First Nations Living Off Reserve Essay

Research Question: What factors contribute to the economic gaps between First Nations living on reserve and First Nations living off reserve?
Thesis: The lack of access to desirable educational opportunities, fundamental social services, as well as historical faults of colonialism has contributed to economic gaps for First Nations living on reserves compared to First Nations living off reserve.
For an average Canadian citizen, the 21st century represents a hallmark in the improvement of overall lifestyle, whether that is through a measure of economic incomes, standards of living, overall health or even political freedom. However, not all of the 21st century growth has been translated into reality for some of the Aboriginal populations of Canada.
The first source, Wilson’s and MacDonald’s (2010) the “Income Gap between Aboriginals and the Rest of Canada” will be incorporated in realizing the effects of Colonial impact and its eventual forced relocation of First Nations into reserves. Second source is a Statistics Canada reference (Statistics Canada 2015) on the overall outlook of Aboriginal Statistics based on recent surveys and census. Using this relatively recent statistical report, it will help paint a picture of the current overall economic situation of Aboriginals and allow a more in depth numerical analysis of First Nation on-reserve incomes, education and social welfare situation. The final source (National Economic Development Board 2015) is an analysis of Aboriginal Economic Progress for the year of 2015.In the article, The Aboriginal Economic Progress Report, it contains a wide array of issues faced by First Nations on-reserves as well as detailing the reasoning behind the causation of such issues. The three sources listed above have sufficient data and case analysis to give a comprehensive understanding of the forces which created the economic gaps for First Nations living on