Life expectancy of First Nations, Métis and Inuit household populations in Canada

In Canada, estimating the life expectancy of Indigenous populations is methodologically challenging since death registrations do not usually collect information on whether the deceased was Indigenous. For the first time in Canada, a series of census-mortality linked datasets has been created that can be used to estimate trends in life expectancies among Indigenous household populations enumerated by a census. The objectives of this article are to 1) estimate life expectancy for First Nations people, Métis and Inuit at various ages and by sex for 2011, and compare it with that of the non-Indigenous population 2) examine trends in longevity since 1996 for First Nations people, Métis and Inuit and the non-Indigenous population, and estimate whether the disparity between Indigenous populations and the non-Indigenous population has changed over time. In doing so, this study aims to fill an important information gap by providing a national picture of the life expectancy of First Nations people, Métis and Inuit.