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This map shows the distribution of the Aboriginal population by
means of point symbols. Each symbol increases in size with the size
of the population; also, the shade of the symbol is accentuated
to facilitate reading of the map. The symbols are located at the
centre of the 3051 census subdivisions (CSDs)
containing a population of more than 10 Aboriginal persons. The
CSDs are geostatistical
units corresponding to a municipality. An attempt has been made
to group the population into five classes representing roughly one-fifth
of Aboriginal persons. However the largest class, that containing
from 0 to 499 Aboriginal persons, contains approximately 250 000
persons representing one-third of the population dispersed over
2700 CSDs. Half the
Aboriginal population lives in CSDs
containing fewer than 1000 Aboriginal people.
The most populous province, Ontario, is also the one with the highest
number of Aboriginal people, (about 142 000). These people are often
integrated in the large centres in the south of the province. British
Columbia has almost as many Aboriginal people: 140 000. They are
concentrated on Vancouver Island and around Vancouver, but can also
be found almost everywhere in this province, which has the largest
number of Indian reserves and settlements. In the Prairie Provinces,
there are about 363 000 Aboriginal people, divided between Manitoba
(128 700), Alberta (122 900) and Saskatchewan (111 300).
Less than 14% of Aboriginal people live in the provinces east of
Ontario, i.e. 71 500 in Quebec and 37 800 in the Atlantic provinces,
even though a third of the total population of Canada lives here.
The three territories have 45 900 Aboriginal people scattered over
more than 3.9 million square kilometres.
Many of the Aboriginal people of Western Canada live in urban areas.
The census metropolitan area (CMA)
of Winnipeg has the most Aboriginal people (45 750), followed by
the CMAs of
Edmonton and Vancouver, each of which has more than 30 000; Saskatoon,
Calgary and Regina all have populations of more than 10 000 Aboriginal
citizens. In fact, over a quarter of all Aboriginal Canadians live
in the 25 census metropolitan areas.
A zoom-in provides the reader with the names of the 25 CSDs
which have more than 3000 Aboriginal residents. Note that 20 of
these CSDs are cities
and only three are Indian reserves. The Blood Reserve in Alberta
is the most populous of the Indian reserves, with an Aboriginal
population of 4300.
At the 1:7 500 000 scale (zoom level 2), the toponyms of 109 CSDs
with more than 1000 Aboriginal persons are displayed. Another map
layer illustrates in green the 1000 or so reserves and other inhabited
Indian settlements of Canada. According to the 1996 Census, approximately
225 000 Aboriginal people live on reserves and other Indian settlements,
while two-thirds of Aboriginal persons live elsewhere. A reserve is land
that has been set aside by the Crown for the use and benefit of
an Indian band. Métis, Inuit and Non-Status Indians do not
usually live on reserves.
At the largest scale, some 450 toponyms have been chosen to show
certain of the CSDs
containing more than 100 Aboriginal persons. The road network and
Indian reserves are also displayed at this scale. |
