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Aboriginal People in Manitoba 2000 Chapter 7 : Housing and Mobility

At the time of the 1996 Census, 1,400 Aboriginal recent migrants aged 15+ resided on reserve, 1,600 in Winnipeg, 1,600 off reserve in the south and just under 1,000 off reserve in the north. Though 35% of the total Aboriginal population resides in Winnipeg, only 28.5% of the migrants were found there. 25% of migrants were found on reserve, compared to 36.5% of the total Aboriginal population.

Therefore, the Aboriginal migrant population is disproportionately located in off-reserve settings outside Winnipeg, especially small urban centres. In other words, the migrants cluster where Aboriginal-specific programs and services are least likely to be located.

Aboriginal migrants identified by the 1996 Census were, by and large, a young group, with 59% aged 15-29 and 23% aged 30-39. By contrast, only 42% of Aboriginal non-migrant adults were aged 15-29.

Young parents, both single or spouses, are over-represented among migrants. But these young families have fewer children than average, being in an earlier state of development, and, therefore, children are under-represented among migrants. Single parent families are particularly over-represented among migrants to urban areas, especially Winnipeg where they form over half of migrant families. ⁶

The migrants were relatively well-educated, with 44% having Grade 12 or better as compared with 38% of the non-migrant Aboriginal population.⁷ About 46% of the Winnipeg/off reserve migrants had Grade 12 or better, compared to 43% of Winnipeg/off-reserve non-migrants. 39% of on-reserve migrants had Grade 12+, compared to 27% of non-migrants, so the difference in educational levels is strongest among those who have moved to the reserve from Winnipeg or other off-reserve settings.

However, in Manitoba the labour force participation rate of the migrants is not significantly different from the non-migrants.⁸ In fact, among registered Indians it is actually slightly lower – 45% for migrants and 47.1% for non-migrants. The lower labour market participation rate of First Nations migrants is most pronounced in off-reserve settings outside Winnipeg, and disappears on reserve.

Many people obviously moved for reasons other than to seek employment: for example for housing, education, family reasons or health care needs. Again, the notion of large numbers of Status Indians moving from reserves to urban centres in search of employment is not supported – rather; labour market participants are slightly more likely to move from urban centres to reserves.

Among those Aboriginal people who have migrated and who do participate in the labour force, the unemployment rate is very high. Throughout Manitoba, the unemployment rate for migrant Status Indians is about 38% compared to 30% for non-migrants, and among the Metis 28% compared to 19% for non-migrants. Even on reserve, the unemployment rate is higher for migrants – 35% compared to 30% for non-migrants.

The difference in unemployment rates is most pronounced among Status Indians residing in Winnipeg, where an astonishing 48.8% of migrant labour market participants were unemployed in 1996, compared to 33.5% of non-migrants. Insofar as there were Status Indians moving to Winnipeg to find work in 1995-96, they were obviously not finding it.

In very distinct contrast, among Metis migrants to Winnipeg the unemployment rate was 18.2% compared to 20.4% for non-migrants in Winnipeg. But among Metis migrants to locations in the south outside Winnipeg, the unemployment rate was much higher: 31.5% compared to 15.2% for non-migrants.

With comparable or lower labour market participation rates, and usually higher unemployment rates, the employment rate of Aboriginal migrants is lower than non-migrants. Where there is no significant difference in employment between migrant and non-migrant non-Aboriginal people (64.7% vs. 63.3%) the overall employment rate for Aboriginal migrants was 35.8%, compared to 40.7% of non-migrants.

The employment rate of Metis migrants was 48.3%, and for First Nations migrants a mere 27.7%. Among First Nations migrants to Winnipeg, the employment rate in 1996 was only 21.3%. For migrants to reserves, the employment rate was 30.6%.

Because of relatively high unemployment and low employment rates, the average income of migrants tends to be considerably lower than non-migrants, particularly in Winnipeg, and much larger numbers are on social assistance.

Statistics Canada has analyzed the characteristics of Aboriginal migrants into Winnipeg against those of migrants moving from Winnipeg to other parts of the province or Canada.⁹ 14.9% of Winnipeg’s Aboriginal people in 1996 had moved in during the past five years, while an equivalent of 16.9% of the 1996 population had moved out, for a net out-migration of 1.9%.

The out-migrants were concentrated in the 25-44 age group, while there was a very small net in-migration of youth aged 15-24. There was a net out-migration of Aboriginal people with less than a high school diploma and, surprisingly, also of people with a post-secondary degree or diploma. There was a very small net in-migration to Winnipeg of people with Grade 12 only. Both these facts lead to the conclusion that some net in-migration into Winnipeg involves persons with Grade 12 seeking higher education in Winnipeg, who then tend to move out when they graduate. This is consistent with the low labour market participation rates of migrants into Winnipeg.