Many Aboriginal people live in poverty. And the disparities between the standard of living in First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities and that in non-Aboriginal communities continue to grow, in large part because of differences in literacy levels. Federal, provincial and territorial governments must make it an absolute priority to improve the relatively low quality of life of Canada’s Aboriginal peoples. Indeed, the cost to address the low literacy rates in Aboriginal communities is minimal compared to the money Canada will need to spend 20, 10 or even five years from now on social services if the country fails to take nationwide remedial action on Aboriginal literacy issues.
http://www.nald.ca/library/research/issues_aboriginal/issues_aboriginal.pdf