3.4: Scale matters – where to go for information
Abraham Francis
The highest level of information on Indigenous Communities can be obtained from Statistics Canada (StatCan), where you can search a variety of resources that have been developed. The most recent census is from 2021. The set of data from StatCan website that users can manipulate to answer high-level questions on the level of Canadian Federal, Provincial, and Municipality levels are on the page, “Indigenous identify population by gender and age: Canada, provinces, and territories, census metropolitan areas and census agglomerations” (Statistics on Indigenous Peoples, n.d.). Another high level of information can be found by exploring the regional office’s pages of Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) regional offices (Government of Canada, 2009) and First Nation Profiles of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada (Government of Canada, 2008). This data should be cautiously read due to the lack of engagement from some Indigenous Communities.
The best information comes directly from Indigenous Communities or organizations that represent their interests on the national and regional levels. On the national-level Indigenous Organization, the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) carries the mission of “Advocating for the rights of and quality of life of First Nations people in Canada” and has an informative and well-supplied website with information on current issues and prepared reports (Assembly of First Nations, n.d.). There are regional organizations that operate across Canada; for Ontario, the Chiefs of Ontario (COO) is the regional organizing body that also has a great website for regional scale current issues and prepared reports (Chiefs of Ontario, n.d.). Lastly, it is great to go directly to Indigenous Communities’ websites to learn more about what is going on locally and find a way to connect with the community and their different resources and contacts. For example, the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne in Eastern Ontario has a great website that is well maintained (Mohawk Council of Akwesasne, n.d.). It is important to remember that Indigenous Communities have differing capacities, so the websites may not be up to date. It is always best to connect with someone from the community and develop a relationship who may be able to connect you with community level economic studies or other work.
Resources
Assembly of First Nations. (n.d.). Assembly of First Nations: Representing First Nation citizens in Canada. Retrieved January 29, 2024.
Chiefs of Ontario. (n.d.). Home—Chiefs of Ontario. Retrieved January 29, 2024.
Government of Canada. (2008, November 14). First Nation Profiles [Fact sheet; resource list].
Government of Canada. (2009, January 5). Regional offices [Organizational description; geospatial material; administrative page].
Mohawk Council of Akwesasne. (n.d.). Mohawk Council of Akwesasne – Proudly Serving All Akwesasronon. Retrieved January 29, 2024.
Statistics on Indigenous peoples. (n.d.). Retrieved June 23, 2023.
