Report Highlights Growing Aboriginal Population

Report Highlights Growing Aboriginal Population

Wednesday, March 26, 2008 at 16:23

A new report indicates Saskatchewan’s aging population will be partially offset by the boom in Aboriginal births.

However, the Canada West Foundation says despite the surge in First Nations and Metis youth, our province will still have the highest senior citizen ratio in western Canada.

The report’s author, Brett Gartner, says cities continue to grow as more people leave reserves.

But he notes that trend is happening slower in Saskatchewan than elsewhere.

In 2006, 32 per cent of Aboriginal citizens in the province were under the age of 15, compared to just 17 per cent of the non-Aboriginal population.

The report also says almost 60 per cent of Canada’s Aboriginal people live in the western provinces, and that the Aboriginal population grew 16 per cent between 2001 to 2006 — three times faster than the non-Aboriginal one.