In Canada, as in many countries, being Aboriginal often means being poor, or even very poor. In 2005, 3.8% of the country’s population identified as Aboriginal, either as North American Indians (or First Nations peoples; 60% of the total), Métis (33%) or Inuit (4%).1 Of these, 21.7% had incomes below Statistics Canada’s low income cut-off after tax, compared to 11.1% for the non-Aboriginal identity population (Statistics Canada, 2006a).
Unemployment explained in part this discrepancy, the employment rate of Aboriginal peoples being almost ten percentage points below that of the non-Aboriginal population (53.7% compared to 62.7% in 2005). But a host of factors also combined to make Aboriginal persons more vulnerable to poverty. Basic education, for instance, was not as likely to be achieved, 43.7% of Aboriginal Canadians having less than a secondary education, compared to 23.1% for the non-Aboriginal population. Living and health conditions also remained well below those of the majority. If one defines a dwelling where there is more than one person per room as crowded, for example, 11.4% of Aboriginal identity persons lived in such housing conditions in 2005, compared to 2.9% for the non-Aboriginal population (Statistics Canada, 2006a). Aboriginal identity persons also had significantly shorter life expectancy, and they faced higher risks of suffering from obesity, from chronic illnesses such as diabetes, high blood pressure or heart problems, or from infectious diseases like tuberculosis and chlamydia (Canadian Population Health Initiative, 2004: 80-84).
