Final report - Integrated Land Management Bureau

3.4 CULTURALLY INAPPROPRIATE CENSUS METHODOLOGY
Statistics Canada census methodologies have been described by some First Nations as
inappropriate for collecting data in First Nations communities. Culturally inappropriate
methodologies have been reported to lead to inaccurate census results. Since many social
and economic statistics are derived from census data, this could represent an issue when
relying on existing data.
3.5 SETTING TARGETS FOR INDICATORS
Specifying a target (such as a specific percent increase/decrease or number of
individuals) for indicators is appropriate after baseline data are collected for all
indicators, but not before. Kusek and Rist (2004) state that “one cannot project
performance into the future (set targets) without first establishing a baseline.” Choosing
a specific target (such as “33% of tax filers”) for any indicator without knowing the
baseline data for that indicator could create unrealistic expectations. For example, if a
target for the percent of people with incomes above $25,000 were to be set at 63% in 10
years on the North Coast before baseline data were collected, and the baseline study later
revealed that the current percentage was 30%, expecting a 33% increase in 10 years may
have been unrealistic.
Additionally, targets are subjective and related to policy decisions and community values.
To some people, seeing no change in an indicator could be seen as success because
“things didn’t get worse.” Discussing indicators in terms of desired directions also is
incomplete since increases or decreases in some indicators have diminishing returns or
become undesirable when the number or percent continues to change in one direction.
These issues can be resolved once the baseline data are collected and the desired level of
improvement is established with consultation with community members and decision
makers. Who determines the desired level of improvement is itself a political decision.
For these reasons, this report discusses desired direction of each indicator
(increase/decrease), but not specific numbers and suggests that targets be established after
baseline data are collected for these indicators. Figure 4 shows the process for devising
performance targets adapted from Kusek and Rist (2004).
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