Public Health Agency of Canada
latest statistics on the spread of HIV and AIDS.

Winter 2007

Aboriginal people (Inuit, Métis and First Nations) account for more than a quarter of all positive HIV tests reported (in 2006), even though we only make up about 6 per cent of the total population in the 12 provinces and territories included in the stats. (Ontario and Quebec are excluded because they do not collect ethno-specific HIV data.)

For the third year in a row, women accounted for more than half of the positive test results among aboriginal people.

Intravenous drug use was the main cause of HIV infection among aboriginal people( 64 per cent ). Heterosexual contact was the other main cause ( 34 per cent.)

Canada's national averages are the reverse of the Aboriginal statistics for HIV-positive tests - 74 per cent of new cases are attributed to heterosexual contact and 24 per cent to intravenous drug use.