Indigenous youth skeptical of government's commitment to reconciliation, says survey

More than 1,100 Indigenous youth shared their thoughts on reconciliation, community and their own futures in a report released Wednesday by Indigenous Youth Roots (IYR).

The national non-profit surveyed Indigenous youth ages 18 to 29 across the country for the Indigenous Youth Reconciliation Barometer 2024: Building Connected Futures report.

Megan Lewis, IYR's director of the Centre for Indigenous Policy and Research, said the Barometer report is one of the largest research projects of its kind. 

"There's so little research that exists to capture those voices," said Lewis, who is from Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory in Ontario. 

She said she hopes governments and other organizations will use the research to inform policy.

One of the major themes of the report was reconciliation: 85 per cent of Indigenous youth said it was important to them, but they expressed a wide range of concerns. 

Megan D. Nochasak, the Indigenous research and engagement assistant for the report, said her observations from a sharing circle in Halifax showed youth view discussions of reconciliation as "this huge ordeal, and at the same time it's really not this good ordeal."

Youth also emphasized the importance of truth before reconciliation.

"Youth made it very clear that the language of reconciliation can't be used without tangible action," Lewis said.

"Without that shared and truthful understanding of the past and ongoing impact of colonization, that youth fully believe that reconciliation will remain out of reach."

Among their top five definitions of reconciliation, 70 per cent of youth chose honouring treaties and 67 per cent chose land being returned to Indigenous Peoples. 

But they said they are concerned about how committed different groups are to the issue. 

They were pretty evenly split on whether the general public is committed to reconciliation with 35 per cent saying yes, 37 per cent neutral and 28 per cent saying no. 

However, they were more skeptical of whether the federal government is committed to reconciliation — 24 per cent said yes, and over 40 per cent said no.

"It's difficult trusting the government and higher powers. How are we supposed to know you are keeping your words?" one survey participant wrote. 

Another participant highlighted the need for the government to take action without repeated demands from Indigenous Peoples.  

"A partner that sees that the garbage is full should just take out the garbage," said a participant from the Toronto sharing circle.

The department of Crown-Indigenous Relations did not respond to a request for comment by time of publishing. 

Most youth felt Indigenous governments and national Indigenous organizations were committed to reconciliation — with 69 per cent and 76 per cent respectively answering yes — but even then a significant proportion of youth expressed uncertainty. 

Categories broken down

In addition to asking youth for their thoughts on topics including culture, empowerment and education, the report breaks down their perspectives along the lines of various identities, locations and gender/sexuality. 

First Nations, Métis, Inuit, two-spirit and LGBTQ, as well as youth with mixed ancestry were just some of the categories that are highlighted. 

For example, the survey found that more Afro-Indigenous youth and mixed Métis and First Nations youth reported having no way of learning their own language compared to First Nations, Inuit and Métis youth. 

Highlighting these groups is important, Lewis said. 

"In the report, it was really important to ensure that we didn't consider Indigenous youth as just a monolith," she said.

For Nochasak, acknowledging the broad ranges of experiences was personally important. 

"It's really cool to see all of the input from all across the country because I feel like there's a lot of pan-Indigenization," said Nochasak, who is Inuk from Nunatsiavut, the Inuit region of Labrador.

Plans going forward

The survey was distributed both online through social media and through IYR's contacts around the country. They also held several sharing circles in six different locations across the country, as well as three online sessions.  

An advisory circle of youth and youth advocates helped design the questions on the survey, and IYR allowed youth to review the report throughout the consultation process. 

Lewis said IYR intends to follow up on this data and hopes to be able establish trends in youth confidence with future surveys. 

They also plan to create an interactive dashboard to dive further into the wide array of experiences because "we couldn't even get into the half of it" in the report, Lewis said.