Preamble to the Series
This series of summaries, in honour of National Truth and Reconciliation Week, reviews the progress of reconciliation from the very limited perspective of work-related concerns: employment, income, and education (see #1 in the series for more explanation https://cdpc-cedc.ca/library-doc/indigenous-career-related-progress-in-canada-a-partial-look-at-employment/).
Income Changes
The current summary highlights some core information about the current state of affairs in Indigenous peoples’ education levels in Canada and how the levels have changed in the past few years. The calls to action were published in 2015; have they had an impact?
The statistical information here is incomplete and is not definitive regarding changes to Indigenous education. Also, the pandemic interrupted all education-related trends, and the aftermath of the interruption is still not known. Unlike the previous two summaries, this one focuses on only 2016 and 2021 information. Comparisons to 2011 are excluded because of the incomplete nature of the 2011 Census and the greater complexity of comparisons involved with education levels[1] than with employment and income.
Indigenous Education Levels On- and Off-Reserve Compared to the Non-Indigenous Population
The first two tables below provide, for 2016 and 2021, the highest education levels for 25-64-year-olds who are Indigenous and live on-reserve, Indigenous who live off-reserve, and not Indigenous. They do so in terms of the percentage of the selected population rather than absolute numbers. Theoretically, if the TRC calls to action were enacted effectively, we would expect to see Indigenous education level percentages move closer to the non-Indigenous percentages.
The percentages of Indigenous individuals who do not complete high school or its equivalent should be going down, becoming closer to non-Indigenous percentages. The high school and degree percentages should be rising, also becoming closer to non-Indigenous percentages.
Table 1. 2016 Highest Education Levels, 26-64-year-olds as Percentage of Selected Population
| Population Highest Education Level | Indigenous On-Reserve | Indigenous Off-Reserve | Non-Indigenous |
| No high school or equivalency | 43% | 22% | 11% |
| High school or equivalency | 20% | 26% | 24% |
| Bachelor’s level certificate, diploma, degree or higher | 5% | 15% | 29% |
Note that the “no high school” percentage on-reserve is about twice the off-reserve percentage and four times higher than for non-Indigenous people. High school percentages are much closer between the three groups. The on-reserve percentage of Bachelor’s level or higher is 1/3 of the off-reserve percentage and about 1/6 of the non-Indigenous percentage.
Table 2. 2021 Highest Education Levels, 25-64-year-olds as Percentage of Selected Population
| Population Highest Education Level | Indigenous On-Reserve | Indigenous Off-Reserve | Non-Indigenous |
| No high school or equivalency | 40% | 19% | 10% |
| High school or equivalency | 26% | 29% | 23% |
| Bachelor’s degree or higher | 6% | 14% | 33% |
Note that the general patterns in Table 2 are almost identical to Table 1. To see where change has occurred, see Table 3.
Table 3. Changes in Highest Education Levels from 2016 to 2021
| Indigenous On-Reserve | Indigenous Off-Reserve | Non-Indigenous | |
| No high school or equivalency | 3% | 3% | -1% |
| High school or equivalency | 6% | 3% | 1% |
| Bachelor’s degree or higher | 1% | 1% | 4% |
For the sake of simplicity, consider a 1% difference to be equivalent to no change (highlighted in blue). Note that where there is change, the change is in a desirable direction (highlighted in green). Other than on-reserve high school completion percentages increasing, however, the changes are very slight[2].
The key takeaway here for CDPs is that 25-to-64-year-old Indigenous people, both on- and off-reserve, achieve far lower levels of education than their non-Indigenous counterparts, on average. Changes since 2016 are very small but their movement in the desired direction is promising.
[1] The census categorizes education into many levels (e.g., apprenticeships, certificates, diplomas), only three of which are described here.
[2] Regardless of whether the increase in high school completion percentage is due to a statistical artifact or is real, it likely has little to do with the TRC calls to action. The information in the table is for ages 25-to-64, so a TRC-related impact would not be expected until the next census in 2026.
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