NATUASHISH, N.L. - The ravages of alcohol, drugs and suicides lie in a cemetery on the outskirts of this remote coastal settlement in northern Labrador.
More than 20 wooden makeshift crosses dot the side of the lone road that leads into this tiny village.
"The graveyard is filling up with crosses,'' laments Gregory Rich, a land claims negotiator for the Innu Nation.
The ages on many of the markers show lives snuffed out before their prime -- and deaths that came about as a result of a vicious cycle that still afflicts too many young Innu, Rich says.
"Some of them are becoming alcoholics at an early age and drug addicts at an early age,'' said Rich, 38.
"That really hurts me when you see our young people like that.''
Data released Tuesday by Statistics Canada show that native people continue to be much younger than the non-aboriginal population. Figures from the latest census show a median age for aboriginals of 27 in 2006, compared to 40 years for non-native people, a gap of 13 years. The gap in 2001 was 12 years.
Almost one-half of all aboriginal people are aged 24 or under, compared to 31 per cent of the non-native population, the census shows.
The aboriginal population was youngest in Nunavut (20 years) and in Manitoba (24 years) and Saskatchewan (22 years). But there are communities where the median population -- the point where one half of the total count is older and one half is younger -- is even more youthful. In Alberta's Elk Point, for example, the median age of the aboriginal population is 11.6 years. In Niverville, Man., the median age of those who identified themselves as aboriginal is 14.6.
Reasons for the relative youthfulness include a shorter lifespan. Aboriginal men live seven years shorter than the general average; native women live five years less.
And they also bear more children -- about 1.5 times more than those of non-aboriginals -- and do so at a younger age.
Young faces are abundant in Natuashish. The median age is 20.3 years, making it one of the youngest communities in the country.
It is also surprisingly suburban, despite its isolation. Residents whir around the frozen streets aboard snowmobiles or minivans, and live in homes equipped with cable television.
The teens spend their idle time hanging outside the general store or skating on an indoor ice rink, the arena's speakers blasting the latest Fergie single.
When school lets out, kids scale the rooftop of the local health clinic before leaping into snowbanks, exhibiting a fearlessness only children could possess.
"Snowball fighting, sliding around on the Ski-Doo,'' says Eagle Rich, 14, when asked what he does for fun.
Rich's family is typical of those throughout the reserve. The 14-year-old, no direct relation to Gregory, has a 19-year-old sister and five brothers between the ages of five to 18. His parents are 33 and 34 years old.
The Innu lack "the kind of embarrassment or shame of girls being pregnant without being married'' prevalent in Western culture, said Adrian Tanner, an anthropology research professor at Memorial University.
"There's no disincentives for teenage pregnancies.''
The growing pains in many growing aboriginal communities are already beginning to show.
Tuesday's census release shows that although the share of aboriginal people living in crowded homes has declined to 11 per cent from 17 per cent in the last decade, the proportion is still four times higher than those living in crowded dwellings in the general population.
As well, aboriginal people are three times as likely to live in a dwelling in need of major repairs, the numbers show.
In Natuashish, native leaders say there's a looming housing crunch. Kindergarten enrolment at the Mushuau Innu Natuashish School has nearly doubled to 36 from 20 students in the past year.
The school is bracing for 38 more next year.
"With the school, there's really a need for expansion,'' says John Nui, deputy chief of the local band council.
But none have left the school armed with a high school diploma. Desiree Andrew, who is looking to become the first graduate this year, has seen her peers gradually drop out, some trapped in a fog of substance abuse.
"They're looking for work everywhere in the community,'' the 19-year-old says.
The problems that beset the Innu in Natuashish are more pronounced than those of aboriginals elsewhere.
The Innu were a nomadic people until the mid-20th century. For 6,000 years, they lived off the land in Labrador's rugged interior before the federal government settled them in the ramshackle island village of Davis Inlet, cut off from their traditional hunting grounds during the spring and fall thaws.
Housing conditions were compared to those in the Third World and the suicide rate was considered the highest in the country. Family violence and substance abuse were rampant.
But Ottawa didn't take action until January 1993, when video images of children, sniffing gasoline from plastic bags and screaming that they wanted to die, were broadcast around the world.
The images caused international embarrassment for Canada that led to talks and then firm plans to relocate the community.
In December 2002, the first of dozens of families moved to Natuashish, a $152-million settlement replete with insulated homes, running water and health and recreational facilities.
But five years later, stable career prospects remain dim.
Aside from employment at the local band council or branch of the Innu Nation, long-term job opportunities are scarce.
Tanner says there's a cruel irony in that, while parts of the country are scrambling for more workers, native communities such as Natuashish remain untapped sources of labour.
"All of the kinds of lucrative employment where you get a decent living wage, very few Innu are at the moment qualified (for),'' Tanner said.
"It would take an enormous effort that the government has just never showed the willingness to do to actually get these people qualified.''
In 2005, a two-year study on behalf of the federal Department of Indian and Northern Affairs portrayed a disturbing picture of the state of education in Labrador's two Innu communities.
The report found that 35 per cent of Innu children never attended school, partly due to being "plunged into an alien culture and language,'' said Memorial University education professor David Philpott.
The study also found that 15-year-olds were at least five years behind on their reading and math levels.
"We need to motivate those kids,'' Nui said.
"(We need) to get more programs in our community and get more young people to explore our options ... make them realize that Natuashish is not the only place you can live. There's better opportunities out there.''
