About what share of Aboriginal people in Canada are Inuit?
- About 35%
- About 4%
- About 50%
- About 58%
Answer: About 4%
Inuit are the smallest of the three groups: 3.9% of Aboriginal people in the 2021 Census, compared with about 58% First Nations and 34.5% Métis. They live in small, scattered communities across the Arctic. In Nunavut, about 85% of the population is Inuit.
Learn more: First Nations, Inuit and Métis
- The three distinct groups are First Nations, Inuit and Métis.
- “Indian” refers to all Aboriginal people who are not Inuit or Métis. The term First Nations began to be used in the 1970s.
- About half of First Nations people live on reserve land in about 600 communities; the other half live off-reserve, mainly in urban centres.
- “Inuit” means “the people” in the Inuktitut language.
- Inuit live in small, scattered communities across the Arctic. Their knowledge of the land, sea and wildlife helped them adapt to one of the harshest environments on earth.
- In Nunavut, about 85% of the population is Inuit.
- The Métis are a distinct people of mixed Aboriginal and European ancestry. Most live in the Prairie provinces.
- The Métis come from French- and English-speaking backgrounds and speak their own dialect, Michif.
- In the 2021 Census, about 58% of Aboriginal people were First Nations, 34.5% Métis and 3.9% Inuit.