Winnipeg's Indigenous population highest in Canada, but growth rate is slowing

Winnipeg has the largest Indigenous population of any major city in Canada, according to the latest census data.

The Statistics Canada numbers, based on the 2016 census, show Winnipeg's census metropolitan area (CMA) with 92,810 people identifying as Indigenous First Nations,Mtisand Inuit.

Edmonton (76,205), Vancouver (61,460) and Toronto (46,315) round out the top four.

• Complete data on Aboriginal populations can be viewed here

Among allCMAsin the country,Thunder Bay's Indigenous people accounted for thehighest proportion(12.7 percent)ofthe overall population. Winnipeg was second at 12.2 per cent, followed by Saskatoon at 10.9.

However, despite Winnipeg's strong Indigenous numbers, the city isfar from the top when it comes to the growth rate of First Nations,Mtisand Inuit.

Between2006 and 2016, the Indigenous population more than doubled in seven CMAsbut Winnipeg wasn'tone of them.

St. John's led the way with a 237.3 per cent Indigenous growth rate, while Halifax was next at 199 per centand Monctonfollowed at 197.9. The slowest growth rates were in Regina (26.4), Winnipeg (37.1) and Saskatoon (45.4).

Canada-wide in2016, there were1,673,785Indigenous people, accounting for4.9 per cent ofthe total population. That is up from3.8 per centin2006and2.8 per centin1996.

The Mtis population (587,545) had the largest increase of any of the groups between 2006-16, rising51.2 per cent from2006to2016.

The largest population is in Winnipeg, which had52,130 Mtis in2016, an increase of28 per cent.

While First Nations people accounted for2.8 per cent of the total population of Canada, they made up 10.7 per cent of the population in Saskatchewan and 10.5 per cent in Manitoba, and almost one-third of the population in the Northwest Territories (32.1).