Figures show high Indigenous growth

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This article was published 25/10/2017 (2961 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA — The number of Indigenous people in Manitoba continues to soar, and it appears this growth relies more on birth rates than adults discovering Indigenous roots.

Census data released Wednesday revealed nationally that the Aboriginal population has jumped four times the non-Aboriginal growth rate from 2006 to 2016, now accounting for 4.9 per cent of Canada’s total population.

The data also revealed troubling housing trends for First Nations people in Manitoba. Winnipeg is still home to more Indigenous people than any other Canadian city, with 92,810 — 12.2 per cent of the metro area’s population.

While the number of Indigenous people in the city has grown 37.1 per cent over the past decade, the rate is much higher elsewhere, doubling in some Maritime and Quebec cities.

While there was a rise in adults claiming Indigenous ancestry, the increase in First Nations and Métis Manitobans was most noticeable among children.

“We can’t easily disentangle the difference between the so-called natural growth of higher fertility and the changes of self-reporting — but you get an idea,” said Thomas Anderson, an analyst with Statistics Canada.

In 2016, Aboriginal people represented 18 per cent of Manitoba’s population, but they made up for 29.6 per cent of children aged four or younger.

Those figures highlight concerns about child-welfare issues. Data released in August showed Manitoba leading the country in children living in foster care, with 2.1 per cent of children aged 14 and under in the foster system in 2016. Researchers believe most are Indigenous kids.

Meanwhile, the census revealed a boom in people identifying as Métis nationally, growing 51.2 per cent from 2006 to 2016.

Winnipeg held the largest population of Métis people in 2016, with the 52,130. But Ontario, for the first time, holds the largest share of Métis people, more than one-fifth of Canada’s Métispopulation, a number that rose 64.3 per cent in a decade.

The census was collected a month before the Supreme Court ruled Métis people, and Aboriginals lacking First Nations status, fell under the same federal jurisdiction as Inuit and status Aboriginals, though it’s unknown whether that had an effect.

First Nations populations continue to grow due to high birth rates, both on and off reserve, though Wednesday’s data show migration to cities remains commonplace in Manitoba.

Nationally, one-fifth of Indigenous people reported living in homes in need of major repairs. That number has declined among Inuit people and off-reserve First Nations, but not those living on reserves.

One in three Aboriginal toddlers in Canada lives with a single parent.

A third of children living on reserves under the age of five live with at least one grandparent. Both these trends are higher than the general population, and it’s unclear how common either are in Manitoba.

The census focuses on immediate family members living in the same household, and does not tabulate relatives or friends who help raise children but don’t live in the same home.

Despite a young population, Indigenous seniors are living longer, and health groups say the rising number of Aboriginals living past 65 require unique care.

The data also reveal a decline in the proportion of Indigenous people in Canada who can speak an Aboriginal language, from 21.4 per cent in 2006 to 15.6 per cent 10 years later.

That’s despite a 3.1 per cent rise in the actual number of Indigenous people who can speak a language — suggesting the growing population is losing its connection to Indigenous languages. Just 1.6 per cent of Canada’s Métis can speak an Aboriginal language, and less than one-tenth of those people live in Manitoba.

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca