Aboriginal Statistics

Historical Census Data

Historical Statistics

The Census of  Canada, 1870-1871 (volume 4, "Introduction", pages lii to lxxxv​) includes a fairly lengthy discussion of aboriginal statistics gathered from various sources to that date and asserts that the total numbers of aboriginal people had been overstated in many accounts. See excerpts below (note that there are many OCR errors from this cut-and-paste which would need to be corrected by comparing with scanned version).

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The figures given above (by the Censuses of 1871) include the aboriginal population, ascertained by the regular process of enumeration, of the Provinces of Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island ; but there are no regular Censuses of these populations for the portions of British North America in which they are predominant. There is no aboriginal population on the Island of Newfoundland, as the few Indian families, occasionally met with, belong to the tribes of the coast of Labrador (a part of which is annexed to Newfoundland), or to the Mlcmac groups of the southern coasts of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 

It Is of importance, both In a statistical and ethnographical point of view, to establish the approximate number of the whole aboriginal race of these vast territories of British North America, of which they were the first occupants and consequently the first proprietors. 

Three statements. Censuses they might be called, of the aboriginal population within certain named districts, have been mentioned In the preceding pages, the numbers having been ascertained at three different periods of the history of colonization in this country. Although incomplete, they have considerable value, inasmuch as they bear the character of the comparative exactitude which the subject admits of, and are, therefore, the numerical expression of the amount of population in a savage state which a certain extent of territory will maintain, under given circumstances, by the produce of hunting and fishing. Certain tribes mentioned cultivated maize, or Indian corn, pumpkins and beans, but any one studying the conditions of such cultivation described in the writings of missionaries and discoverers, will see at once that these resources, in the best yielding seasons, could not dispense with  

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having recourse to hunting and fishing; and, besides, that this cultivation would only take place where the sea fishing of the maritime coasts, or where the hunting ground was wanting in extant or products,  

Most of the estimates of the aboriginal population made by both ancient and modem writers, from information given by Indians themselves, or by travelers and traders, are full of exaggeration, which has been seldom discovered by criticism, so difficult is it to realize as correct, the fact of the enormous extent of territory necessary to supply man with food by the chase. 

It is thus that at and after the time of Champlain, the population of the Huron Nation was estimated at 30,000 and upwards. Champlain himself fell into this error, which he, however, corrects In a manner, by saying that that nation had only 2,000 warriors, (which means about 10,000 souls). And, In fact, a regular census made by the missionaries in 1639—that Is, at the period of the greatest concentration of the Hurons —showed at that time 32 villages, 700 lodges, (among the settled Huron-Iroquois the villages were composed of arched lodges serving for a greater or lesser number of families), 2,000 fires, 12,000 persons. (Relation de1640, page 62).  

It should be mentioned that the Hurons cultivated the soil, fished in Lake Huron, and hunted over a certain extent of uninhabited woods to the east of their settled grounds. The war of extermination which was waged among the different tribes of the Huron-Iroquois race, inhabiting the villages around Lakes Ontario, Erie, Huron and vicinity, caused the almost complete extinction of the Hurons In 1648 and 1649, and reduced the numbers of the other tribes to such a point that the confederation of the five Iroquois nations, the most powerful aboriginal organization known, amounted, in 1665 and 1677, notwithstanding the annexations of the remainder of other tribes to only a few thousand souls.  

The population of the five nations was regularly ascertained In 1665 by the Jesuit Missionaries, and in 1677 by Wentworth Greenhaigh, in a tour of investigation for that purpose made on account of the British Government. The summary of these two enumerations may be found, the first in the Relation of 1605, pages 10 and 11, the second in the London Archives. 

In 1665, the Anniegues (Mohawks) counted 400 warriors ; the Onneyouts (Oneidas) 140 warriors; the Onnontagues (Onondagas) 300 warriors ; Oiogouens (Cayugas) 300 varriors; and the Sonnontouans (Senecas) 1,500 warriors : in all 3,340 warriors, or 11,700 souls.  

The enumeration of 1677 is thus summarized : Maquaes (Mohawks) 5 villages, 96 lodges, 300 warriors j Onyades (Oneidas) 1 village, 100 lodges, 200 warriors ; Onondagos, 2 villages, 164 lodges, 350 warriors ; Caiougos (Cayugas) 3 villages, 100 lodges, 300 warriors; Senecques (Senecas) 4 villages, 324 lodges, 1,000 warriors ; in all 2,150 warriors, or about 10,750 souls.  

Before examining the three most important documents we possess relative to the aboriginal population of old, it may be interesting to add a document bearing every mark of exactitude. The document relates to the year 1745 and is among the Paris Archives. 

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The missionaries, the Abbe Laloutre and Abbd Maillard, and Fathers Lacorne and De I'Estage, give an account of the Micmacs, of whom they ascertained the existence in Acadia (Nova Scotia of 200 families; in Isle Royale (Cape Breton), 80 families; in Miramichi, 195 families, and In Restlgouche, 60 families; in all 535 families, or about 2,407 souls. Among the Indians the mean Is about 4-5 individuals to each family, and as this number of men fit to bear arms is a little greater than that of the families, the number of warriors is multiplied by 5 and of the families by 4^ to arrive at the population. It is at those rates, that, when needed, the population is calculated in the following pages.

The broad facts which sprbg from the examination of the conditions of the savage ^tate in this country, are :

l: That tlia roost fertile soils aro not those which. In general, yield most support to those engaged In hunting ; that the fisheries, and specially on the maritime coast, are tlie most abundant of tlie natural sources of supply found by man in a savage state. It is the Indians most favourably situated in respect to soil and climate, who supplement the food obtained by hunting and fishing, by cultivation. On the other hand the Esquimaux, whose territory Is restricted to the waste and desolate shores of the frozen sea, manage to derive a rough abundance from the icebound waters; 

2. That Indian populations living exclusively by hunting and fishing, cannot increase beyond certain very restricted limits, governed by the ratio between the number of Inhabitants and the superficies Inhabited. Below this ratio they descend periodically by famine, disease, oi- war, oscillating in this way, between an almost deter- minable maximum (the circumstances being known) and an indeterminable minimum. The mildness of the climate is a great bearing on this question, If not In actually adding to the natural resources, at least In lessening the wants ;

3. The Indian populations, keeping to the habits of hunting tribes, diminish in number in the ratio of the extent and frequency of their relations with civilized nations, by the destruction of their primitive means of existence, and the introduction of vices and diseases, or by absorption, In the creation of a half breed race.

To decide as to the greater or less value of the figures given respecting the Indian population of a territorial division. In the absence of a regular Census, these elemen'ts of criticism must be taken into account. 

The first of the statements of Indian population referred to, dates from 1611. It was prepared by a Jesuit missionary, and inserted in the Rdation of that year, being the first of thia series of admii-able letters which constitute the most valuable source of InformatiOTi for tlie history of the early days of Canadian colonization.

The country inhabited by the tribes mentioned in that Rdation, who all belonged to the great Algonquin family, affbixled good hunting and superior fishing. The Souri- quois (tlie Micmacs of the present day) inhabited what now constitutes the Provinces of JNova Scotia and Prince Edward Isknd, the littoral of the Gulf of St. Lawrence in the Provincea of New Brunswick and Quebec, and the eastern watersheds of that region. They were about 3,500, and their territory then covered a superficies of about 46,000 square miles (Engjli^).  

p. lvi​i

The Etiiniinquois (now the Maldchites) occupied the whole valley of the St. John River in New Brunswick and part of the State of Malne,^extendlug into and Including all the Interior, as far as the River St. Lawrence, taking In that part of the valley of the St. Lawrence which fronts on the course of the St. John River and tributaries. They numbered about 2,500, and their territory covered, then, a superficies equal to about 40,000 square miles; but their maritime fisheries were leas extensive than,those of the Souriquois. '

The Kenlbdquls (now the Abenakls) occupied part of the States of Maine, Ver- mont, and New Hampshire, the States of Massachusetts and Connecticut and all the southern valley of the St. Lawrence, from the River Chaudldre to the Iroquois territory, and even hunted on the littoral of the north shore of the St. Lawrence; they numbered 3,000, and their territory covered a superficies of about 55,000 square English miles. Their coast fishing, although of great value, was much less important than those of the Souriquois and Etamlnquois. 

The Montagnets belonge<:l to the Abenakls family, aud their hunting grounds were In tho mountainous parts of New Hampshire and Vermont, and In that part of the Province of Quebec now known as tlie Eastern Townships, and the District of Be.auce. They numbered 1,000 souls, and occupied about 20,000 square miles of country, but without fisheries. We have, then. In a country containing one of the most abundant hunting and fishing grounds, and which Is, therefore, one of the most sultiible t-o support a savage population, during a period of prosperity and In an age in which no foreign influence had come to disturb the primitive condition of these tribes, 10,000 Inhabitants occupying about 160,000 square miles of territory, being one Inhabitant to 16 square miles, or 41 square kllomdtres. And for the Souriquois. separately, one inhabitant for about 13 square miles, or about 31 square kllomdtres.

The two other statemente of Indian population, given above, relate to the years 1736 and 1763. The first is a memoir deposited In .the Paris Archives, written by an oificer of the French Government, whose name is not given; the second Is by Sir William Johnson, and forms part of the English documents entitled. Plantations General Papers. 

I t is very interesting to compare these two estimates of the number of Indians, made in respect to tho same tribes and the same territories at an interval of more than a quarter of a century. We give the summarized table of the information contained in these two memoirs, grouped in such a way as to admit of comparison. Both memoirs give only the number of warriors, that Is, about the fifth of the total population, which may thus be determined, in round numbers, as 79,375 souls, according to the French, and fifty-nine 

thousand nine hundred according to the English memoir, or rather 78,000 by adding the enumeration of the tribes of the Hlinoia and of the Sioux, Assinibolnes and part of the Abdnakis, wanting In the English memoirs. 

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TABLE made up from the Memoirs of 1736 and 1763 on the Aboriginal population of certain territories in North America, now situated partly in the United States of America and partly In Canada.  

p. lxii 

 In order to compare these two memoirs, tlitre must first be added to the sum contained in the English memoir, the numbers representing the clans not enumerated in it, namely: The Abenakis of the St. John River, iOO warriori; the Illinois, 400 warriors, end the Sioui-Asslnlboines, 2,638 warriors ; in all, 3,620 warriors,.repr.a«en»- ing a population ef about 18,100 souls. Adding this number to the total amount of 69,900 for the year 1763, thsro Is shown a total of 78,000, as ti^tkiaai 79,3f 6 for this year 1736, or a decrease of 1,875 on. the whole of this population.

The superficies occupied by these tribes Is the same for both pariods, abotft 1,000,000 square miles (2,590,000 kllomdtres) for that part of the population situated in the United States; including the States and territories mentioned In the Table. Tkn aboriginal population of this territory numbering, by the complete memoir, 61,800 in 1736, gives 1 inhabitant for each 16 square miles; but very unequally distributed, varying between a minimum of 14 miles and a maximum -of 28 miles per head ; and for the portion of the territory situated on the Canadian side composed of localities enumerated in the Table, in all nearly 650,000 square miles(1,633,000 kllomdtres) the aboriginal population, which in 1736 was 17,576 souls, gives about one Inhabitant to each 37 square miles. From 1736 to 1763 the aboriginal population mentioned in the two memoirs had, a>s a whole, undergone a total diminution of upwards of 1,376 souls; But it must •be remarked that thia diminution (as well as the changes to lesser numbers caused by migrations) took place In the most densely populated territory, (where the hunting grounds were 14 miles square per head). The population on the Canadian side, hunting over 37 square miles per head, increased by about 9,275 souls during that interval, while the other, on the .American side, taken as a whole, had lost 10,650. In the United States again the tribes who cultivated the land and were possesseil of 28 miles per head of hunting ground, have Increased when the others diminished. The increase on the Canadian side Is due principally to the immigration from the United States; for ft is a fa<!t, ascertained since the North American tribes have been known,that they, in the long run, and taken as a whole, remain stationary, in point of population, when'they do not diminish'. The immigration took place in consequence of the territories on the Canadian side having been depopulated by the wars of extermination of the preceding period.  

By the Census of 1871, an exact enumeration has for the first time been made of the •aboriginal population within the limits of the Province of Prince Edward Island (323), of Nova Scotia (1,666), of New Brunswick (1,403), of Quebec (6,988), and of Ontario 

(13,'978), showing a total for these five Provinces of 23,368.

However, as the Census has rooorded this population' only by localities and not by tribes,it has been thought desirable to supply this deficiency, and at the same time to try to establish the number of the Indigenous population throughout the wholo exiwnt of the British possessions In North America, together with the approximate extent of the superficies Inhabited by each of the tribes, or groups of tribes; the result of -which will be found summarized In the Table which follows. The Information has been di-awn from the Oensus of 1871, from the writings aud notes of the missionaries ; from reports, works and memoirs published at difierent periods, and from details received, viva voce, from persons who have been In Intimate relations with these clans. Tlie pai-t of the indigenous population, of which the least is known, is that in British Columbia. For this reason, as Is usual In such cases, their numbers have almost always 

p. lxiv

been exaggerated. These tribes belong exclusively to the Dine race and have been classified according to the excellent division made by Dr. Latham. (The Natural History oj the Varieties of Man). The part which is now best known, outside of the limits of tho older Provinces, is that on the territory of the Athabaska-Mackenzie, thanks to the admirable paper published In 1874 by the Reverend Father Petltot, Oblat missionary. 

It would be impossible to enumerate all the names given to the indigenous tribes and sub-tribes of North America, nor the languages that have been counted out of dialects of the same mother tongues, very frequently the same small groups of nomads have had different names bestowed on them, from their having been encountered In different places by different travellers. The names given In the follo-wlng Table are those sanc- tioned by history or by the authority of ethnograplieis to mark the distinct groups; there aro added to each, letters indicating the race to which the tribe belongs.

All the aboriginal families of British America ai-e divided Into four races. These four races are : 1. That of the Esquimaux, or Innok (plural Innoit). 2. That called the Ddnd-Dindjld. 3. That of the Algonquins, or the Algic race. 4. That of the Huron-Iroquols. - .

In the following Table, letters are placed after the names of the tribes, to indicate to which of the four great i-aces each tribe belongs ; AL. for the Algonquin race; ir. i. for the Huron-Iriquois race; D. D. for the Ddnd-Dindjld race ; and IN. for the "Esquimaux race. (Innok.—Inncrit.) 

The word villagier has been made to indicate the mode of living in villages which has been adopted by several of the aboriginal tribes or sub-tribes in the settled parts of the country. These villagiers almost always engage a little in hunting and fishing, in cultivation of the land ; but most maintain themselves chiefly by the exercise of various Industries, such as the dressing of skins, the making of snow shoes, mocassins and fancy articles prepared by the women. In certain places the men work in tho lumber shanties, and serve its guides and carriers in exploKitions or hunting excursions. Some have become well-to-do farmers. .

The small Map which accompanies this Table is given to enable the reader to easily form an idea of the territory occupied by each aboriginal group, of the relative extent of the hunting grounds and of their situation as to the maritime shores or fisheries of the inteiior. The figures of reference pertain alike to the Table and the map.

It is scarcely necessary,to say that the hunting grounds of each Indian tribe are not actually mai-ked off by precise and invariable limits, like those which divide the Pro- vinces of an organized country from one another, and that, therefore, the figures, beyond those taken from the Census of 1871, are only approximate. As to the calculations of the superficies, they .have, in common \ritli the rest of the work, been very carefully made, and it Is confidently believed they do not yield in point of exactitude to the estimates made from time to time (which .all necessarily vary) of the superficies of the unsurveyed regions of the American continent. From the total superficies, shown in the Table by tribal occupancy, and given in detail hereafter, for each Province, the bays and the great estuaries have been eliminated. Newfoundland and Anticostl, which have no aboriginal population, are not Included In the superficies of tho Table, but are after- wards mentioned; Newfoundland separately, Anticosti in the superficies of Quebec ' 

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TABLE of the Aboriginal Population of Canada, with the Superficies in square miles of the hunting and .fishing grounds occupied by the different tribes, the whole referring to the year 1871.  

p. lxx

It will bo seen that taking the whole of the aboriginal population of British North America, including the few tribes who live chiefly by agricultural and Industrial pur- suits in the settled Provinces, as •well as the tribes placed in exceptionally unfavorable conditions in Arctic climates, the mean inhabited superficies is 34 square miles per head. Eliminating from the calculation these two extremes in the scale of comparison, the

mean falls to about 25 square miles per head, the minimum being about 10 ^square miles per head; the maximum being found In the most rigorous climates, and the minimum exclusively whei-e there are abundant sea coast fisheries. In the b^t hunting grounds, with a temperate climate, in the absence of extensive fisheries and of cultivation of the soil, the increase of the Indian population to a larger number than 1 inhabitant to 15 square miles cau-ses misery and disease, or incursions upon neighbour- ing territories and consequent warfare.

Sir George Simpson, in 1857, in his replies to the Special Committee of the British House of Commons appointed to enquire at that date into the affairs of the Hudson's Bay Company, again points out (Page 58 oftJie Report) the fact of these periodical oscilla^ tlon.s of Increase and decrease among the Indians. He points on*; that the tribes of the Western woods, after having boon decimated by disease for several years, were ac that time passing through a period of increase, whilst the prairie tribes were at the same time suffeiing from decrease caused by tribal wars and disea.se.

The information given in the preceding Table and the small chart accompanying It, may be thus summarised :— ^

As regards RACES, there are iqioii British North American territory :— 

+ Chart [formatting of this chart did not reproduce properly when cutting-and-pasting] 

+ Inset map showing regions of different aboriginal groups 

p. lxxii 

+ Chart [Note formatting of this chart did not reproduce properly when cutting-and-pasting]​

The testimony given to the Special Committee of the British Commons in 1857, by Sir George Simpson, who was for thirty-seven years Governor of the Hudson Bay Territories in America, has been referred to above. Sir George at the same time laid before the Committee a Memorandum prepared by the officers of the Company, as to the population of the trading eountry covered by their forts ; that is, the aboriginal population of 1858 In Labrador, the still unsettled northern parts of Quebec and Ontario, all Rupert's Land, the Athabaska-Mackenzie, British Columbia, the coasts and Islands in Russian America bordering on British Columbia, the American territories of Washington, Idaho, Oregon, and part of the teriitory of Montana,* As this Memorandum was furnished by the Hudson Bay Company, it ]^>os.se.sses such importance that ic is deemed desirable to reprint it here in fidl. .

It should lie remarked here that tho fifteen years which have elapsed between the date of ths preparaticn of the Hud.son Bay Company's Memorandum (1856) and tliat to which tJie Table in this work refers (1871) have not produced, in fact, any notable change In the number, or mode of life of the aboriginal populations depending on hunting and fishing in the unsettled regions of British North America.

Thia was in 1857. Sinee, the relations of the Hudaon's Bay Company -with the American territories have been altered. In fulfilment of the Treaty of 1863 (ratified and proclaimed in 1864), for thefinalsettle-

^ment of the claims of the Hudson's Bay and of the Puget's bound Agricultural Companies, the decision of %h« appointed Commissioners waa arrived at in 1869, awarding to the Hudson's Bay Company S450;000 and t<Athe Pujet'a Sound Agricultural Company $200,000 for the releare and transfer of all their possessory rigo^ta and claims.  

p. lxxiiv

REPORT OF THE SPECIAL COMMITEE OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, 1857.

(C: Appendix No. 2,pages,B65, 3G6 and 3G7.) 

"INDIAN POPULATION.  

+ several pages of tables and text to p. lxxxv​ 

____________

Source:

Census of Canada 1870-71

volume 4 (of 5)

see "Introduction", pages lii to lxxxv 

Available through DSP: http://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2016/statcan/CS98-1871-4.pdf

​Also available via Early Canadiana Online (better quality scan) 

About the 1870-1871 Census:

"The Census of 1870-81, the first since the passing of the British North American Act, was taken under the authority of the 'Census Act' assented to on the 12th May, 1870 (33 Victoria, Chapter XXI). The publication of the results of this extensive work is accompanied with comparative statements abstracted from reports of former censuses, and from other statistical resources, after the manner followed in older countries. ... The edition will consist of five volumes in which is compressed a mass of information more than three times as much as was contained in the reports of the Censuses of 1861 for the same four Provinces ... Each volume will contain remarks referring to the tabular matter therein published, and each will be furnished with indexes and explanations necessary to facilitate reference thereto"--Introd., v. 1.

Permanent link to this Catalogue Record:  http://www.publications.gc.ca/pub?id=9.827965&sl=0

About volume 4: 

Contains summaries of Censuses from 1665 to 1871 for territories constituting the British North American Provinces in 1871. The Introduction also summarizes "statements of population" from various other sources, some earlier.​ Also includes a fairly lengthy discussion of aboriginal statistics gathered to that date and asserts that the total numbers of aboriginal people had been overstated in many accounts.