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Aboriginal People in Manitoba 2000 Chapter 2 : Health

Nationally, the leading causes of death for First Nations people, besides injury and poisoning, are diseases of the circulatory and respiratory systems, ranked second and fourth respectively, and neoplasms (cancer), rated third. These rankings have remained the same since the late 1970’s. Death rates for circulatory and respiratory diseases have declined moderately during this time period (by 11.1% and 6.5% respectively), but have remained above Canadian rates.

Cancer rates for First Nations people have generally been less than national averages, but are increasing. “The neoplasm death rate in First Nations at 182 deaths per 100,000 (in 1993) is approaching the Canadian rate of 193 deaths per 100,000. From 1984-1988, the Canadian rate was 1.4 times higher.”⁶

As noted, mortality by age-related causes has been kept down by the relatively young Aboriginal population. However, with the age 65+ group expected to double to 7% of the Aboriginal population by 2015, the prevalence of these diseases will also rise, as will the associated health care costs. This is especially true where incidence rates are also increasing, as in the case of some cancers and, especially, diabetes.