Health Status of On and Off-reserve Aboriginal Peoples: Analysis of the Aboriginal Peoples Survey

The government of Canada is committed to closing the health status gap between First Nation’s (FN) and non-First Nation’s peoples in Canada. The government of Canada is also committed to evidenced-based policy making and accountability. To provide evidence of effective programming, it must monitor the health and well-being of its First Nations and Inuit populations over time. Evidence on the health status of FN peoples living on-reserve is difficult to obtain due to limited data sources. However, the Aboriginal Peoples Survey (APS) provides information on the health status of on-reserve and off-reserve FN peoples. Important determinants of health such as socio-economic status (SES), health-care utilization and health behaviours will also be documented, as many of the government programmes offered aim to improve health status by affecting the behavioural determinants of health.