The most recent census data showed that as of last year, 1,673,785 Indigenous people lived in Canada, representing 4.9 per cent of the population. That's nearly double the percentage of 20 years earlier. The average age of the Indigenous population in 2016 was 32, nearly 10 years younger than the non-Indigenous population.
But the growing cohort hasn't yet risen to its potential economically. In 2011, Statistics Canada found that the jobless rate for many living on reserves was as high as five times the rate of the general population.