Canada - World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe
Canada - World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe
Canada - World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe
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6<br />
<strong>Health</strong> systems in transition <strong>Canada</strong><br />
Table 1.4<br />
Ethnic self-identification of Canadian population, total population and percentage,<br />
2006<br />
Origin Total population Percentage (%)<br />
British 11 098 610 35.5<br />
Canadian 10 066 290 32.2<br />
<strong>Europe</strong>an 9 919 790 31.8<br />
French 5 000 350 16.0<br />
East and Southeast Asian 2 212 340 7.1<br />
Aboriginal 1 678 235 5.4<br />
South Asian 1 316 770 4.2<br />
Other a 2 191 750 7.0<br />
Source: Statistics <strong>Canada</strong> (2006).<br />
Notes: Percentages are calculated as a proportion of the total number of 2006 census respondents. The sum exceeds 100% due to<br />
multiple ethnic origin responses. a Other includes African; Arab; West Asian; Latin, Central and South American; and from Oceania.<br />
<strong>Canada</strong> also has an Aboriginal population made up of three distinct<br />
groupings: First Nations (North American Indians), Inuit and Métis. The terms<br />
“status Indians” and “registered Indians” are legal terms used by the Government<br />
of <strong>Canada</strong> to describe First Nations who are officially registered under the<br />
terms of the Indian Act and, there<strong>for</strong>e, qualify <strong>for</strong> specified entitlements and<br />
benefits, including “non-insured health benefits” financed and administered by<br />
the federal government. Registered Indians can live on or off reserves, many<br />
of which are located in rural and remote areas of <strong>Canada</strong>. Most Inuit live in<br />
the Arctic regions of <strong>Canada</strong>, mainly in settlements located on the shore of<br />
the Arctic Ocean. The Métis, the majority of whom are the descendants of<br />
Euro-Canadian and Aboriginal fur traders, are concentrated in Western <strong>Canada</strong>.<br />
First Nations and Métis are affected disproportionately more by chronic<br />
diseases and conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, heart disease,<br />
tuberculosis, HIV and fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. First Nations people<br />
living on reserves also experience physical injuries at a much higher rate than<br />
the Canadian average. For example, Martens et al. (2002) found that injury<br />
hospitalization rates among First Nations peoples living in Manitoba were<br />
3.7 times higher than those of all other provincial residents. Although Inuit<br />
populations are less affected by some diseases and conditions such as diabetes,<br />
heart disease and fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, due in part to more traditional<br />
and less sedentary lives, current trends in lifestyle and diet are likely to produce<br />
similarly poor health status outcomes in the future (Sharma et al., 2010). As a<br />
result of poorer health status, Aboriginal Canadians account <strong>for</strong> higher average<br />
utilization and cost of health care services than other Canadians.