III. A Portrait of Aboriginal Canadians
This section draws a portrait of the major characteristics of Aboriginal Canadians. It uses
data from the 1996 and 2001 censuses to illustrate how the Aboriginal population fares compared
to the general population, and how much their situation has changed between the two Census
years. First, it focuses on the distribution and size of the Aboriginal population relative to the
general Canadian population. Then, it examines the census data on Aboriginal educational
attainment, income, labour market participation, unemployment and employment.
A. Characteristics of the Aboriginal Population
The Census is the most important source of detailed information on Aboriginal
Canadians. The most recently released Census contains labour market data for the year 2001, and
income data for 2000. Results from the 2006 Census are scheduled to be released only in 2008.
Consequently, the data used in this section are largely drawn from the 2001 Census, even though
these data are over half a decade old. Specifically, this report uses the Public Use Micro-Data
Files, which allows the user to create custom tabulations.
|
Table 1: Population Growth by Identity Group, per cent unless otherwise noted, 1996-2001 |
Metis |
Inuit | ||||
|
Total |
Non- |
Aboriginal |
North Indian | |||
|
1996 (thousands of persons) |
29610.8 |
28706.7 |
904.3 |
648.0 |
214.2 |
42.1 |
|
2001 (thousands of persons) |
31021.3 |
29954.5 |
1066.5 |
713.1 |
305.8 |
47.6 |
|
Increase Over 1996-2001 |
4.8 |
4.3 |
17.9 |
10.0 |
42.8 |
13.1 |
|
Share of Total Population in 1996 |
100.0 |
96.9 |
3.1 |
2.2 |
0.7 |
0.1 |
|
Share of Total Population in 2000 |
100.0 |
96.6 |
3.4 |
2.3 |
1.0 |
0.2 |
|
Share of Aboriginal Population in 1996 |
- |
- |
100.0 |
71.7 |
23.7 |
4.7 |
|
Share of Aboriginal Population in 2000 |
- |
- |
100.0 |
66.9 |
28.7 |
4.5 |
|
Contribution to Total Population Growth |
100.0 |
88.5 |
11.5 |
4.6 |
6.5 |
0.4 |
|
Contribution to Aboriginal Population |
- |
- |
100.0 |
40.1 |
56.5 |
3.4 |
Source: Statistics Canada (2005a), 1996 and 2001 Census of Population Adjusted Counts (July 1st).
One issue related to Census data is population underestimation particular to the
Aboriginal populations. In addition to general undercounting issues,11 Statistics Canada officials
often run into additional problems when trying to enumerate reserves. For example, in 2001, they
were for various reasons unable to completely enumerate about 30 reserves. The official Census
data are not adjusted for this collection issue, but adjusted estimates are provided in Statistics
11 The Census population estimate is about 3 per cent lower than the adjusted population estimate that takes account
of undercounting.