First Nations people wait for the Walk for Reconciliation to begin in Vancouver, B.C., on Sunday September 24, 2017. The 2016 census reported 1.67 million Indigenous people in Canada in 2016, accounting for 4.9 per cent of Canada’s total population.

First Nations people wait for the Walk for Reconciliation to begin in Vancouver, B.C., on Sunday September 24, 2017. The 2016 census reported 1.67 million Indigenous people in Canada in 2016, accounting for 4.9 per cent of Canada’s total population.
Photo Credit: PC / DARRYL DYCK

Canadian Indigenous communities and languages endure: 2016 census

Despite the concerted policy of abuse and dispossession directed at Canada’s Aboriginal communities by successive federal governments for over a century, Indigenous communities and their languages continue to display remarkable resilience, according to the latest data from the 2016 census released Wednesday by Statistics Canada.

The number of Indigenous Canadians has in fact grown by 42.5 per cent over the last decade, four times the rate of the non-Indigenous population, according to the census.

The census reported 1.67 million Indigenous people in Canada in 2016, accounting for 4.9 per cent of Canada’s total population. This was up from 3.8 per cent in 2006 and 2.8 per cent in 1996.

Statistics Canada population growth projections suggest that the number of Indigenous Canadians will continue to grow quickly. In the next two decades, the Aboriginal population of Canada – First Nations people, Métis and Inuit – is likely to exceed 2.5 million people, Statistics Canada forecasts.

‘Canada’s future’
Suzie Rich, Chenille Rich and Jenny Mistenapeo, left to right, kindergarten students at Mushuau Innu Natuashish School in the northern Labrador community of Natuashish, N.L., work on an art project on Thursday, Dec. 6, 2007. The 2016 census counted 145,645 children aged 0-4, 8.7 per cent of 1.67 million Indigenous people in Canada.
Suzie Rich, Chenille Rich and Jenny Mistenapeo, left to right, kindergarten students at Mushuau Innu Natuashish School in the northern Labrador community of Natuashish, N.L., work on an art project on Thursday, Dec. 6, 2007. The 2016 census counted 145,645 children aged 0-4, 8.7 per cent of 1.67 million Indigenous people in Canada. © PC/Andrew Vaughan

The average age of the Indigenous population was 32.1 years, nearly a decade younger than the non-Indigenous population at 40.9 years. The census counted 145,645 children aged 0-4, 8.7 per cent of Aboriginal people in Canada.

“These statistics are a compelling reminder that our young and booming population must be given hope and opportunity and supported through significant, sustained investments in their future,” said Assembly of First Nations National Chief Perry Bellegarde, whose organization represents more than 600 on-reserve Indigenous communities. “It is clear once again that our future is Canada’s future, and healthy, strong First Nations people are essential to a healthy, strong Canada.”

70 languages reported

The number of Indigenous Canadians able to speak one of the 70 Aboriginal languages has also grown to 260,550 to speakers, an increase of 3.1 per cent since 2006. But decades of government policy to assimilate Indigenous Canadians and eradicate their unique and diverse cultures under the infamous Indian Residential School system have taken a very heavy toll.

Several Aboriginal languages are now “endangered,” with few speakers, although a few others are considered “viable” in the long term, according to Statistics Canada.

Aboriginal languages in Canada are divided into 12 language families: Algonquian languages, Inuit languages, Athabaskan languages, Siouan languages, Salish languages, Tsimshian languages, Wakashan languages, Iroquoian languages, Michif, Tlingit, Kutenai and Haida.

The latter three languages have now fewer than 500 speakers each.

More speakers, but fewer people who can hold a conversation
People walk down the main street in Inuvik, N.W.T. Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2008. Canada’s aboriginal population is growing by leaps and bounds, according to the latest census information.
People walk down the main street in Inuvik, N.W.T. Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2008. Canada’s aboriginal population is growing by leaps and bounds, according to the latest census information. © PC/JONATHAN HAYWARD

The number of Indigenous Canadians able to conduct a conversation in an Aboriginal language has declined by 27.1 per cent over the last decade.

In 2016, 15.6 per cent of the Aboriginal population reported being able to conduct a conversation in an Aboriginal language. This is compared with 21.4 per cent in 2006.

However, the census numbers show that while the percentage of the Aboriginal population able to conduct a conversation in an Aboriginal language declined between 2006 and 2016, the number of people in the Aboriginal population who could speak an Aboriginal language increased by 3.1 per cent.

In 2016, only 12.5 per cent of the Aboriginal population reported an Aboriginal mother tongue.

However, the number of Aboriginal people able to speak an Aboriginal language (260,550) exceeded the number who reported having an Aboriginal mother tongue (208,720). This is evidence that people are learning Aboriginal languages as second languages and trying to reconnect with their Indigenous roots, Statistics Canada pointed out.

“Several of the 70 languages still spoken can survive but none are safe and interventions and supports for all languages and all ages are necessary,” Bellegarde said. “Now is the time for the Indigenous Languages Act to ensure the ‘preservation, protection, and revitalization’ of First Nations languages.”

The Algonquian family of languages – which includes the Cree language, Ojibway and Oji-Cree among others – had the most speakers at 175,825 and spans from Nova Scotia to Alberta, according to the census data.

Inuit languages were the Aboriginal language family with the second‑largest number of speakers at 42,065 people, mostly in Canada’s Arctic regions. Inuktitut was by far the most frequently reported language in this family, with 39,770 speakers, mainly concentrated in Nunavut Territory and Nunavik, in northern Quebec.

With 13,005 speakers, Dene was the most commonly reported language within the Athabaskan language family, mainly in in Saskatchewan and Alberta, but also in the Northwest Territories.

Taken together, speakers of languages in the Algonquian, Inuit and Athabaskan language families accounted for 92.6 per cent of Aboriginal language speakers in Canada, according to the census.

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