Flag of Canada

**The Landscape Public Opinion on Aboriginal and Northern Issues**
Previous Page	Table of Contents	Next page

Section VII: Communications

A – Contact with the Government

Recent Contact

More than one-half of Northerners (56%) say that they have contacted the Government of Canada in the past three months. Contact with the government is up slightly from last year when exactly one-half (50%) said that they had made contact for service or information.

Contact with the government among Aboriginal people living off-reserve is slightly lower than among Northerners. Nearly four in ten (37%) Aboriginal people living off-reserve say that they have contacted the government in the past three months. In comparison, slightly more Aboriginal people living on-reserve (41%) have contacted the government during the same time-frame.

Method of Contact

Looking at the ways in which contact was initiated, we find that, among Northerners, the telephone (61%) is by far the most popular means of making contact. Electronic means of contact such as the Internet (24%) and e-mail (18%) are also popular means of initiating contact with the government. Contact through e-mail has increased six points since last year.
While e-mail has increased in importance, in-person visits to the Department (16%) have decreased as a means of communication by seven points since last year.

Among Aboriginal people living off-reserve who have contacted the government directly (as opposed to through an intermediary group or individual), the telephone is clearly the dominant method of communication. Four in ten (39%) have phoned directly, while one quarter (25%) telephoned the 1-800 number.
Electronic contact is a less popular choice among Aboriginal people living off-reserve, with 13 percent using the Internet/e-mail.

Quality of Service

Source: North of 60 and Remote Community Monitor 2004, Environics

Northerners give the government a high rating when asked to rate the quality of service or information they received. Two-thirds (65%) currently rate the quality as good overall, compared to 68 percent last year. The number that believes the service or information they received was neither good nor bad (22%) has increased slightly since 2003.
Aboriginal Northerners (59%) are much less likely than non-Aboriginal Northerners (71%) to give the government a positive rating.

Aboriginal people living off-reserve are generally positive regarding the overall quality of service or information received in their most recent request, with one-half (52%) rating the quality of service as good.
Nearly one-quarter (23%) rate the quality of service as poor.

Preferences for Being Contacted by Government

A majority of Aboriginal people living off-reserve (84%) prefer the television as the primary method for the government to provide information. The number of offreserve Aboriginal people who cite television as the best method of communication is consistent with the results found for First Nations people living on-reserve (85%).
Those living off-reserve do not demonstrate a significant difference from residents on-reserve regarding the most useful means of government communication. Both on- and off-reserve Aboriginal people cite the same top five methods of communication, although the order is slightly different.

Table of Contents

Next page