Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  We can give you the stats; we let you answer the questions.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The definition of overcrowding we are using is one that is applied and standardized across all populations, but you certainly have a good point. With a younger population, you do have larger families and you do have larger household sizes; thus, you would have a larger proportion of population per household.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  For sure. This is one indicator. This is one of many statistics we provide to various policy analysts. They take into account many factors, including the overcrowding factor, but include as well family size, household size, and age distributions of the region. All of these are taken together, as well as other statistics, in determining the situation with regard to a particular area or a particular group.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  With regard to the reserves that have been excluded, the percentage of the overall population of the North American Indian identity population that has been excluded is relatively small. When we are looking at the tendencies and trends for the aboriginal population, while these exclusions are important for certain regions of the country and do have to be taken into account when looking at these data, overall the information that we have on the aboriginal identity population—

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Do you mean now, with regard to the housing? We are able to provide you with the conditions of housing—the extent of the overcrowding, the extent of the housing that needs major repairs, the extent of the housing reported to have water contamination, and how this varies and can be compared within aboriginal groups and with the non-aboriginal population.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  We can provide you with those numbers.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes. When the band council indicates to Statistics Canada that they, in the reserve, do not want to participate, we do not collect information from those communities.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  With respect to repairs, we cannot give you the specifics in each one of the cases. We cannot give you the reason why home owners have to make more repairs. Aboriginals who own their houses have to make more repairs than others. If I understood your second question correctly, you are inquiring on the growth of different aboriginal groups, specifically the Inuit, the Metis and Indians.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes, indeed. Our projections do take into consideration the regional situation. They not only take into consideration the provincial situation, but also the situation within the provinces themselves. We take into account populations living on and off reserves.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes, we have this information.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes. The census asks the respondents at the time that they are filling out the questionnaire, what is the status or the condition of their home? Does it require major repairs or not? That's at one point in time.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  We do not have those details with us today, but we do have the province-by-province breakdown.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Indeed, according to our forecasts, the percentage of the population living off reserves by 2017 will be 60%.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Exactly.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes, the 2006 information will be able to provide you with an update on that as well, to be able to indicate whether the trend is actually continuing.