'Area of residence' refers to the following geographic areas: on reserve, urban census metropolitan area, urban non-census metropolitan area and rural area. These geographic areas can be used to show where the Aboriginal population is residing.

'On reserve' includes eight census subdivision (CSD) types legally affiliated with First Nations or Indian bands, i.e., Indian reserve (IRI), Indian settlement (S-E), Indian government district (IGD), terres réservées aux Cris (TC), terres réservées aux Naskapis (TK), Nisga'a village (NVL), Nisga'a land (NL) and Teslin land (TL), as well as 35 additional CSDs of various other types that are generally northern communities in Saskatchewan, the Northwest Territories and the Yukon Territory, which have large concentrations of Registered Indians.

An urban area has a minimum population concentration of 1,000 persons and a population density of at least 400 persons per square kilometre, based on the current census population count. All territory outside urban areas is classified as rural. On-reserve CSDs are excluded from this category.

A census metropolitan area (CMA) is a large urban area and has a population of at least 100,000.

Urban non-census metropolitan areas are smaller urban areas with a population of less than 100,000.

Rural areas include remote and wilderness areas and agricultural lands, as well as small towns, villages and other populated places with a population of less than 1,000. On-reserve CSDs are excluded from this category.

Additional information on the geographic units can be obtained from the 2006 Census Dictionary.

Registered or Treaty Indian: The expression 'Registered Indian' refers to those persons who reported they were registered under the Indian Act of Canada. Treaty Indians are persons who are registered under the Indian Act and can prove descent from a band that signed a treaty.

The Registered Indian counts in this table may differ from the administrative counts maintained by the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, with the most important causes of these differences being the incompletely enumerated Indian reserves and Indian settlements as well as methodological and conceptual differences between the two sources.

This is a grouping of the total population into non-Aboriginal or Aboriginal population, based on their responses to three questions on the 2006 Census form.

Included in the Aboriginal identity population are those persons who reported identifying with at least one Aboriginal group, that is, North American Indian, Métis or Inuit, and/or those who reported being a Treaty Indian or a Registered Indian, as defined by the Indian Act of Canada, and/or those who reported they were members of an Indian band or First Nation.