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Aboriginal People in Manitoba 2000 Chapter 6 : Labour and Income

We have discussed comparative labour market and income statistics for Winnipeg and off reserve outside Winnipeg. It is more difficult to make valid comparisons with on-reserve statistics, because we lack the analytic tools, concepts and data to fully describe and comprehend on-reserve patterns of employment and income adequacy. The monthly Labour Force Survey reports specifically exclude on-reserve residents, and the Statistics Canada LICO is not applicable to on-reserve situations.³²

Just as income on reserve is relatively disconnected from employment, so is income adequacy disconnected from cash or gross income. This is true to the extent that:

• Housing and other goods and services are provided by the Band administration, and not directly purchased or rented by the user;
  
  
• Incomes are exempt from income tax, and goods and services from sales tax; and
  
  
• Resources traditionally extracted from the land, especially by hunting and fishing, may supplement income.

While these factors may make sustenance possible on reserve at lower income levels, it is also the case that store-bought food, fuel, and other goods that must be transported to often-isolated reserves will cost substantially more than in the southern urban areas. Similarly travel, where not subsidized by authorities as in the case of medical evacuation, can be much more expensive.

All of these factors which, in addition, vary from reserve to reserve, complicate the development of concepts and data sufficient to analyze on-reserve income adequacy. It is commonly understood and accepted that many First Nations are impoverished communities, and perhaps extremely impoverished communities, but there does not appear to be any research which sets out to compare poverty levels and patterns among on and off-reserve Aboriginal communities.

Having said this, the median income for Status Indian individuals aged 15+ and living on reserve in 1996 was $6,755: for women $6,266 and for men $7,313. Incomes at this level are de facto non-taxable, due to personal and other exemptions and deductions. The tax-exempt status of on-reserve earnings provides a tangible benefit only to Status people with above-average incomes (though sales tax exemptions provide benefits to all).

The on-reserve median income was $2,095 less than the median income of Status Indians in Winnipeg. The difference amounts to 23% of the Winnipeg median income of $8,850. However, 60% of Status Indians in Winnipeg spend over 30% of their income on shelter costs, ordinarily covered by the Band administration on reserve. In fact, the proportion of income spent on housing generally increases among the poorest families, such as single parents.³³ Food and other consumables may cost more on reserve and especially in the north, but this may be offset by the availability of traditional resources.

In short, the Census provides no evidence that the incomes on reserve are either more or less adequate than among Status Indians in Winnipeg. In both settings, median incomes are extremely low by Canadian standards, and a majority of families and individuals subsist on incomes below an equivalent of the Statistics Canada LICO. Status Indians living off reserve outside Winnipeg appear to have a higher average standard of living than their counterparts elsewhere, either in Winnipeg or on reserve.