Indigenous-owned businesses in Canada: confronting challenges, forecasting growth
Source: Statistics Canada
Summary: The 2021 Census of Population counted 1.8 million Indigenous people, accounting for 5.0% of the population in Canada. The Indigenous population is 8.2 years younger on average than the non-Indigenous population, and nearly two-thirds (65.1%) were working-age (15 to 64 years). Moreover, just over 1 in 6 (17.2%) working-age Indigenous people were considered close to retirement (55 to 64 years), compared with 22.0% of the non-Indigenous population. Analysis conducted by Statistics Canada and Indigenous Services Canada indicates that in 2020, gross domestic product attributable to Indigenous people was $48.9 billion, up from $41.7 billion in 2012. More recently, the Canadian Survey on Business Conditions asked businesses about plans, challenges and expectations for the fourth quarter (October to December) of 2022—including data about Indigenous majority ownership.
There were 17,417 private businesses with majority ownership by First Nations people, Métis or Inuit in the fourth quarter, representing 1.7% of the 1,011,474 private-sector businesses operating in Canada. This represents a slight decline from the first quarter (January to March) of 2022, when the 23,530 Indigenous majority-owned businesses made up 2.3% of all private-sector businesses.