Aboriginal Peoples in Canada - Demographics

Demographics

Main article: Classification of indigenous peoples of the Americas See also: List of First Nations peoples and List of Indian reserves in Canada

There are three distinctive groups of North America indigenous peoples recognized in the Canadian Constitution Act, 1982, sections 25 and 35. Under the Employment Equity Act, Aboriginal people are a designated group along with women, visible minorities, and persons with disabilities. They are not a visible minority under the Employment Equity Act and in the view of Statistics Canada.

The 2006 Canadian Census enumerated 1,172,790 Aboriginal people in Canada, 3.8% of the country's total population. This total comprises 698,025 people of First Nations descent, 389,785 Métis, and 50,485 Inuit. National representative bodies of Aboriginal people in Canada include the Assembly of First Nations, the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, the Métis National Council, the Native Women's Association of Canada, the National Association of Native Friendship Centres and the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples.

The above number of 1,172,790, that represents the total Aboriginal population in Canada, does not include approximately 40,115 individuals of Aboriginal heritage, who could not be counted during the 2006 census. This is due to the fact that certain Aboriginal reserves and communities in Canada did not participate in the 2006 census, since enumeration of those communities were not permitted. In 2006, 22 Native communities were not completely enumerated unlike in the year 2001, when 30 First Nation communities were not enumerated and during 1996 when 77 Native communities could not be completely enumerated. Hence, there was probably 1,212,905 individuals of Aboriginal ancestry (North American Indian, Metis, and Inuit) residing in Canada during the time when the 2006 census was conducted in Canada.

Indigenous people assert that their sovereign rights are valid, and point to the Royal Proclamation of 1763, which is mentioned in the Canadian Constitution Act, 1982, Section 25, the British North America Acts and the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (to which Canada is a signatory) in support of this claim.

Province/Territory	Number	% provincialA	% nationalB	Indian	Métis	Inuit	Multiple	OtherC
01British Columbia	196,075	4.8%	16.7%	129,575	59,445	795	1,655	4,605
02Alberta	188,365	5.8%	16.1%	97,280	85,495	1,605	1,220	2,760
03Saskatchewan	141,890	14.9%	12.1%	91,400	48,115	220	625	1,530
04Manitoba	175,395	15.5%	15.0%	100,645	71,805	565	680	1,695
05Ontario	242,495	2.0%	20.7%	158,400	73,610	2,040	1,910	6,540
06Quebec	108,430	1.5%	9.2%	65,085	27,980	10,950	955	3,450
07New Brunswick	17,655	2.5%	1.5%	12,385	4,270	185	100	710
08Nova Scotia	24,175	2.7%	2.1%	15,240	7,680	320	100	830
09Prince Edward Island	1,730	1.3%	0.1%	1,230	385	30	10	75
10Newfoundland and Labrador	23,450	4.7%	2.0%	7,765	6,470	4,715	290	4,205
11Yukon	7,580	25.1%	0.6%	6,275	800	255	50	190
12Northwest Territories	20,635	50.3%	1.8%	12,640	3,580	4,160	105	145
13Nunavut	24,915	85.0%	2.1%	100	125	24,640	30	20
14Canada	1,172,790	3.8%	100.0%	698,025	389,785	50,480	7,740	26,760
Sources: 2006 Census

Ethnographers commonly classify indigenous peoples of the Americas in the United States and Canada into ten geographical regions, cultural areas, with shared cultural traits. The Canadian regions are:

• Arctic cultural area – (Eskimo–Aleut languages)
• Subarctic culture area – (Na-Dene languages – Algic languages)
• Eastern Woodlands (Northeast) cultural area – (Algic languages and Iroquoian languages)
• Plains cultural area – (Siouan–Catawban languages)
• Northwest Plateau cultural area – (Salishan languages)
• Northwest Coast cultural area – (Penutian languages, Tsimshianic languages and Wakashan languages)

In the 20th century the Aboriginal population of Canada increased tenfold. Between 1900 and 1950 the population grew by 29%. After the 1960s the infant mortality level on reserves dropped dramatically and the population grew by 161%. Since the 1980s the number of First Nations babies more than doubled and currently almost half of the First Nations population is under the age of 25.