Abstract

In the 2001 census, people who identified themselves as Aboriginal accounted for 3.3% of the nation's total population, compared with 2.8% five years earlier. This represents a total of 976 305 persons whom identified themselves with one of these groups - North American Indian, Métis or Inuit. This count was 22.2% higher than the 1996 figure of 799 010. In contrast, the non-Aboriginal population grew only 3.4% between 1996 and 2001.

In 2001, almost one-half (49%) of the population who identified themselves as Aboriginal lived in urban areas, up from 47% in 1996. A total of 245 000 Aboriginal people, or 25% of all Aboriginal people, lived in 10 of the nation's 27 census metropolitan areas in 2001. At the same time, the proportion of Aboriginal people who lived on Indian reserves and settlements declined from 33% to 31%. The overall proportion of the population that lived in rural non-reserve areas declined slightly from 20.4% to 19.5%.

Map Source: Adapted from Statistics Canada, Profile of citizenship, immigration, birthplace, generation status, ethnic origin, visible minorities and Aboriginal peoples, for Canada, provinces, territories, census divisions and census subdivisions - 20% sample data, 2001 Census, Catalogue no 95F0489XCB2001001.