Life Improving for Canada's Urban Aboriginal Population

"Aboriginal people living in the nation's largest metropolitan centres were faring better overall in 2001 than they were two decades earlier, according to a new report. Nevertheless, these Aboriginal urban dwellers still faced many challenges, especially those living in urban centres in the western provinces, where large gaps remained with their non-Aboriginal counterparts.

"This report examines 11 metropolitan centres that had a population of at least 7,000 Aboriginal people in 2001, or whose Aboriginal population accounted for at least 5% of the total population. They are Montréal, Ottawa–Hull (now known as Ottawa–Gatineau), Toronto, Sudbury, Thunder Bay, Winnipeg, Regina, Saskatoon, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver.

"In 2001, Winnipeg had an Aboriginal population of nearly 56,000, 3.5 times the total 20 years earlier. Edmonton, in second spot, had nearly 41,000.

"The most dramatic increase occurred in Saskatoon, where the Aboriginal population increased almost five-fold from about 4,200 to more than 20,000."

Thanks to Michael Dudley