Province of Manitoba » Aboriginal and Northern Affairs » News & Publications » Publications » Aboriginal People in Manitoba 2000 » Chapter 4 : Education and Training » Focus:Youth

Aboriginal People in Manitoba 2000 Chapter 4 : Education and Training

LIVING ARRANGEMENTS

Nationally, 57% of Aboriginal youth aged 15-24 lived in two-parent families, 25% in single parent families, and 18% in non-family settings. However, less than 20% of rural and reserve youth live in single parent families, and over 30% in urban settings, especially large cities. In Winnipeg, 34% of Aboriginal youth live with single parents, consistent with numbers in other large prairie cities.¹

Aboriginal youth are three times as likely to live with a single parent as non-Aboriginal youth. They are also more likely to be single parents – 3.4 times as likely nationally. Manitoba has a larger percentage of Aboriginal youth that head single parent families than the national average: 6.4% vs. 5.1%.

However, this also varies according to location. 2.7% of reserve youth and 2.4% of rural Aboriginal youth are single parents, less than twice the non-Aboriginal figure of 1.5%. By contrast, 8% of Aboriginal youth in large cities are single parents. At 10.7%, Winnipeg has among the highest rates of Aboriginal youth single parents. Because 90% of these single parents are female, this means that one fifth of Aboriginal female youth are single parents. Of all single parent families in Winnipeg headed by youth, 39.7% are Aboriginal youth.

 

SCHOOL ATTENDANCE

Manitoba has the lowest rate of school attendance among Aboriginal youth of any province or territory in Canada, by a considerable margin. Only 44.1% of Aboriginal youth aged 15-24 were attending school either full or part time, at the time of the 1996 Census. The national average for Aboriginal youth was 50.4%. Manitoba also had one of the widest gaps in school attendance between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal youth. Aboriginal youth were 74% as likely as non-Aboriginal youth to be attending school. In other provinces, except Quebec (71%), Aboriginal youth were 81% to 86% as likely.²

Because of the close relationship between educational attainment and later socio-economic outcomes (see Chapter 6: Labour and Income), this suggests that the gap between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal life outcomes will continue to widen in Manitoba, relative to the rest of the country.

Nationally, about two thirds of Aboriginal youth aged 15-24 and not attending school had not completed high school, compared to 39% of non-Aboriginal youth. In Manitoba, Aboriginal youth were 51% as likely as non-Aboriginal youth to have completed high school certificates and/or undertaken post-secondary education. Only in P.E.I. (45%) and N.W.T. (39%) were the odds lower. In Saskatchewan and Quebec, the odds were 53%, in Alberta 59%, in B.C. 67%, and Ontario 70%. The national average was 57%.⁴

 

LABOUR MARKET PARTICIPATION

Of the 56% of Aboriginal youth not attending school in 1996, only 51% were participating in the labour market, either employed or looking for work. Therefore, fully 27.4% of Manitoba Aboriginal youth were neither attending school (even part-time) nor participating in the labour market (even as unemployed persons looking for work). This core “youth at risk” group is larger in Manitoba than in any other province, including provinces with larger Aboriginal populations. While proportionally similar to Saskatchewan (26.3%), it is proportionately 50 to 60% larger than in B.C., Alberta, Ontario or Atlantic Canada.

Of Manitoba Aboriginal youth not in school but who do participate in the labour market, 35.5% were unemployed at the time of the 1996 Census (about 10% of the total Aboriginal youth population). Adding the unemployed to the above group yields the number neither attending school nor employed.

37.5% of Manitoba Aboriginal youth were neither in school nor employed in 1996, a larger proportion than any other province or territory. Saskatchewan had the second largest proportion of youth in this at risk group (35.3%), followed by Quebec and Newfoundland (32%). In Ontario, B.C. and Alberta, less than 30% of Aboriginal youth were neither in school nor employed.

The Manitoba Aboriginal youth unemployment rate of 35.5% is close to the national average of 34.4%. However, because the overall Manitoba unemployment rate is very low, the differential between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal youth unemployment is much higher than in most provinces. An Aboriginal youth in Manitoba in 1996 was 3.5 times as likely to report unemployment as a non-Aboriginal youth. This compares to 3.7 times as likely in Saskatchewan, but only 3 times in Alberta, 2.5 time in B.C. and 2.1 times in Ontario.⁵

Aboriginal youth unemployment rates (unlike general Aboriginal unemployment rates) are higher on reserve and lower off reserve, especially in larger cities. In Winnipeg the Aboriginal youth unemployment rate in 1996 was 28.8%, not much higher than the overall Winnipeg Aboriginal unemployment rate of 25.2%. Winnipeg’s Aboriginal youth unemployment rate was average among major cities — markedly lower than Thunder Bay (42%), Regina and Saskatoon (both 33%), and little higher than Edmonton (28%), Ottawa-Hull (27%) and Toronto (26%). Still, Winnipeg Aboriginal youth were 2.2 times as likely as non-Aboriginal youth to be unemployed.⁶

It is encouraging to note that Aboriginal youth unemployment rates in Winnipeg have been declining since 1981, albeit slowly. Of youth aged 15-24, the unemployment rate was 33.7% in 1981, 30.8% in 1986, and 28.9%.⁷ The unemployment rate was 28.8% in 1996 but, as noted, the 1996 Census excluded persons of partial Aboriginal origin but not identity, and included many people missed in 1991. The reduction in the actual youth unemployment rate from 1991 to 1996 was probably greater than 0.1%.

Because official unemployment rates do not include discouraged workers, or those who attend school because of a perceived lack of employment alternatives, some economists regard employment rates as a superior measure of market success. Because of low labour market participation among Aboriginal youth in Manitoba relative to other provinces, employment rates are low even though unemployment rates are average.

Only 32.8% of Aboriginal youth not attending school full-time were employed in 1996, lower than any province or territory except Saskatchewan (28.7%). The national average was 38.5%, and rates exceeded 40% in Ontario, Alberta and B.C. Similarly the employment rate of Winnipeg Aboriginal youth (33.8%), was lower than other large cities except Thunder Bay (27%), Regina and Saskatoon (both 29%). Aboriginal youth employment rates exceeded 40% in Ottawa-Hull, Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver.⁸

Disparities between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal youth in employment and labour market participation rates diminish or disappear among youth with higher levels of education. Nationally, an Aboriginal youth with less than high school is 70% as likely to participate in the labour market, and 52% as likely to be employed, as a non-Aboriginal youth with equivalent education. The odds increase to 88% and 77% for high school completers, and 94% and 80% for those with a post-secondary certificate. Aboriginal youth with a university degree are 107% as likely as non-Aboriginal youth to participate in the labour market, and 95% as likely to be employed.⁹ However, the Aboriginal unemployment rate is higher at all levels of education.

Those Aboriginal youth who reported full time, full year (FTFY) employment in the year preceding the Census did so at rates of pay very similar to non-Aboriginal youth – 98% off reserve and 96% overall. However, only 5.1% of Manitoba Aboriginal youth did work FTFY; and Aboriginal youth were only 37% as likely as non-Aboriginal youth to be employed on this basis. This rose to 60% as likely in Winnipeg, where 8% of Aboriginal youth worked FTFY.¹⁰

Youth employment by industry sector varies according to location. Generally speaking, 15% of employed Aboriginal youth are in the public sector, and only 8% of non-Aboriginal youth. On reserve, however, 35% of employed youth are in the public sector, mostly band offices and schools. Aboriginal youth are also more likely to be employed in the public sector in off reserve rural areas. But the differential between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal youth public sector employment disappears in urban areas. While urban Aboriginal youth are more likely to be employed by federal, provincial or municipal governments, they are less likely to be employed in public education or health.¹¹

 

CONFLICT WITH THE LAW

According to a September 2000 article in a national newspaper, there are an estimated 37 gangs in Manitoba, with 1,896 active members, as well as 1,239 “inactive members” who have had no police contact for at least two years.¹² This appears to be a greater number of gang members than any other province including Ontario or Quebec (though no estimate is available for B.C.). But the Manitoba gang activity, much more than any other province, is largely street gangs who actively recruit members, as opposed to biker or mob gangs which limit their inner circle. So the numbers may be misleading in terms of the scale of gang-related activity.

According to a spokesperson from the Winnipeg Police Service Street Gang Unit, the street gangs are mistakenly identified as native youth gangs: “ ‘There is no such thing as a native gang. There is no such thing as a youth gang,’ he said, noting most members are adults between 21 and 24 and none of the gangs is exclusively ethnic or racially based.” ¹³

Large numbers of members of prominent gangs such as the Indian Posse and the Manitoba Warriors are, however, Aboriginal youth aged 15-29, and a number of native organizations exist for the purpose of trying to prevent Aboriginal youth from joining gangs, and supporting Aboriginal people attempting to leave gangs. It would appear that a significant minority of Winnipeg’s Aboriginal youth population is involved with gangs, but it is difficult to estimate the size of this group.

Agency and youth respondents at focus groups for the Red Cross Society’s 1995 “Vulnerable Youth Needs Assessment” observed that:

Gangs often meet the needs of youth that are not being met at home. Gangs provide a type of family, a sense of belonging, and ironically, a sense of safety. In youth discussions, some commented that gangs were there for them when no one else was; when they were on their own, gangs provided food, money, a place to stay, and friendship. These youth soon realized, however, that they were then expected to participate in criminal and violent activity by the gang. Several respondents that work with high-risk youth say the gang forced their clients into pushing drugs and prostitution.¹⁴

Aboriginal youth, whether gang-affiliated or not, are far more likely to run afoul of the law. For Aboriginal youth aged 12-17, there were a total of 1,263 admissions to youth correctional facilities in 1997/98 (some youth were admitted more than once). This represented over 70% of all admissions to remand. Controlling for population, Clatworthy and Mendelson (1999) have estimated that youths are 12.4 times as likely to be admitted to a youth facility if they are Aboriginal (22.4 times as likely if female). Older youth aged 20-24 were calculated to be 11 times as likely to be admitted to a provincial adult correctional facility if Aboriginal.¹⁵