Overcrowded, substandard housing persists among Inuit: StatsCan

Canada's Inuit are 10 times more likely than non-aboriginal people to live in crowded homes, as they continue to cope with a serious housing shortage, according to new census figures released Wednesday.

Statistics Canada also found that about 30 per cent of Inuit live in housing that needs serious repairs such as plumbing or electrical work.

The problem of overcrowded and inadequate housing has been linked to health problems among Inuit populations, from respiratory tract infections in children to outbreaks of tuberculosis and hepatitis A, according to the federal agency's report Inuit in Canada: Selected findings of the 2006 Census.

The report says 31 per cent of Inuit in Canada as a whole lived in crowded houses in 2006, compared with just three per cent of non-aboriginal Canadians.

It defines crowding as having more than one person living in a room.

The agency found that the problem of crowded homes is especially common in northern Canada, where more than three-quarters of Inuit say they live.

Parts of the North with Inuit populations include Nunavut, the Nunavik region of northern Quebec, the Nunatsiavut region in Labrador, and the Inuvialuit region in the Northwest Territories.

About 38 per cent of the total Inuit population in the North lived in crowded housing in 2006, although that is a decrease from 43 per cent in 1996.

Crowding was more of a problem in Nunavik and Nunavut — with rates of 49 per cent and 39 per cent, respectively — than in the Inuvialuit and Nunatsiavut regions, where rates were at less than 20 per cent.

Existing housing in need of repairs

Statistics Canada also found that housing for Inuit is deteriorating: the percentage of houses in need of major repairs rose in all Inuit regions in 2006, with the exception of the Nunatsiavut in Labrador.

Overall, 28 per cent of Inuit in Canada reported living in homes in need of major repairs like plumbing and electrical work, compared with seven per cent of the non-aboriginal population.

The lower rates of overcrowding and inadequate housing among Nunatsiavut Inuit may be credited to new housing construction funded by the Newfoundland and Labrador government, the report stated.

Wednesday's report gave a snapshot of the Inuit population in Canada, with new numbers on population, education and labour levels compared with non-aboriginals.

Canada's Inuit population grew by 26 per cent between 1996 and 2006, due in part to higher fertility rates among women in Nunavut and Nunavik.

The higher fertility rates have also created a young Inuit population, with a median age of just 22 years old — nearly half the median age of the non-aboriginal population, and three years younger than the median age among First Nations people.

Of the 50,485 Canadians who identified themselves as Inuit, 49 per cent live in Nunavut, 19 per cent live in Nunavik, six per cent in the Inuvialuit region, and four per cent in the Nunatsiavut region.

About 22 per cent of Inuit did not live in the North in 2006. The report found that Ottawa had the highest Inuit population outside the North, followed by Yellowknife, Edmonton, Montreal and Winnipeg.

Statistics Canada's report also found that while 36 per cent of Inuit have a post-secondary degree or diploma, a labour gap remains between Inuit and non-aboriginal people.

The employment rate for Inuit adults was 61.2 per cent in 2006, while it was 81.6 per cent for non-aboriginal adults.

It also found that the median income of Inuit in 2005 was about $9,000 less than the median income of non-aboriginal adults.