THUNDER BAY — Patty Hajdu, the MP for Thunder Bay-Superior North and Minister of Indigenous Services, says it's important to get an accurate count of local populations to ensure adequate services are provided now and in the future.
In 2020, researchers with the Well Living House, an Indigenous health research centre, in collaboration with Anishnawbe Mushkiki Aboriginal Health Access Centre in Thunder Bay, concluded that the Indigenous population in Thunder Bay is grossly undercounted in the federal census.
Well Living House and an Indigenous health centre in Kenora recently determined that the undercounting of the Indigenous population in Kenora is even more pronounced.
In an interview this week, Hajdu said that if census data is incorrect, it poses significant problems.
"Stats Can is going to have to look at how they get accurate counts of who's living in urban centres, so that cities and communities can do proper planning," she said.
According to the 2021 census, the number of Indigenous residents of the Thunder Bay Census Metropolitan Area grew by about 12 per cent between 2016 and 2021, to a total of 17,000 people.
"The Indigenous population is the only population that's growing at an astronomical rate compared to non-Indigenous populations. We need to transform ourselves as communities, understanding that this is our population, and that everybody deserves a fair chance to succeed," Hajdu said.
The minister said that when people have confidence that systems, supports and services are available to them as well, it makes for a much stronger community.
But she added she believes the challenge of the undercount of populations "is not whether someone's Indigenous. It's whether we have the accurate number of people in our community, so that the community can get appropriate resources at the provincial level and/or plan for future supports and services."
Statistics Canada has previously stated that it acknowledges and accounts for undercoverage in the census.
A research analyst said in 2020 that the net undercoverage among all Canadians in the 2016 census was estimated at 2.4 per cent, but in Thunder Bay it was 5.2 per cent.
