Crunching the numbers on Aboriginal usage of Canada’s food banks
Due to possible confusion stemming from my last post about new data on Aboriginal people’s use of food banks in Canada, I thought I would try and make partial amends with some number crunching that lays the stats out a bit more helpfully.
I have pulled together three tables. The first two display the same data in different ways: where TABLE A ranks the Aboriginal use of food banks by provinces/territories on a ‘raw’ numerical basis only, TABLE B ranks provinces/territories according to their proportion of food bank clientele who are Aboriginal.
As you can see in TABLE A, the jurisdictions with the greatest number of Aboriginal clientele for food banks are Alberta and Ontario at 30,249 and 28,948 respectively. The Atlantic provinces have the fewest.
TABLE A.
Aboriginal Visitors to Food Banks in Canada
Ranked by Number
| Province/Territory | TOTAL VISITORS (Aboriginal & non-Aboriginal) | Aboriginal Visitors | % of Total = Aboriginal |
|---|---|---|---|
| CANADA | 867,948 | 105,022 | 12.10% |
| Alberta | 59,311 | 30,249 | 51.00% |
| Ontario | 402,056 | 28,948 | 7.20% |
| Manitoba | 57,966 | 22,259 | 38.40% |
| British Columbia | 94,359 | 18,400 | 19.50% |
| Saskatchewan | 22,662 | 11,830 | 52.20% |
| Quebec | 154,364 | 2,161 | 1.40% |
| Territories (YK, NT & NU) | 2,272 | 2,147 | 94.50% |
| New Brunswick | 18,517 | 685 | 3.70% |
| Nova Scotia | 22,573 | 609 | 2.70% |
| Newfoundland & Labrador | 30,800 | 62 | 0.20% |
| Prince Edward Island | 3,068 | 58 | 1.90% |
Here in TABLE B, we see the combined northern territories shoot to the top of the list at over 94%, with the prairie provinces — Saskatchewan (52%), Alberta (51%) and Manitoba (38%) — rounding out the top four.
TABLE B.
Aboriginal Visitors to Food Banks in Canada
Ranked by Percentage
| Province/Territory | TOTAL VISITORS (Aboriginal & non-Aboriginal) | Aboriginal Visitors | % of Total = Aboriginal |
|---|---|---|---|
| Territories (YK, NT & NU) | 2,272 | 2,147 | 94.50% |
| Saskatchewan | 22,662 | 11,830 | 52.20% |
| Alberta | 59,311 | 30,249 | 51.00% |
| Manitoba | 57,966 | 22,259 | 38.40% |
| British Columbia | 94,359 | 18,400 | 19.50% |
| CANADA | 867,948 | 105,022 | 12.10% |
| Ontario | 402,056 | 28,948 | 7.20% |
| New Brunswick | 18,517 | 685 | 3.70% |
| Nova Scotia | 22,573 | 609 | 2.70% |
| Prince Edward Island | 3,068 | 58 | 1.90% |
| Quebec | 154,364 | 2,161 | 1.40% |
| Newfoundland & Labrador | 30,800 | 62 | 0.20% |
With two exceptions (Quebec, Newfoundland and Labrador), TABLE C shows how Aboriginal people’s use of food banks is, more often than not, well out of proportion to their overall population numbers (as of 2006) in each jurisdiction.
TABLE C.
Aboriginal people as proportion of Food Bank Users, Provincial/Territorial population
| Province/ Territory | Aboriginal people as % of Prov'l/Territ'l pop'n | Aboriginal people as % of all food bank users |
|---|---|---|
| Territories (YK, NT & NU) | 52.83% | 94.50% |
| Manitoba | 15.47% | 38.40% |
| Saskatchewan | 14.88% | 52.20% |
| Alberta | 5.78% | 51.00% |
| British Columbia | 4.81% | 19.50% |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | 4.69% | 0.20% |
| CANADA | 3.75% | 12.10% |
| Nova Scotia | 2.68% | 2.70% |
| New Brunswick | 2.45% | 3.70% |
| Ontario | 2.02% | 7.20% |
| Quebec | 1.46% | 1.40% |
| Prince Edward Island | 1.29% | 1.90% |
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