Statistics Canada data shows significant differences for aboriginal population. IAN GRAHAM / THOMPSON CITIZEN. 12-2-15
Statistics Canada data shows significant differences for aboriginal population. IAN GRAHAM / THOMPSON CITIZEN. 12-2-15
Aboriginal people are younger, more likely to live in crowded housing and more likely to smoke and to drink heavily than rest of the population as a whole, data released by Statistics Canada shows.
They are also more likely not to drink at all, not to have any post-secondary credentials and to be in foster care, according the data, which comes from the 2011 National Household Survey and the 2012 Aboriginal Peoples Survey, which did not include First Nations people who live on reserve.
There were 1,409,100 self-identified aboriginal people in Canada in 2011, including 859,970 First Nations people, 451,795 Métis people and 59,445 Inuit people, as well as 26,485 who reported other aboriginal identities and 11,415 who reported more than on aboriginal identity. Over the five years preceding the 2011 survey, the First Nations population increased 23 per cent, the Inuit population 18 per cent and the Métis population 16 per cent. Nearly half of aboriginal people are under the age of 25, including 49 per cent of First Nations people (52 per cent of those living on-reserve), and 45 per cent of Inuit people. The median age for First Nations people was 25.8 as a whole, while it was 22.8 for Inuit people, 23.8 for on-reserve First Nations people, 27.1 for off-reserve First Nations people and 31.4 for Métis people. The median age of Canada’s non-aboriginal population was 40.6.
Of the 75 per cent of First Nations people who said they were Treaty Indians or Registered Indians as defined by the Indian Act, 50 per cent lived on reserve compared to 38 per cent of First Nations people as a whole. Housing conditions on First Nations and in the North had the greatest percentage of overcrowded housing, defined as more than one person per room, with 28 per cent of First Nations people on reserve and 30 per cent of Inuit living in such housing, compared to seven per cent of off-reserve First Nations people, three per cent of Métis people and four per cent of the non-aboriginal population. Forty-three per cent of First Nations living on reserve lived in houses needing major repairs compared to 15 per cent off reserve, 30 per cent of Inuit people, and 13 per cent of Métis.
Fifty-eight per cent of Inuit children under 14 lived with both parents, compared to 57 per cent of Métis people and 43 per cent of First Nations people. For non-aboriginal people the rate is 74 per cent. Thirty-seven per cent of First Nations children, 30 per cent of Métis children and 26 per cent of Inuit children lived in one-parent households, while for the non-aboriginal population the rate is 17 per cent. Aboriginal children are also much more likely than non-aboriginal children to live in foster care, with aboriginal children accounting for 48 per cent of all children in foster care in Canada. Of those, 82 per cent are First Nations. Six per cent of First Nations people living off reserve and four per cent of aboriginal children under 14 as a whole were in foster care at the time this data was collected.
Nearly half of aboriginal people aged 25 to 64 have a post-secondary certificate, diploma or degree, including 55 per cent of Métis people in this age group, 45 per cent of First Nations and 36 per cent of Inuit. The corresponding rate in the non-aboriginal population is 65 per cent. Forty-seven per cent of First Nations people on reserve and 49 per cent of Inuit didn’t have any certificate, degree or diploma, while for Métis people the rate was 21 per cent and for non-aboriginal people it was 12 per cent. Aboriginal people with post-secondary credentials had employment rates lower than non-aboriginal people with the same level of education, and the same was true for those without certificates, diplomas or degrees of any kind.
Almost half (49 per cent) of Inuit people surveyed smoked daily, compared to 27 per cent of off-reserve First Nations people, 26 per cent of Métis people and 15 per cent on non-aboriginal people. Heavy drinkers (those who had five drinks or more on any occasion in the previous year) made up 35 per cent of the off-reserve First Nations population, 39 per cent of the Inuit population, 30 per cent of the Métis population and 23 per cent of the non-aboriginal populations. Thirty-eight per cent of Inuit, 31 per cent of First Nations people off reserve and 25 per cent of Métis people were non-drinkers while in the non-aboriginal population the rate was 24 per cent.
Interact with us using Facebook