Excerpt
This section sets out the context, foundations, considerations, and status of early learning and child care for First Nations, Métis and Inuit people, recognizing the uniqueness of each Indigenous cultural group.
First Nations, Inuit and Métis Communities
People who self-identify as Indigenous to the land known as Canada numbered 1,807,250 in the 2021 long-form Census, up 9.4% from the Indigenous population in the 2016 Census. Accounting for 5% of the Canadian population, the Indigenous population includes First Nations, Inuit and Métis people—all constitutionally recognized Indigenous peoples in Canada.
Indigenous peoples live in northern areas, in the south, in remote and urban areas. Some First Nations people live on reserves but according to the 2021 Census, “801,045 Indigenous people lived in a large urban centre of at least 100,000 people, accounting for over half (44.3%) of the total Indigenous population”. Thus, early learning and child care for Indigenous children and families in all sorts of communities—Indigenous lands and communities, rural, remote and northern, towns, suburbs and large cities—is of interest.
The First Nations population of 1,048,045 (2022) includes those in 630 First Nations communities (reserves) representing more than 50 nations and 50 languages, as well as First Nations people not living on reserves. According to 2016 Census data, 40% of First Nations people lived on reserve.
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