Natural Resources Canada
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Aboriginal Population and Forested Areas
Abstract
This map shows the distribution of the Aboriginal population (including Indians, Métis and Inuit) in comparison to the location of forests. More than a quarter of the Aboriginal population live in urban centres located outside the forested areas; however, nearly 80% of the Aboriginal communities are located in forested areas. Forests play an essential role in the lives of Aboriginal People.
Although over a quarter of all Aboriginal peoples live in the largest 25 metropolitan areas located outside of the forested area, approximately 80 percent of all Aboriginal communities are located within the forest regions. Most of these communities are found in the territories and in the north of most provinces near or in the forests, except for Nunavut.
In Canada, 240 First Nations have legal entitlement to more than 1000 hectares of forest on their reserves; and about 1000 reserves contain at least 20 forested hectares.
Importance of Forests to Aboriginal People
Canadian forests play key roles in the cultural and spiritual lives of Aboriginal people. In fact, for the early Aboriginal peoples, the forest was not so much a landscape or resource, but it was their World - a complex natural support system on which they founded their lives. The forest was the source of their spirituality.
The forests provided food and materials for shelter, clothing, transportation and medicine for the Aboriginal people. They were also used to make tools and crafts.
Today, the traditional meaning of the forest remains, but Aboriginal people now manage and exploit the forests located on their reserves. Roughly 1.4 million hectares of forested land located on Indian reserves is suitable for sustainable consumptive resource use, such as timber, hunting, trapping, fishing, and gathering herbs and medicinal plants.
There are several ongoing initiatives between various governments and Aboriginal communities involved in sustainable forests projects in Northern Ontario, in the Yukon and in other parts of Canada. For more information about these initiatives and others, please refer to References and Links.
