals of individual and community well-being and self-reliance” for its Aboriginal constituents. Tully, James.1995. Like Quebecers, more and more groups and constituencies were dissatisfied with one aspect or another of the normative matrix that defines the Canadian political community, or had issues with the governance system employed to render that matrix operational.9 Aboriginal people, vindicated and bolstered in their claims by the report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, were not the least among them. Without rejecting the capitalist imperatives that unavoidably underscore economic development, they suggest instead that these imperatives be adapted to Aboriginal world views — that Aboriginal values and normative parameters be made to inform any process of economic and social empowerment. For generations now, we have been on a quest for political power and money; somewhere along the journey from the past to the future, we seem to have forgotten that when we started out our goal was to reconnect with our lands and to preserve our culture and way of life. However, researchers found that while members of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders communities valued formal Western-style education, they felt that the quality of teaching was poor, that students were not engaged, that not enough respect was paid to traditional knowledge, and that there was a need for a more culturally relevant curriculum. In it the government vows (in addition to “renewing the partnerships” with Aboriginal peoples, “strengthening Aboriginal governance” and “developing a new fiscal relationship”) to support strong communities, people and economies by “improving health and public safety, investing in people and strengthening Aboriginal economic development,” which the government claims will materialize into providing “adequate housing and clean water; access to education and training opportunities; the opportunity to participate in the economy and earn a meaningful livelihood; and access to the health, social and cultural supports needed to ensure that people can remain healthy.” The provinces have articulated similar goals. Best countries for quality of life in 2019: Canada is number one in the world. Report on Growth, Human Development and Social Cohesion. According to our city rankings, this is a good place to live with high ratings in housing , … Other more specific studies have documented extremely high rates of suicidal ideation and attempted suicide among adolescents and young adults in Inuit communities of northern Quebec, pointing out a number of key explanatory factors, including a personal history of psychiatric problems, a parental history of substance abuse or psychiatric disorders, feelings of alienation from the community, a history of physical abuse and a profound crisis of identity and selfesteem, particularly among males who experience difficulty coping with the disruption of their traditional social roles (Kirmayer, Boothroyd, and Hodgins 1998; Kirmayer, Fletcher, and Boothroyd 1998; Kirmayer, Malus, and Boothroyd 1996). Cat. This approach also does not question whether macrostructural dimensions such as the dominant pattern of power relations or the inner logic of the Canadian political economy might be at cause. 1969. Howe Institute and the Frontier Centre for Public Policy. Warry, Wayne. When they are — that is, “when they are able to make consistent input into the decisionmaking process” — she believes her research shows that “the checks and balance in the system will tend to factor protection of the Earth Mother into the final decision…[T]he guiding principle is reasonable development in support of livelihood and community” (185). Memmi, Albert. These questions are not meant to raise doubts about the ability of Aboriginal communities to govern themselves; they suggest, rather, that the reality of sociopolitical conflict must be acknowledged and better understood so as to grasp and eventually act upon the dynamics of opposition that are likely to affect negatively the capacity of a community to create and maintain proper conditions of general well-being. Ponting, J. Rick, and Cora J. Voyageur. Yet not all communities have the same agenda or the same objectives, and exportability need not be an important standard of success. The chapter on economic development in the report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (Canada 1996, vol. The equal rights of women and children are protected in law, though most Canadian women feel there is still progress to be made. The other three approaches, on the contrary, build on existing factual knowledge and data about Aboriginal people to suggest various policy stances to improve Aboriginal well-being or alternative ways to understand the stakes of Aboriginal quality-of-life issues. At least five kinds of balance exist: (1) balance within one’s self, (2) balance within the family, (3) balance within the community or tribe, (4) balance with external communities, including other tribes and the spiritual world, and (5) balance with the environment and the universe. Cornell, Stephen, and Joseph Kalt. Among the Aboriginal Population, the Inuit have the lowest life expectancy of 64 years for men and 73 years for women. “Resistance Is Futile: Aboriginal Peoples Meet the Borg of Capitalism.” Journal of Aboriginal Economic Development 2 (1): 75-82. This context clearly raised the concern of policy-makers, who felt something had to be done to shore up Canada’s withering social cohesion and strengthen the value of its citizenship.10, Over the past decade, the federal government has deployed an impressive network of state and university researchers to document and analyze the situation of Aboriginal people in Canada and to suggest policy directions. The wheel is divided into four parts and is used to show how, within whatever entity one might consider (a person, a family, a community), these four parts and their constituent dimensions are interrelated and interdependent. Self-determination should be the mainstay, the fundamental premise of any policy aimed at mending Aboriginal quality of life. 2003. We need studies that closely examine governmental action on Aboriginal quality-of-life issues and set benchmarks for evaluation. As we told you earlier, Canada has been named the third best country in the world.. Well, we’ve also been named as the #1 country in the world in 2019 for Quality of Life for the fourth year in a row.. The other focuses more on investment in human and social capital, and the strengthening of civil society” (Hunt 2005, 1). 2005. 1992. I take full responsibility for any remaining errors and omissions. 2000. Health And Quality Of Life Of Aboriginal Residential School Survivors, Bella Coola Valley, 2001 . Smith argues that Canada’s Aboriginal policy must be rethought and reframed on the basis of two incontrovertible principles: Aboriginal self-reliance and equality under the law. Accessed May 14, 2006. www.4worlds.org. Each of the studies focused on a particular policy field, and the authors were asked to assess the impact of the innovations they examined and present lessons for policy-makers and other researchers. The First Nations Health Action Plan put forward by the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) at the 2004 First Ministers’ Meeting echoes such conclusions by calling for a “First Nations controlled and sustainable health system that adopts a holistic, culturally appropriate approach” as its overall objective (Assembly of First Nations 2004, 1). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Nonetheless, in comparison to the much larger gains in these and other respects that the majority of the non-Indian population has enjoyed in recent decades, there are indications that the gap between the two groups has been widening. Findlay, Isobel M., and John D. Russell. The authors of that paper do not discuss just what degree of autonomy should be granted in the capacity-building process, but this issue is the object of divergent views and differences in focus within the literature. “Social Capital: Its Origin and Applications in Modern Sociology.” Annual Review of Sociology 24: 1-24. Victoria, BC: Canadian Taxpayers Federation, Centre for Aboriginal Policy Change. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. In this context, the Institute for Research on Public Policy has launched a new research program on the quality of life of Aboriginal people in Canada. doi: 10.1111/ajag.12421. This situation, which, Allard suggests, is fraught with “nepotism, fraud, corruption and abuse of human rights” (133), is largely responsible for the mass migration away from the reserves of Aboriginal people in search of a better social environment in urban centres. 1993. Canada’s New Government has made real progress in addressing the issues facing Aboriginal people in Canada. Our research indicates that these trends, if not recognized and dealt with over the next few years, could fragment and polarize our society, put individuals and communities under pressure and undermine the consensus that has underpinned social cohesion in the country for most of the past century” (Policy Research Initiative 1996, 1). As the first step in this endeavour, this paper aims to take stock of the current state of knowledge of the broad issues related to the quality of life and wellbeing of Aboriginal people, of innovations that are ameliorating their living conditions and of the linkages between quality of life and governance in their communities. Abele, Frances. In Our Home or Native Land? Their focus is more on the capacity of individuals and narrowly defined communities to create their own conditions of the good life. A large and in many ways more compelling segment of this literature, however, calls attention to strategies of personal healing, psychological recovery and individual transformation. 2003. 2, chap. “Landscapes of Memory: Trauma, Narrative and Dissociations.” In Tense Past: Cultural Essays on Memory and Trauma, edited by P. Antze and M. Lambek. Third, improving Aboriginal quality of life is critical to enhancing Canada’s social justice potential. Aboriginal peoples is a legal term encompassing all indigenous Canadian groups. Although less tangible than human and physical capitals, social capital manifests itself through participation in (civic) organizations, the construction of trust and trustworthiness and the development of norms of cooperative behaviour and reciprocal obligations (White and Maxim 2003, 14). Hawthorn, H.B., ed. Were the programs and policies adequately conceived to achieve tangible goals of positive social change within the relevant communities? 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