Aboriginal Timeline Databank

Canada and the World

Current Events with a Canadian Perspective

Last update

19 November 2010

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Aboriginal Timeline: DataBank

Total number of people identifying themselves as Aboriginal in the 2006 national Census: 1,172,790

percentage this is of Canada’s population: 3.8%

percentage in 2001: 3.3%

in 1996: 2.8%

Position in world ranking of Canada measured by concentration of Indigenous people: second

Country with the highest percentage of

Aboriginal people: New Zealand (15%)

Number of Inuit: 50,485

of Metis: 389,785

of Indian people: 698,025

Amount by which Canada’s Aboriginal population

grew between 1996 and 2006: 45%

Amount by which Canada’s non-Aboriginal population grew between 1996 and 2006: 8%

Median age of the Inuit population: 22 years

of Indian people: 25 years

of Metis: 30 years

of non-Aboriginal Canadian population: 40 years

Number of First Nations: 615

Number of First Nations’ language groups: 10

These language families are:

Algonquian, Athapaskan, Siouan, Salish, Tsimshian, Wakashan, Iroquoian, Haida, Kutenai, and Tlingit.

Number of First Nations people who identified

themselves as Registered Indians (Status): 564,870

percentage this is of all Indians: 81%

Estimated proportion of Indians living on reserve

in 2006: 40%

in 1996: 42%

Percentage of off-reserve Indians

living in urban areas: 76%

Percentage of all Indians living in Ontario: 23%

in British Columbia: 19%

in Manitoba: 14%

in Alberta: 14%

in Saskatchewan: 13%

City with the highest number of Aboriginal residents: Winnipeg (68,380)

followed by: Edmonton (52,100)

Vancouver (40,310)

Toronto (26,575)

Calgary (26,575)

Saskatoon (21,535)

Regina (17,105)

Percentage of Aboriginal people living in crowded

homes i.e. more than one person per room: 11%

percentage in 1996: 17%

Number of times an Aboriginal person is more likely to live in a crowded home than a non-Aboriginal: four

Portion of Aboriginal people living in homes requiring major repairs: one in four

Number of times an Aboriginal person is more likely

to live in a home needing major repairs

than a non-Aboriginal: three

Portion of First Nations houses that are contaminated with mould: almost half

Percentage of Inuit children under 14 living

in a two-parent family: 70%

Percentage for non-Aboriginal Canadians: 82%

Number of First Nations’ communities that were

under boil water advisories in 2006: 100

Percentage of Aboriginal children living in poverty

in 2006: 25%

of non-Aboriginal children: 17%

Year in which House of Commons unanimously

passed a resolution to “seek to achieve the goal

of eliminating poverty among Canadian children

by the year 2000”: 1989

Percentage of Aboriginal people in Saskatchewan

living below the poverty line in 2004: 42.6%

of non-Aboriginal people in Saskatchewan

in 2004: 9.2%

Cost of the two percentage point cut in the

Goods and Services Tax in lost revenue to the

federal government over five years: $32.3 billion

The suicide rate in the Ontario Native community

of Pikangikum in 2000: 470 per 100,000

number of times this is greater than

the national average: 36

suicide rate among Aboriginals nationwide

in 2007: 126 per 100,000

Percentage by which infant mortality is higher among First Nations than the rest of Canada: 20%

Number of times more likely Native people are to have Type 2 diabetes than non-Aboriginals: three

Percentage of new HIV/AIDS cases in Canada

that occur among Aboriginals: 15%

United Nations ranking of Canada in its desirability

as a place to live in 2007: fourth

Ranking for Canada’s First Nations: 65th