Yellowknife (Jun 26/06) - In the past 10 years, aboriginal people's population has grown faster than the national average and First Nations, Metis and Inuit issues have shot to the forefront.

Satie Townend-Lizotte of Fort Liard surrounds herself in balloons on Aboriginal Day 2004. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

It's been a decade since then Governor General Romeo Leblanc proclaimed June 21 a day to celebrate the contributions of Canada's aboriginal peoples, and five years since it became a statutory holiday in the NWT.

"I think it has raised awareness in the last 10 years," said Terry Villeneuve of the NWT Native Women's Association. "People are certainly more vocal and aren't afraid to raise issues."

In the last 10 years, Canada's aboriginal population has grown faster than the national average, and a recent study by Statistics Canada predicts that the aboriginal population (First Nations, Metis and Inuit) will grow to between 1.39 and 1.43 million by 2017, up from 799,000 in 1996.

The number of aboriginal youth between the ages of 20 and 29 is expected to grow by 40 per cent by 2017, and the number of aboriginal seniors will double. In the NWT, statistics say high school graduation rates have risen, while the number of people who speak an aboriginal language is falling.

Villeneuve said she hopes that in the next 10 years more young people will "go all the way" in school, and pursue post-secondary degrees as a way to achieve greater independence.

"If they don't get the education required, we'll still be dependent on southern advisors in the future," she said.

As an individual, she is leery of a rush to self-government as a way of solving current problems, "At least until the band or whoever is looking after the funding gets themselves well-established," she said.

"The federal government has been doing this for many years so they know how to manage resource revenue. For us, that's not where we are yet."

In Inuvik, Tom Williams, chief operating officer of the Gwich'in Tribal Council, said aboriginal governments have a greater say in what happens in their communities and on their land now than they did 10 or 15 years ago, with self-government agreements and devolution.

"Our voice is a little stronger than it was before," he said.

He's optimistic that in the next 10 years, pipeline development will bring more employment and training opportunities.

He said work still needs to be done on issues like housing and education, where the NWT is lagging behind, but it's a matter of getting enough funding.

Lack of post-secondary prep courses and overstrained health services are the concerns that people raise at every community meeting in Tuktoyaktuk, said Tuktoyaktuk Community Corporation manager Amy Sherwin.

Villeneuve is hopeful strides can be made on these same issues in the next 10 years, but she's not holding her breath.

"With every new government we go through the whole cycle of consultation, recommendation, action plan and so on, and then it collects dust until the next government comes in and they do the same thing," she said.

"It's frustrating. And I don't think the future generation is going to find it any easier."