8. TYPOLOGY OF FIRST NATION'S COMMUNITY MEMBERS

A broad variety of items were included in the analysis of respondents' views regarding their identity and First Nation's culture, satisfaction with the government of Canada, and attitudes towards education, Aboriginal languages, health, and lifestyles. In order to present this extensive amount of information in a more cohesive way, a segmentation of surveyed individuals was performed. The methods used for this purpose involved factor, reliability, and cluster analyses. A description of these procedures is presented below.

In order to locate underlying dimensions (called factors) and to limit the redundancy of the measurement variables, all scale-based variables from the survey were included in a factor analysis. During the initial factor analysis, 27 composite variables were used for the further simplification of data and elimination of redundancy. Through additional factor analysis, a final set of five dimensions was created:

1. Satisfaction with the federal and provincial governments and identification with a province and Canada: Variables constituting this factor are: Generally speaking, how would you rate the performance of the government of Canada; Generally speaking, how would you rate the performance of your provincial government; How strong is your sense of belonging to Canada; How strong is your sense of belonging to your province;

2. Identification with First Nations and family: This factor summarizes respondents' Aboriginal identity: How strong is your sense of belonging to your First Nation; How strong is your sense of belonging to your family;

3. Concern about First Nations culture: This factor represents the perceived seriousness of cultural threat and assistance needed: My First Nation's culture, including oral traditions , is being threatened; The federal government should do more to help First Nation communities preserve their culture and heritage;

4. Benefits of tourism: This factor represents perceived benefits of tourism activities for First Nation communities: Tourism activities related to Aboriginal culture in my First Nation community could create positive economic benefits; Tourism activities in First Nations communities help others understand Aboriginal cultures and heritage;

5. Role of Aboriginal languages at school: This dimension summaries the following measures: It is important that Aboriginal languages are taught in Aboriginal schools; It is important that Aboriginal languages be the MAIN language of instruction in Aboriginal schools; I think Aboriginal people should have more control over what gets taught in their schools;

The second step involved a reliability analysis of the computed factors. Alpha coefficients for all of the factors turned out to be higher than 0.60, suggesting that the scales computed on the basis of the listed dimensions are statistically reliable.

The third step involved cluster analysis, the purpose of which was to identify mutually exclusive, homogenous and coherent segments of individuals defined by their attitudes in regard to government, Aboriginal culture, and education. Five dimensions listed above were included in the segmentation analysis that resulted in the four-cluster solution. The description of these segments, the typology, is presented below.

8.1 SEGMENT ONE: CULTURALLY ATTACHED

This segment is comprised of 20 per cent of surveyed First Nations people. They demonstrate the highest level of dissatisfaction with both federal and provincial governments and have the strongest sense of identity with their First Nation and family. This group is deeply concerned about the future of Aboriginal culture, believes that Aboriginal languages must be protected and taught at school, and tend to be somewhat sceptical about tourism activities in their communities.

Compared with other First Nations people, the Culturally Attached are more likely to be believe that supporting self-government and managing resources are first priorities and that cultural identity and integration are the most important challenges facing Aboriginal people. They are most pessimistic about their economic future. Compared to an average First Nations person, the Culturally Attached are most likely to contact the government, through Internet or otherwise. This group has no particular opinion about the quality of on-reserve education, but believes there are special needs that public schools need to consider for Aboriginal children and does not believe that early childhood education for Aboriginal children today is adequate to have a healthy beginning. Members of this segment are also concerned about the issue of climate change.

The Culturally Attached are generally equally distributed across various gender and age cohorts, with a slight over representation in the 41 - 44 age group. Among the members of this segment, a somewhat higher incidence of full-time and self-employed is further followed by highest educational and income levels. The Culturally Attached are more likely to have an English or French mother tongue and they are less likely to have lived outside the reserve within two last years. In many ways, this group is very similar to the Activist group profiled in the original First Nations survey, conducted in 2001, which comprised 20 per cent of the population.

8.2 SEGMENT TWO: SUPER CONTENT

This group is predominant among surveyed First Nations people, encapsulating 45 per cent of the population. These individuals have highest levels of satisfaction with the federal and provincial governments and identify themselves strongly with Canada, province, and their First Nation. This group also scores high in their concern with the future of Aboriginal culture, believes that Aboriginal languages must be protected and taught at school, and are notably enthusiastic about the benefits of tourism activities in their communities.

The Super Content are more likely to be concerned about education and environment and to think that drugs and alcohol abuse are the most important challenges facing Aboriginal people. They believe that the quality of on-reserved education is on par with that received by other Canadians and that early childhood education for Aboriginal children today is adequate to have a healthy beginning. While the Super Content are as likely to have access to the Internet as other First Nations people, they are least likely to have contacted the government using this tool. Finally, members of this segment are most likely to consider themselves healthy and strongly believe in a better economic future.

The Super Content are significantly over-represented by youth (under 35), typically with a high school or lesser level of education. No notable differences are observed in regard to their employment status, however, there is a slight tendency to belong to lower income groups. The Super Content are somewhat more likely to report French or an Aboriginal mother tongue. This group is very similar to the Super Content group (23 per cent) in the original segmentation in 2001, however, the current group is much larger and may be encapsulating more of the Middle of the Road (24 per cent) from that first typology.

8.3 SEGMENT THREE: MAINSTREAM INTEGRATIONISTS

This segment constitutes 22 per cent and includes First Nations people with a neutral position regarding the performance of federal and provincial governments, but slightly stronger than average sense of belonging to their province and Canada, and average level of affiliation with their family and First Nation. The distinctive feature of the group is their lower than average support for tourism activities in the community and generally weaker belief that their First Nation's culture is in danger and must be protected. These individuals also tend to be less supportive of Aboriginal languages being taught in on-reserve schools and that Aboriginal people should have more control over what is taught in schools.

Members of the Mainstream Integrationists group consider managing resources and economy as top priorities, and employment is thought to be the most important challenge facing Aboriginal youth. They tend to think that the quality of on-reserve education is somewhat worse than that received by other Canadians and that early childhood education for Aboriginal children today is inadequate to have a healthy beginning. This group also tends to believe that there are no special needs that public schools should take into account for Aboriginal children coming from on-reserve schools. While Mainstream Integrationists have typical patterns of Internet usage, they are somewhat more likely to visit governmental websites. Finally, members of this segment are somewhat more likely to consider themselves unhealthy and they are not very concerned about the issue of climate change.

Mainstream Integrationists are equally represented across various gender, age, education, and income characteristics. This segment, however, is most likely to report a French and English mother tongue and have lived outside the reserve in past two years. This group is quite similar to the Concerned Insecure (17 per cent) from the 2001 typology, who were more positively disposed towards the federal government than they were towards their Band.

8.4 SEGMENT FOUR: SUPER DISCONTENT

This segment is comprised of 13 per cent of First Nations residents. These individuals have somewhat lower than average satisfaction with federal and provincial governments, lower than average sense of identification with Canada or the province, and very low sense of identification with their First Nation. They are neutral regarding the future of their First Nation's culture or in support of the teaching of Aboriginal languages in on-reserve schools. Finally, they are slightly below average in their support for tourism activities in First Nations communities.

The Super Discontent are more likely to view regional economic development as a top priority and poverty and integration as the most important challenges facing Aboriginal youth. According to the majority of this group, the quality of on-reserve education is much worse than that received by other Canadians, and early childhood education for Aboriginal children today is inadequate to have a healthy beginning. The Super Discontent are somewhat less likely to contact the government of Canada and to have access to the Internet. Finally, members of this segment are less likely to consider themselves healthy and they are not concerned about the issue of climate change.

The Super Discontent are somewhat over-represented in the 45-54 age group and those with high school or lower education. The Super Discontent are more likely to be found among low income earners. There also is a slightly higher incidence of unemployed persons. Finally, this segment is considerably more likely to report an Aboriginal mother tongue. This group is very similar to the Super Discontent segment (15 per cent) in the 2001 typology.

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