I think my reply above failed to really clearly express this so I thought I'd try again briefly. There still is a large racial bias in child welfare services above what is explainable by income alone. I think that income is the larger factor now so I'd agree it's the more important point to focus on - but we have not reached a level of egalitarianism where income alone can explain the disparity.

I also agree it's an extremely complex matter since there are two strongly opposed factors - urban migration (with educational support and the like) could greatly improve the lives of indigenous individuals but that would erode native culture continuance and communities - and that's one of the worst parts of residential schooling. A number of the people involved thought that white washing natives to improve their economic futures and let them more easily integrate with common Canadian society was a good thing - and it's not entirely a bad idea from an egalitarian perspective.

So there is, I think, a continued push and pull of cultural preservation vs. individual prosperity. I don't think they're polar opposites, I mentioned elsewhere that the Haida Cultural Center on Haida Gwaii provides a lot of jobs to reservation residents and youths - but this approach can't just be blindly replicated to extremely remote reservations.

So yea - I've got no quick and easy solution to offer.