21.9% of Canadians are immigrants, the highest share in 85 years: StatsCan

Census 2016 shows more immigrants, visible minorities and Indigenous people

A group of new Canadians takes the citizenship oath during a ceremony at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa last month. Census figures released Wednesday show Canada is getting more diverse. (Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press)

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The share of immigrants in Canada has reached its highest level in almost a century, according to 2016 census figures released Wednesday.

The Statistics Canada data also shows the Indigenous population is growing at more than four times the rate of the non-Indigenous population, reaching nearly 1.7 million in 2016.

These are some of the findings of the latest data set from the 2016 census, focusing on the population related to immigration, ethnocultural diversity, housing and Indigenous people.

The numbers come just days before the annual immigration levels are set to be tabled in the House of Commons by the Liberal government. The levels were set at 300,000 per year in 2017.​

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The census figures show 21.9 per cent of Canadians report being or having been an immigrant or permanent resident, nearly matching the high of 22.3 per cent in 1921 and up from 19.8 per cent in 2006. The number was slightly higher than 21.9 per cent in 1931 too.

Statistics Canada estimates immigrants could represent up to 30 per cent of all Canadians by 2036.

About one-third of Canadians report having at least one ethnic origin from the British Isles and another 13.6 per cent report French descent.

The largest group – 32.3 per cent — reported "Canadian" ethnicity. These tend to be Canadians with European ancestors who have been in the country for many generations, says Houle.

Just over six per cent of the population reported some Indigenous ancestry.

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42.5% increase in Indigenous population since 2006

There were 1,673,785 Indigenous Canadians in 2016, representing 4.9 per cent of the country's population. That is an increase of 42.5 per cent since 2006, a rate of growth more than four times that of the non-Indigenous population.

Indigenous Canadians are a young and growing part of the country's population. (Nathan Denette/Canadian Press)

Factors behind the pace of growth include greater life expectancy, a higher fertility rate and an increase in the self-reporting of Indigenous identity.

The Indigenous population is young, averaging 32.1 years old — almost a decade younger than non-Indigenous Canadians — and more are living in cities.

The population in large metropolitan centres has grown by nearly 60 per cent since 2006, in part due to the increase in Indigenous self-identification, according to Thomas Anderson, an analyst with Statistics Canada

The Indigenous population "is young and growing, and will continue to grow," he says.

Statistics Canada estimates that on these trends, the Indigenous population could be 2.5 million by 2036.

The proportion of Indigenous people living in housing needing major repairs decreased for every category except for on-reserve status Indians. That share increased slightly by 0.8 points to 44.2 per cent, compared to 19.4 per cent for all Indigenous.

Home ownership stagnant

Among the general population, ownership of homes has slipped marginally over the last decade to 67.8 per cent. It was 68.4 per cent in 2006, but it had increased by nearly six percentage points over the previous 15 years.

The highest rate of home ownership was in Atlantic Canada, where 76.7 per cent of the population owned homes. Quebec was the province with the lowest rate, at 61.3 per cent, while it was just 20 per cent in Nunavut.