Canada faces a national crisis in Aboriginal homelessness. While homelessness has also risen among the general population in recent decades, Aboriginal people are greatly over represented among the homeless.
For example, homelessness in Greater Vancouver, British Columbia, nearly doubled in three years, 2002 to 2005, and then increased another 20% by 2008, when nearly 2,600 people were homeless—1,046 staying at a shelter or other temporary housing and 1,547 living on the streets. But homelessness among Aboriginal people grew at a much faster rate (34%) than the general homeless population (21%). The 2008 homeless count in Greater Vancouver found that:
32% of homeless people were Aboriginal, even though Aboriginal people account for only 2% of the general population in the region
Almost half (45%) of homeless women identified themselves as Aboriginal
41% of homeless youth identified themselves as Aboriginal.
- Andrew Leach
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