Robert Maxim tells the ‘ICT Newscast with Aliyah Chavez’ that the federal government should change the way it collects data about Indigenous people.
“A lot of government agencies right now published data just on single race alone Native Americans. And so that covers anywhere from 23 to 39 percent of Indian country if you’re publishing that,” Maxim said. “So you’re leaving out at least three out of every five Native people. The first step is we think that the, the federal government should consider also publishing data on Native American development, racial backgrounds alone or in combination with another race.”
And the most important reform: “We really suggest that the federal government consider de-linking Indigeneity from race,” he said. “One way you could do that is to add new questions to government forums asking about Native American citizenship or identity separate from that of race.”
Further reading: Indigeneity’s data dilemma
