First Nations communities across Canada are struggling to find ways of getting young people to return after leaving to go to school or find a job.
Forty-four per cent of 18- to 24-year-olds who have left do not plan to go back to their home communities according to a 2009 survey by the polling firm Environics. Another 33 per cent are undecided and only 19 per cent said they did plan on moving back home.
Job opportunities are few in many aboriginal communities and often they are too remote for people to be able to commute to work in larger centres.
Some bands forgive student loans if grads move back. Others have strategic plans to create jobs for returning students, or have a system in place to notify students as soon as there is a job opening.
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