Measuring Indigenous Well-Being: What is Indigenous Services Missing?

Today, maintenance of the CWB index falls within the purview of both Crown-Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada (CIRNAC) and Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) and is used primarily as a tool in community-level data collection and academic research.7 Data underlying the CWB index is sourced from and organized around the Census of Canada’s Census Subdivision (CSD) geographic unit. [...] Additionally, ISC has recognized that “[t]he components included in the CWB index are not intended to represent a complete list of dimensions of well-being.”15 As such, and combined with the distinct lack of available data for certain communities, it is clear that the existing systems of well- being determination are in need of reform. [...] As one of the four current CWB indicators is the average income of employed individuals aged 20 or older, the lower average age of Indigenous communities results in a greater number of individuals excluded from the calculation, and in turn, an overestimation of the average income. [...] As such, the CWB could be adjusted to reflect the average income of the entire population, not just those currently employed and/or over the age of 15, thus providing a more accurate depiction of average income in the community. [...] While the well-being of both Indigenous and non-Indigenous individuals has improved over the past 20 years, the gap between the two has grown larger; the overall well-being of Indigenous communities has increased, yet relative well-being has worsened.