Aboriginal People In Canada

As noted, Ontario hosts the majority of Aboriginals in Canada, relative to other provinces. Thirteen of the more than fifty distinct groupings of the First Nations people living in Canada reside in Ontario. They include the Algonquin, Haudenosaunee, Cree, Odawa, Delaware, Pottowatomi, Ojibway, and Mississauga. A 2001 survey concluded that there were over 1.3 million people in Canada with Aboriginal ancestry. Over 700,000 of these belong to the First Nations Communities, which are about 614 in total. In Ontario alone, there are between 127 and 134 First Nations communities as recognized by the federal government and the Chiefs of Ontario respectively (Spotton, 2007). A 2004 population analysis by the Indian and Northern Affairs observed that the total Indian population in Ontario, excluding the Inuit, Metis, and North American Indians, amounted to almost 164,000 people. The majority of these people lived in urban areas while the minority lived in the designated reserves.

For instance, the life expectancy increased to 68.9 years for males and 76.6 years for females. Their birth rate was double that of non-Aboriginals and the infant mortality rates considerably declined relative to the previous census. The income of Aboriginal people in Ontario is considerably less than that of non-Aboriginal Canadians, and it coincides with the Aboriginal people’s lower employment rate and higher unemployment rates. In terms of education, the Aboriginal people were less educated compared to the non-Aboriginal people, with the highest difference existing between the Aboriginals with university degrees and the non-Aboriginals with the same (Spotton,