From 2016 to 2021, Canada’s Indigenous population grew by 9.4 per cent, compared to the non-Indigenous population, which grew by just 5.3 per cent over the same period. While this growth rate is high, it is almost half of the growth rate of the native population between 2011 and 2016, which was 18.9 percent. The 2021 census found that the faster rate of growth in the indigenous population can be explained by the higher birth rate and changes, over time, in the way census questions are answered. “Overall, respondents have become more likely to identify as Indigenous over time,” the census said.
“The reasons people are more likely to identify as Indigenous may be related to social factors and external factors such as changes in legislation or court decisions.” The 2021 census also found that 3.2 per cent of Indigenous children in Canada were in foster care compared to just 0.2 per cent of non-Indigenous children in Canada. Overall, Indigenous children accounted for more than half of children in foster care, at 53.8 per cent, even though they represented only 7.7 per cent of children 14 and under in Canada. Despite federal government efforts to reduce the over-representation of Indigenous children and youth in foster care, the number of Indigenous children in foster care has remained nearly unchanged since 2016. Highlights of the 2021 Census of Indigenous Peoples in Canada:

There were 624,220 Métis living in Canada, a 6.3% increase from 2016. There were 70,545 Inuit living in Canada. There were 1,048,405 First Nations living in Canada. There were 801,045 indigenous people living in major urban centres, an increase of 12.5% ​​from 2016 to 2021. The Indigenous population was 8.2 years younger than the non-Indigenous population overall. Indigenous people were more likely than non-Indigenous people to live in a dwelling in need of major repairs (16.4 per cent vs 5.7 per cent) or to live in overcrowded homes (17.1 per cent vs 9.4 per cent ). Almost one in five Indigenous people in Canada (18.8%) lived in a low-income household. That’s down almost 10 percentage points from 2016, but the drop was likely due to government transfers in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Statistics Canada.

More to come.