The good news is that 2015 ended with what the provincial government stated was “record-high” aboriginal graduation from B.C.’s public school system; the less than good news is that parity in successful education results for aboriginal and non-aboriginal students in the province has yet to be achieved.
That has serious economic consequences well beyond reservation boundaries because, with a population that’s growing five times faster than their non-aboriginal counterparts, the province’s aboriginal communities represent a huge and largely untapped human resources talent pool that could help address many of the skills shortages facing numerous B.C. business sectors.
Education engagement has long been a challenge within B.C.’s aboriginal community. As pointed out in B.C. Auditor General Carol Bellringer’s November 2015 audit of aboriginal student education in the province’s public school system, the graduation rate for aboriginal students in B.C. 10 years ago was 50% compared with 80% for non-aboriginal students. The record-high aboriginal graduation rate the Ministry of Education reported for the 2014-15 school year was 63%. That improvement is encouraging. But as Bellringer’s audit pointed out, there are still school districts in B.C. where the rate is under 50%.
That results in part from what the audit said is the lack of any “system-wide strategy to close the gap in outcomes between aboriginal and non-aboriginal students.” That strategy needs to reach beyond senior government administration and into band management offices and homes on reserves. If not, aboriginal business ambitions won’t be realized. Many B.C. native bands are now multimillion-dollar corporations involved in enterprises ranging from resource extraction to tourism and food production.
Education, especially in business management, will be fundamental to their long-term survival because they’re competing to cultivate and keep the same top-end talent as other multimillion-dollar enterprises in Canada.
Businesses built to last are grounded in a culture of lifelong learning. That culture is seeded in homes and communities.
