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Aboriginal People in Manitoba 2000 Chapter 1 : Demographics

Manitoba is one of several provinces and territories with a significant Aboriginal population, ranking third in total population behind Ontario (141,525) and British Columbia (139,655).² Almost one in six Canadian Aboriginal people reside in Manitoba. 45,750 Aboriginal people resided in the city of Winnipeg alone in 1996, about equal to the number of Aboriginal people living in the Nunavut,³ Yukon and Northwest Territories combined.

Proportionally, Manitoba and Saskatchewan have the highest percentage of Aboriginal people among the ten provinces. Because of the relatively low total population in these two provinces, Aboriginal people comprise 11.7% and 11.4% of their respective populations. Alberta is third at 4.6%, followed by B.C. at 3.8%. Aboriginal people are only 1.3% of the population of Ontario, and 1.0% in Quebec.⁴