Educational Resources

Source: Centre for Indigenous Peoples’ Nutrition and Environment (CINE)

Summary: Indigenous Peoples have an implicit understanding of food security and sustainable diets derived from place-based knowledge and livelihoods spanning thousands of years. Informed by their local knowledge and guided by conceptions of living well, Indigenous Peoples are the custodians of a large part of the world’s biodiversity and natural resources.  Recent local, national, and international efforts are bringing forward the vast knowledge of Indigenous Peoples to better document food biodiversity and its cultural and nutritional contributions to human well-being. Our intent is for this publication to recognize the contributions of Indigenous Peoples in northern North America to our global heritage of food knowledge.

This web publication has the purpose to describe and to reference the published literature on traditional animal foods known and used by Indigenous Peoples of northern North America. We present information on the locations of the cultures whose peoples have used, and often continue to use, these foods. The publication focuses on Canada, Alaska, Greenland and the northern United States of America, but many of the animal species presented here also occur in the northern latitudes of Europe and Asia. In sum, we present data for 527 species of animals, drawing information from over 490 ethnographic sources, an additional 91 unique sources reporting nutritional information, and 357 sources containing basic biological information. 

Source: Indspire Researcher: Dr. Carrie Bourassa

Focus: Senior students and teachers

Summary: The In.Business program was created by the Purdy Crawford Chair in Aboriginal Business Studies at Cape Breton University. This program encourages Indigenous high school students to pursue careers in business, an area typically underrepresented by Indigenous peoples. It aims to increase the number of Indigenous youth studying business at the post-secondary level, provides mentorship experiences with Indigenous business professionals, and increases confidence and independence to better prepare youth for being successful after high school graduation. Furthermore, the program allows youth to explore Indigenous business pathways and practices, and supports them in exploring Indigenous business, culture, and community simultaneously. … Issues covered include possible long-term impacts and next steps to ensure further success for this program for Canada’s Indigenous youth.

Source: C.D Howe Institute

Summary: Increased employment is crucial to improving the well-being of First Nations communities, and should be a high priority in the Prairie Provinces that have the lowest employment rates and lowest per capita regional incomes across Canada, says a new report from the C.D. Howe Institute.

In “No Easy Answers: Insights into Community Well-being among First Nations,” author John Richards looks at data from Indigenous Services Canada’s Community Well-Being Index (CWB) for all First Nation and Inuit communities, and reveals Prairie trouble spots where community well-being lags.

Measuring socio-economic well-being for communities across Canada over time, the CWB has four components: education, labour force activity, income and housing. For comparative purposes, CWB scores are also calculated for non-Indigenous communities.  

Source: Policy Options. Max Skudra, Andrew Avgerinos, Karen E. McCallum

Summary: Gaps in Indigenous education and skills training harm Indigenous business and overall economic growth. Better data are needed to address the problem.

Turning 15 is an important milestone; it’s the age when a person becomes a potential member of the workforce. Over the course of 10 years (between 2016 and 2026), 350,000 Indigenous youth will turn 15. However, to get and keep good jobs, basic essential skills are needed. And many Indigenous youth and adults do not graduate high school, or they graduate without requisite essential literacy and numeracy skills.

There are many reasons for this, including:

• the challenge of acquiring reliable internet in remote conditions;
• the myriad corollary effects of growing up in households disproportionately impacted by poverty, and in households impacted by residential school syndrome.

More and more, literacy and numeracy skills are the foundation to up-skilling and meeting the demands of rapidly changing and increasingly digital workplaces. People missing these foundational skills are missing opportunities for competitive jobs. They face the threat of job disruption due to automation, being under-qualified to gain workforce entry, having skills and experience that is not transferable to the knowledge economy leaving them without the tools they need to adapt and succeed.

Source: Aboriginal Learning Links

Summary: ABORIGINAL LEARNING LINKS is a web portal that provides resources for Aboriginal learners wishing to pursue or continue college or university (post-secondary) studies in British Columbia.

Aboriginal Learning Links is a project of the BC Aboriginal Post-Secondary Education and Training Partners and is maintained by the First Nations Education Steering Committee.

Source: Statistics Canada

Summary:Description

This topic presents data on the Aboriginal peoples of Canada and their demographic characteristics. Depending on the application, estimates using any of the following concepts may be appropriate for the Aboriginal population: (1) Aboriginal identity, (2) Aboriginal ancestry, (3) Registered or Treaty Indian status and (4) Membership in a First Nation or Indian band. Data from the 2011 National Household Survey are available for the geographical locations where these populations reside, including ‘on reserve’ census subdivisions and Inuit communities of Inuit Nunangat as well as other geographic areas such as the national (Canada), provincial and territorial levels.

Source: Statistics Canada

Summary: Description

This topic presents data on the Aboriginal peoples of Canada and their demographic characteristics. Depending on the application, estimates using any of the following concepts may be appropriate for the Aboriginal population: (1) Aboriginal identity, (2) Aboriginal ancestry, (3) Registered or Treaty Indian status and (4) Membership in a First Nation or Indian band. Data from the 2011 National Household Survey are available for the geographical locations where these populations reside, including ‘on reserve’ census subdivisions and Inuit communities of Inuit Nunangat as well as other geographic areas such as the national (Canada), provincial and territorial levels.

Source: Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business

Summary: About OYEP:

Outland, a division of Dexterra supplies and operates full-service remote workforce housing solutions in dozens of remote locations across the country for the natural resource industry and the Canadian Government. As part of Outland’s commitment to support Indigenous communities, the Outland Youth Employment Program (OYEP) took shape in 2000.

OYEP is a comprehensive and intensive natural resources training program aimed at Indigenous youth. As one of the largest, most sustained private Indigenous youth training and education offerings in Canada, OYEP has supported youth from over 103 Indigenous communities, with more than 590 program graduates.