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Canada's aboriginal population has increased 45 per cent over a decade and cracked the one-million mark for the first time since records have been kept, new census data indicate.
In 2006, 1,172,790 people said they were members of at least one of three aboriginal groups: North American Indian, Métis (mixed native-European descent) or Inuit.
The fastest gain in population of the three groups was in the Métis population, which almost doubled in 10 years. Those who identified themselves as Indian increased by 29 per cent, while the Inuit population went up 26 per cent.
Between 1996 and 2006, the aboriginal population increased 45 per cent, a rate nearly six times faster than the 8-per-cent growth for the non-aboriginal population over the same period.
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Internet Links
- Complete coverage: The census
- Interactive map: Aboriginals across Canada
- Statistics Canada's Census page
Aboriginal people accounted for 3.8 per cent of the total population of Canada, an increase from 3.3 per cent in 2001 and 2.8 per cent in 1996. Only New Zealand, where the Maori make up 15 per cent of the population, has a greater share of aboriginals.
Anil Arora, director general of the census program branch at Statistics Canada, said the growth can be attributed to three factors: Record census participation by these groups, a soaring birth rate driven by an unusually young population, and greater pride in aboriginal heritage.
The median age – the age at which exactly half the population is younger and half is older – is 27 for aboriginals, compared to 40 for non-natives. Almost half of the aboriginal population is under the age of 25.
“There's a very significant and disproportional younger population,” said Mr. Arora. “If you look at planning [policy] forward, whether you look at education, child care, housing, etc., those are very important factors that have to be taken into account.”
Just as significant is self identity, particularly with the Métis, whose numbers jumped dramatically. Mr. Aurora suggested several recent court cases on Métis hunting rights and the 1996 Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, which featured the Métis prominently, could have resulted in more people claiming their Métis heritage.
Doug Norris, senior vice-president and chief demographer at Environics Analytics, agreed that much of the overall growth can be attributed to “identity shift.”
“My guess is that half of the growth is real, and the other half is due to [a shift in] people deciding now to consider themselves an aboriginal person,” said Mr. Norris.
“Identity shifts over time with all populations, and the aboriginal population is no different,” he said. “Many people use to claim British ancestry, and today they say they have Canadian ancestry.”
Where aboriginals live
The vast majority of aboriginals – eight in 10 – live in either Ontario or the four western provinces. However, they make up the largest share of the population in the territories and prairie provinces.
The 24,920 aboriginal people living in Nunavut represent 85 per cent of the territory's total population, the highest proportion in the country. Aboriginals account for half of the population in the Northwest Territories, 25 per cent in the Yukon, 15 per cent in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, and 6 per cent in Alberta.
Other key findings from Tuesday's data release by Statistics Canada:
• In 2006, 40 per cent of First Nations people lived on reserve, down from 42 per cent in 1996
• Winnipeg has the highest number of urban aboriginals at 68,380, representing 10 per cent of its population, followed by Edmonton with 52,100 (5 per cent), Vancouver at 40,310 (2 per cent) and Toronto at 26,575 (.5 per cent). Other census metropolitan areas with a large aboriginal population include Saskatoon and Regina.
• 42 per cent of aboriginal children under 14 live with either a lone parent, grandparent or relative. Only 58 per cent live with two parents, compared to 82 per cent in the non-native population
Mr. Norris said the high proportion of young aboriginals and the fact more live off reserve in urban areas means that native education will continue to be a key policy issue for federal and provincial governments, especially in the West, where aboriginals make up a greater proportion of the population.
“We hear a lot about labour market changes and labour market shortages. Certainly, the aboriginal population in our western provinces will make up an important part of that [future] labour market,” Mr. Norris said.
Overcrowding and the Inuit
The census also found that the Inuit live in some of the most crowded living conditions in Canada. About 31 per cent live in crowded homes – defined as more than one person per room.
This was down slightly from 1996 when the number was 36 per cent, however a large percentage of Inuit live in homes that are even more crowded. In 2006, 12 per cent of Inuit lived in homes with an average of 1.5 persons or more per room, compared with just 1 per cent of the non-aboriginal population.
The housing crisis is particularly acute in Nunavut.
“If you put it in perspective, the problem is huge,” said Peter Scott, president of the Nunavut Housing Corporation. He said a comparable situation would be if Ontario suddenly required 1.5 million public housing units.
“I've got a little over 4,000 public housing units in my inventory and I need 3,000 more units to address the problem,” he said.
Mr. Scott points to several issues that compound the housing crisis in Canada's newest territory: Nunavut has one of the youngest populations and highest birth rates in the country, resulting in about 274 new family formations each year, he said.
That, coupled with a decade-long drought of federal investment in housing and the nearly complete lack of transitional housing such as boarding homes or low-rent apartments, has made the situation dire, Mr. Scott said.
“We're continuing to fall behind, not even holding our own,” he said. “You almost need to invest $200-million into housing on an annual basis in order to catch up over a 10-year-period.”
There was less crowding among First Nations, but they were still five times more likely than non-aboriginal people to live in crowded homes.
The problem was especially prevalent on reserves, where one in 10 natives lived in a dwelling with 1.5 people or more per room. However, the census also notes that there was some improvement in crowding on reserves, particularly on those in Ontario and Quebec.
In 2006, 28 per cent of First Nations surveyed said they lived in a home in need of major repairs, compared with just seven per cent of the non-aboriginal population.
Language
The language of the Inuit also suffered a setback, according to the new numbers. In 2006, 64 per cent of Inuit reported Inuktitut as their mother tongue, down from 68 per cent in 1996. “Mother tongue” refers to the first language lived at home in childhood and still understood.
Also on the decline is the proportion of Inuit who speak Inuktitut at home. Half of the Inuit reported Inuktitut as their home language, down from 58% in 1996. Although 69% of Inuit surveyed said they could speak Inuktitut well enough to carry on a conversation, this was a drop from 72 per cent a decade earlier.
The news on language was better for North American Indians. The census found the percentage of First Nations people who said they could speak an aboriginal language well enough to carry on a conversation held steady at 29 per cent from 2001 to 2006.
The census recorded nearly 60 different aboriginal languages spoken by First Nations. The top four in order are Cree, Ojibway, Oji-Cree and Montagnais-Naskapi.
Census participation
A record number of first nations people took part in the 2006 census, but some of the country's most populous reserves still shunned it.
While native participation in the census has increased, thousands of aboriginals were not counted because they are homeless, in jail or refused to give their consent.
“We are not Canadian citizens,” said Chief Clarence Simon of Kanesatake, the Mohawk community that stared down soldiers during the 1990 Oka crisis. His reserve is among 22 not included in the most recent census snapshot.
“We are North American Indians. And that is something they have to understand,” he said of Statistics Canada officials who reached out to first nations.
“They already know how many native people are registered.”
Accurate figures are vital because they help set federal funding for native housing, health, education and social services negotiated in treaties.
Many cash-strapped bands mistrust how census data might be used. They also note that Indian Affairs already collects yearly membership numbers.
“Everything under the sun has been studied,” said Chief Don Maracle of the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory west of Kingston. “They have statistics on education, on health, numbers, age groups.”
For years, Chief Maracle said, first nations members were denied rights that Canadians take for granted – including the right to vote.
“The mindset of a lot of Iroquoian people is that they will not participate in the census. We're not going to politick with them to change their mind.
“It's not the most pressing issue that council has.”
Unresolved land claims, unsafe drinking water and extreme poverty are higher priorities, he said.
By law, refusal to fill out the information forms calls for a $500 fine or three months in jail. Fifty-two cases were referred to the federal Justice Department and seven people were convicted after the 2001 census.
Mr. Arora, stressed that 98 per cent of first nations members co-operate. His department prefers outreach to legal action, he said in an interview.
Census staff made special efforts to count people in homeless shelters, he added. People in institutions such as jails are counted although specific identity characteristics are not separated out.
Still, sampling techniques allow data to be adjusted to provide good results, Mr. Arora said. “Our estimates are very robust. The argument that we miss a tremendous number – we don't see that.”
Across Canada, the data-gathering extravaganza provides as detailed a picture as possible of the country's social and economic fabric. But despite special efforts to employ native liaison officers and develop products that make use of resulting statistics, aboriginal people were once again under-counted.
Kanesatake, with about 2,000 members, is among the smaller of 22 reserves not reflected in the 2006 census. Others include the Mohawks of Akwesasne and Kahnawake in Quebec, Little Buffalo in Alberta, Esquimalt in B.C., and the Six Nations of the Grand River near Brantford, Ont. – Canada's largest band with 22,649 members according to the federal Indian Registry.
Thousands more people weren't specifically noted as aboriginal because they had no permanent address or were behind bars.
“We think it's a severe under-count,” says Peter Dinsdale, executive director of the National Association of Friendship Centres. “But that being said, they're still the strongest numbers that we have.”
The census reach is improving, says Nancy Zukewich of Statistics Canada. There were 30 reserves incompletely enumerated in the 2001 census, down from 77 in 1996.
“We just don't arrive on the doorstep once every five years and ask them to fill out a census form,” Ms. Zukewich said in an interview. “We've been developing an ongoing relationship with aboriginal organizations and communities.”
“We also have ongoing discussions ... about their data needs. And we're making big efforts to try to give information back in a way that's easy to use and understand.”
