Aboriginal Peoples: Fact Sheet for New Brunswick Aboriginal Peoples: Fact Sheet for New Brunswick

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About 2% of Aboriginal people in Canada live in New Brunswick

• Numbering 22,620, about 2% of the Aboriginal identity population in Canada lived in New Brunswick in 2011. They made up 3% of the total population of that province.
• One in seven (15%) Aboriginal people in New Brunswick lived in Fredericton, although they represented only 4% of the total population living there. A further 11% each resided in Saint John and Moncton, representing 2% of the total population in both cities.
• New Brunswick was home to 16,120 First Nations people, 4,850 Métis, and 485 Inuit,^{Note 1} with the rest reporting other^{Note 2} Aboriginal identities (1,020) or more than one Aboriginal identity (145). From 2006 to 2011, the First Nations population in New Brunswick increased by 31%, while the Métis population rose by 14%, and the Inuit population more than doubled.^{Note 3}
• Of those who identified as First Nations people in 2011, 64% (or 10,270) reported being a Treaty Indian or a Registered Indian as defined by the Indian Act of Canada. Just under half (45%, or 7,220) of all First Nations people (69% of First Nations people who were Treaty or Registered Indians, or 7,060 individuals) lived on a reserve.

Aboriginal population younger than non-Aboriginal

• Four in ten (42%) Aboriginal people in New Brunswick were under the age of 25, compared with 27% of the non-Aboriginal population. Almost half of First Nations people (46%) were in this age group (48% of those living on a reserve and 45% of the off-reserve population), as were 31% of Métis.
• In 2011, the median age of First Nations people was 27.6; the off-reserve population was older (29.3) than those living on a reserve (26.4). Métis had a median age of 40.9. Both groups were younger than the non-Aboriginal population, whose median age was 43.6.

Half of Aboriginal children live with both parents

• In New Brunswick, 45% of First Nations children aged 14 and younger lived in a family with both their parents in 2011, as did 52% of Métis children. The corresponding percentage for non-Aboriginal children was 71%. About four in ten First Nations (41%) and Métis (38%) children lived in a lone-parent family, rates that were higher than that for their non-Aboriginal peers (21%).
• In 2011, 2% of First Nations children aged 14 and younger were in foster care; children living on a reserve were more likely than those off reserve to have this living arrangement. Moreover, of all New Brunswick children in foster care in 2011, 30% were Aboriginal children, the majority of whom (80%) were First Nations children.

On-reserve First Nations people most likely to live in crowded homes and homes requiring major repairs

• In 2011, 5% of on-reserve and 3% of off-reserve First Nations people in New Brunswick lived in crowded homes, that is, with more than one person per room. The comparable figure for the non-Aboriginal population was 1%.
• More than a quarter of First Nations people (27%), and 22% of Métis lived in homes in need of major repairs; the rate was highest for First Nations people living on a reserve (37%).

Four in ten on-reserve First Nations people speak an Aboriginal language

• In New Brunswick, about four in ten (37%) First Nations people living on a reserve reported the ability to conduct a conversation in an Aboriginal language, a rate higher than among off-reserve First Nations people (4%). The Aboriginal languages most commonly spoken by First Nations people were Mi'kmaq and Malecite.
• The number of First Nations people who reported being able to converse in an Aboriginal language exceeded the number who reported an Aboriginal mother tongue, which suggests acquisition of an Aboriginal language as a second language.
• Based on results of the Aboriginal Peoples Survey,^{Note 4} 65% of off-reserve First Nations people and 41%^{Note E: Use with caution} of Métis aged 6 and older reported that speaking and understanding an Aboriginal language was important to them.

Half have postsecondary qualifications

• In 2011, 51% of Aboriginal people aged 25 to 64 in New Brunswick had a certificate, diploma or degree from a trade school, college or university: 49% of First Nations people and 54% of Métis. The comparable percentage for their non-Aboriginal counterparts was 57%.
• Among those with postsecondary credentials, First Nations people and Métis were more likely than non-Aboriginal graduates to have completed an apprenticeship or trades program.
• There was also a difference in the proportion of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people with “no certificate, diploma or degree”. In 2011, 26% of First Nations people aged 25 to 64 and 27% of Métis did not have a certificate, diploma or degree. The corresponding percentage for the non-Aboriginal population was 17%.

Employment rates and median total income increase with education

• In 2011, the employment rates of First Nations people and Métis aged 25 to 64 in New Brunswick who did not have a certificate, diploma or degree were 28.4% and 43.1% respectively. Employment rates were higher for those with further education. For example, among those with postsecondary credentials, the employment rate of First Nations people was 64.4%, while that of Métis was 74.8%.

• Median total income^{Note 5} among First Nations people and Métis was also higher for those with higher education levels. Among First Nations people aged 25 to 64, median total income (rounded to the nearest $1,000) ranged from $12,000 for those with no certificate, diploma or degree to $28,000 for those with postsecondary credentials. The range for Métis was from $16,000 to $30,000.

Half rate their health as excellent or very good

• Based on results of the Aboriginal Peoples Survey, half (51%) the Aboriginal population aged 12 and older in New Brunswick rated their health as excellent or very good in 2012: 53% of First Nations people living off reserve and 47%^{Note E: Use with caution} of Métis.

• The majority of off-reserve First Nations people (62%), and Métis (61%) aged 18 and older reported excellent or very good mental health.^{Note 6}
• Six in ten off-reserve First Nations people (59%) and about three-quarters of Métis (72%) aged 12 and older reported that they had been diagnosed with at least one chronic condition. The corresponding percentage for the non-Aboriginal population was 60%.^{Note 7}

Three in ten off-reserve Aboriginal people smoke daily

• In 2012, 27%^{Note E: Use with caution} of off-reserve Aboriginal people aged 12 and older in New Brunswick reported that they smoked daily. The comparable percentage for the non-Aboriginal population was 18%.

• For those 12 and older, the rate of heavy drinking (five or more drinks on one occasion at least once a month in the 12 months preceding the survey) was 23%^{Note E: Use with caution} for off-reserve Aboriginal people, compared with 26% for non-Aboriginal people.
• At the same time, 31% of off-reserve Aboriginal people were non-drinkers (consumed no alcohol in the 12 months preceding the survey), compared with 22% of the non-Aboriginal population.

This fact sheet was prepared by Elena Chernikova of the Social and Aboriginal Statistics Division of Statistics Canada.