Aboriginal Demography

ABORIGINAL DEMOGRAPHY is a highly speculative subject, especially for the period before the arrival of the first European explorers when population figures are not available and can only be surmised. Estimates for the pre-contact aboriginal population of BC have reflected this uncertainty, ranging from a low of about 75,000 to a high of about 400,000. Most of the population was on the coast, where aboriginals achieved the highest density of any place in Canada. At contact, nearly half the aboriginal people in the country lived in BC. This population began to decrease dramatically at contact, due largely to the introduction of diseases against which the people had no immunity. Measles, whooping cough, INFLUENZA, tuberculosis, scarlet fever and SMALLPOX were particularly devastating. On the eve of CONFEDERATION (1871), the population had fallen below 26,000. Two groups–the PENTLATCH on VANCOUVER ISLAND and the TSETSAUT of the northern Interior–disappeared entirely. During the 1880s the non-aboriginal population of the province exceeded the aboriginal population for the first time. The aboriginal population continued to fall through the 1920s, principally because of high infant mortality rates, and reached a low of about 20,000. Since that time the population has grown; by the 2016 census it numbered 270,585, 60% of whom were living off-RESERVE and 30% of whom lived in Greater VANCOUVER or Greater VICTORIA. BC aboriginals account for 6% of the BC population and about 19% of the total Canadian FIRST NATIONS population. The following figures are from official government censuses and may under-represent the size of BC's aboriginal population. The numbers refer to so-called status Indians who meet the requirements of the Indian Act.