(Saskatchewan Institute of Public Policy, 2006-11) Adams, Chris
Many First Nations high school teenagers face systemic barriers when making good
career and education-related choices. These include poverty, remoteness,
unemployment, cultural alienation, and psychological despair.3 Although there is no
shortage of research on these all-too-real problems, this article uses a sociological model
through which to examine the connection between what high school teenagers in First
Nations communities in Manitoba4 say will be their priorities as they enter into
adulthood (“life priorities”) and those who help shape those priorities (“life
influencers”). That is, the extent to which teenagers report being influenced by those
in their family and community as they seek to make choices about their future.
