Aboriginal peoples

"Keep a few embers
from the fire
that used to burn in your village,
some day go back
so all can gather again
and rekindle a new flame,
for a new life in a changed world."

So writes Chief Dan George in his book entitled My Heart Soars. The bonds that Aboriginal peoples have with ancestors both recent and distant have long been an important part of Aboriginal spirituality and a key to their understanding of the present.

	Petroglyphs Provincial Park, Peterborough, Ont. Photo: Karen Milligan

In 2001, just under one million people in Canada identified themselves with an Aboriginal group or reported themselves as a Registered or Treaty Indian or a member of an Indian Band or First Nation. Of this total, 62% were North American Indian, 30% were Métis and 5% were Inuit. Ontario was home to the largest number of Aboriginal people, with 188,315. British Columbia ranked second with 170,025, followed by Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. In 2001, Aboriginal people formed a much higher proportion of the population in the North and much of the West: 85% in Nunavut, 51% in the Northwest Territories, 23% in the Yukon, 14% in Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

More North American Indians lived in Ontario in 2001 than any other province, followed closely by British Columbia. The largest number of Métis lived in Alberta and Manitoba. Most Inuit people lived in Nunavut.

Over 31% of Aboriginal people, primarily North American Indians, lived on Indian reserves in 2001, another 49% lived in urban areas and 20% lived in rural non-reserve areas—often in isolated northern communities.

Although the Aboriginal population may be small in comparison with the Canadian population as a whole, their population has been growing at a rapid rate. In 2001, the fertility rate of Aboriginal women of childbearing age was one and a half times that for the total population. While Aboriginal people made up only 3.3% of the total Canadian population, their children accounted for 5.6% of all Canadian children. In Manitoba and Saskatchewan, 23% and 25% of all children were Aboriginal, respectively.

In 2001, about 65% of Aboriginal children under 15 living on a reserve resided with two parents, compared with 50% in census metropolitan areas. While just under one-third of on-reserve Aboriginal children in this age group lived in a lone-parent family, nearly half of Aboriginal children in metropolitan areas did so. Only 17% of non-Aboriginal children lived in a lone-parent family.

The language their children use is an issue of particular concern for many Aboriginal people seeking to preserve their cultural heritage. In 2001, only about 24% of all Aboriginal people could carry on a conversation in an Aboriginal language, a decrease from 1996 when that figure was 29%. However, not all Aboriginal languages showed a decline in the number of people with knowledge. Eight of the 14 languages with at least 2,000 speakers in 2001 had increased since 1996, whereas six languages showed declines.

The Inuit were most likely to speak their own language. A total of 31,945 people reported they could carry on a conversation in Inuktitut, the second most common Aboriginal language, up 9% from 29,400 in 1996. Aboriginal people living in the North and on reserves and settlements were most likely to have maintained their heritage language; those in urban areas were least likely.