VANCOUVER -- British Columbia's natives are significantly healthier than they were a few decades ago, and they may be as healthy as non-aboriginals in the province within 10 years, a new study says.

There has been "a huge recovery" in native health in the past few decades, provincial health officer Dr. Perry Kendall told reporters after a comprehensive provincial report on the well-being of aboriginal people was released yesterday.

"If 1990s trends continue, status Indians -- the only aboriginal group for which death statistics are available -- could achieve a level of health comparable to other British Columbians sometime during the next decade," Dr. Kendall writes in the report.

The rate of suicides, accidental poisonings, heart problems and respiratory diseases is dropping. Although almost half the native housing on reserves is in substandard condition, the quality of many homes is improving, as are water and sewage facilities. Natives are staying in school longer and doing better in their final grades.

Shaunee Pointe, executive director of the First Nations chiefs' health committee, said the improvements were "nowhere near good enough." Aboriginal people are still dying far too young and suffering debilitating diseases that are preventable, she said earlier.

The provincial report found that the standard of living for an aboriginal person is 20 per cent below the provincial average.

An aboriginal person has a life expectancy about seven years less than other British Columbians'. An aboriginal child is seven times as likely to be in government care and does worse in school.

As they grow up, their chances of having diabetes, pneumonia, HIV or injuries from motor-vehicle crashes are greater than those of their non-aboriginal neighbours. They are also more likely to be smokers: The aboriginal smoking rate is twice that of the general population.

The report was compiled over two years with the assistance of several aboriginal groups.