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Aboriginal population making up increasing percentage of Lethbridge residents

Oct 26, 2017 | 11:20 AM

LETHBRIDGE – A growing percentage of Lethbridge’s population identifies as Aboriginal.

Results from the 2016 census indicate 5.4 per cent of residents of the Lethbridge Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) identified themselves as Aboriginal. That’s up from 4.3 per cent in both 2006 and 2011. It’s also higher than Canada as a whole (4.9 per cent) but lower than Alberta (6.5 per cent.)

The Indigenous population in Lethbridge is growing at a much faster rate than the city as a whole. While the Lethbridge CMA saw 23.1 per cent growth between 2006 and 2016, the Aboriginal population jumped by 54.1 per cent during that same time. Between 2011 and 2016 the Aboriginal growth rate was 40.3 per cent, compared to 10.8 per cent total for Lethbridge.

The percentage of Lethbridge residents who identify as First Nations was 3.3 per cent, Metis 1.8 per cent, multiple responses 0.1 per cent, and 0.2 per cent other.

The population identifying as Aboriginal is younger than the total population. Half of Indigenous people in Lethbridge are under the age of 25, compared to a third overall. While 14 per cent of Lethbridge area residents are 65 or older, only four per cent of Aboriginal people are.

Fourteen per cent of Canada’s First Nations population live in Alberta. More than half are in the western provinces, but Ontario has the largest single share at 24 per cent. Ontario also has one fifth of the Metis population.

Just over half of the Aboriginal population of Canada now live in metropolitan areas of at least 30,000 people.