Indigenous, non-Indigenous wage gap in the North up to 3 times national average: report

Yukon, Nunavut and the N.W.T. rank among the highest when it comes to average income in Canada, but this reality doesn't benefiteveryone equally.

According to the Conference Board of Canada, anoticeable gapexists between the incomes of Indigenous andnon-Indigenous people.

The independent research organization, based in Ottawa, released a report Wednesday on the quality of life in the North calledHow Canada Performs:Social outcomes in the Territories.

Across Canada, Indigenous women and men with a high school diploma earned between 15 and 19 per centless than their non-Indigenous peers, but thegap is much largerin the territories.

"The largest gap for Indigenous men is inNunavut,"said AdamFiser, a senior research associate with the Conference Board of Canada.

"In 2010, Indigenous men [in Nunavut] earned 61 per centless than their non-Indigenous peers. Indigenous men in Yukon with a high school diploma earned 38 per cent less and in the Northwest Territories Indigenous men earned about 46 per centless."

Closing the gap

According to Fiser,university degrees are helping to close the gap. In Yukon, for example, Indigenous men and women who have university degrees made at least 25 per centmore than their non-Indigenous peers.

Fiser saidgathering data for the North wasa challenge and that thereport isdesigned as a diagnostic tool to identify gaps, more than to prescribe solutions.

But the report identifies key ways the gap can be closed.

Fiser said the territories should "invest in youth early," by"focusing on education, focusing on their cultural backgrounds and identities so that they feel that when they go through school, it's providing meaningful opportunities for them, that it's not separating them from their heritage."