One in 10 Inuit live in the South, census shows

Aboriginal population numbers from Statistics Canada’s 2001 census show that more than 10 per cent of Canadian Inuit live in southern Canada.

In 2001, census-takers counted 1,380 Inuit living in Ontario, 3.1 per cent of all Canadian Inuit counted that year.

In the rest of southern Canada, not counting the northern territories, Ontario, Quebec and Labrador, census-takers counted 3,145 Inuit — seven per cent of all Canadian Inuit — scattered throughout British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.

From Nanaimo, B.C., where there are 25 Inuit, to St. John’s, Nfld., where there are 210, there are Inuit scattered amongst a long list of Canadian cities and towns.

The largest concentrations of Inuit living south of the treeline are in Ottawa-Gatineau (910), Yellowknife (660), Edmonton (465), Montreal (435), Toronto (355) and Vancouver (260.)

There are also Inuit living in such unlikely places as Abbotsford, B.C., Summerside, P.E.I., and Leamington, Ont.

In all of Canada, Statistics Canada counted 45,070 Inuit. That’s a 12 per cent increase from 1996, when Canada’s Inuit population was at 40,220.

Half of those people — 22,560 — live in Nunavut.

Another 9,535 Inuit — 21.2 per cent of the total — live in Quebec; 4,555, or 10.1 per cent, live in Newfoundland and Labrador; and 3,905, or 8.7 per cent, live in the Northwest Territories.

Statistics Canada’s Quebec total includes 435 Inuit living in Montreal, 35 in Quebec City, 15 in Sept-Isles, 10 in Val-d’Or, and 10 in Chicoutimi-Jonquiere.

Added to the 4,525 Inuit counted in Ontario and the rest of southern Canada, that may mean that more than 5,000 Inuit not only live outside the four Inuit land claim settlement regions — they live outside the Arctic.

Statistics Canada released the numbers this week as part of a “demographic profile” of aboriginal people, put together from the results of Canada’s 2001 census.

They found that 976,305 people in Canada identified themselves as being either North American Indian, Métis, or Inuit — 3.3 per cent of Canada’s total population. Inuit make up only five per cent of the total aboriginal population.

Meanwhile, the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami is pouncing on this week’s aboriginal census numbers and using them to support its call for more social housing, and better health care in Inuit communities.

ITK says a survey based on the 1996 census showed that Canada’s 53 Inuit communities need 8,800 new social housing units, and that the 12.1 per cent increase in the Inuit population shows that even more are needed.

“The government of Canada has a fiduciary obligation to provide social housing in Inuit communities,” ITK president Jose Kusugak said in the news release.

ITK also says the numbers show that more services are needed for Inuit youth and elders, since the size of both groups is increasing.

Youth make up 57 per cent of the Inuit population, while the median age in Arctic communities is only 20 years, compared to the national average of 37 years.

But the number of Inuit over the age of 65 years is increasing too, from 1,015 in 1996 to 1,405 in 2001. ITK says that shows that there will be a need for more home care, elder’s facilities, and support services for elders in the future, and a need to deal with an increase in chronic diseases.

The census numbers also show that use of the Inuktitut language is generally strong among Inuit, with about 70 per cent of Inuit respondents reporting that they are capable of carrying on a conversation in Inuktitut.

The five communities with the largest populations reporting an Inuit identity were Iqaluit (3,010 Inuit), Arviat (1,785 Inuit), Rankin Inlet (1,680 Inuit), Kujjuuaq (1,540 Inuit), and Baker Lake (1,405 Inuit.)

An aboriginal people’s survey, containing 146 questions, was conducted at the same time as the 2001 census.

The Inuit portion was done as a collaboration between Statistics Canada, Laval University, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, the Labrador Inuit Association, Makivik Corporation, Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. and the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation.