Canada’s indigenous population is surging, census finds, as fertility rate rises and more embrace identity

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Don Saganash, a Cree trapper monitoring the traditional land of the Cree First Nations, surveys the Broadback River in Waswanipi, Canada. Photo: Agence France-Presse

Published: 12:06pm, 26 Oct 2017Updated: 12:06pm, 26 Oct 2017

Canada’s indigenous population is growing four times faster than the rest the country, census data showed on Wednesday, marking a dramatic increase in the ranks of people who have long struggled with poverty and marginalisation.

A growing number of Canadians identifying themselves as indigenous, a higher fertility rate and a higher life expectancy for indigenous people than in the past help explain the rapid growth rate, Statistics Canada said.

Canada’s indigenous population grew 42.5 per cent in the 10 years to 2016 to 1.7 million people, compared to 11 per cent growth for Canada as a whole, Statistics Canada said, in data released from the 2016 census.

The findings show a young population, with an average age of 32.1 years, compared with 40.9 for the non-aboriginal population.

A file photo taken on September 9 shows Melaw Nakehk’o as she fleshes a moose hide with a moose leg bone at the urban hide tanning camp in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. Photo: Agence France-Presse

The census, which showed indigenous people accounting for nearly 5 per cent of the population overall, also found a younger generation significantly more likely to be raised in foster care. Indigenous children made up 7.7 per cent of all Canadians under 5 but more than half of the children were in foster homes, according to the census data.

The census also found that one fifth of the indigenous population lives in overcrowded housing, and 44 per cent of indigenous people on reserves were living in homes that needed major repairs.