Life Satisfaction among Aboriginal Peoples in the Canadian Prairies: Evidence from the Equality, Security and Community Survey

Subjective measures of overall quality of life are increasingly analyzed as indicators of human well-being and social progress. Yet in Canada there are very few such data from Aboriginal respondents. We report on two surveys which do solicit life satisfaction assessments from Aboriginal respondents, and compare inferences from such data to those for the general Canadian population. With some interesting exceptions, we find generally comparable effects of objective life circumstances, and use these to explain some of the advantages and disadvantages affecting each sample. We propose that policy interest in life satisfaction as a gauge for improving lives is appropriate in the case of Aboriginal groups in Canada, just as for other populations in Canada and around the world.