More and more Canadians are identifying themselves as aboriginal.
A report released by the Fraser Institute shows that the number of people claiming aboriginal, metis or inuit heritage has gone from 374 thousand to
1.4 million in just 25 years.
Tom Flanagan is the author of the report and says very little of that growth is due to an increase in the birth rate.
“Birth rate of the various aboriginal categories of people is a little bit higher. That’s not the source of this huge increase, which is about eight times faster over the last 25 years, than the general Canadian population. These are people who have been here all along and are now calling themselves status indian or metis.”
Flanagan says the increase in the aboriginal population has an impact on governments through suplemental health care coverage, education costs, and even taxes.