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| | There is about one person more per family among the Crees than among Quebecers in general. The number of people per family among the Crees declined between 1981 (5.7) and 2001 (4.0). This phenomenon may be partly due to the increase in the number of single-parent families (from 350 to 720, that is, an increase of 106%). According to data from the most recent Canadian censuses, the percentage of single-parent families among the Crees was far smaller than the Québec average between 1981 and 1996, and then exceeded the Québec average between 1996 and 20011. | |
| | Composition of Cree Families – 1981 and 2001 | | 1981 | 2001 | | | | | | | | | | - Number of people per family
| | | | - Percentage of single-parent families a (%)
| | | | | | | | | | | | - Number of people per family
| | | | - Percentage of single-parent families a (%)
| | | | | a. The percentage of single-parent families is calculated relative to the number of families with children, which means couples and single people without children are excluded. A family is not equivalent to a household, as a household means people living under the same roof, whether or not they are members of the same family. Households composed of a single person and roommates are not considered families. There were 2,410 Cree households in 1996 and 2,845 in 2001. | Source: Statistics Canada, censuses of 1981 and 2001 1 This major increase in the number of single-parent families might be the result of estimation errors. The smaller the size of a total population, and therefore of a partial sample (by population category or village), the higher the possibility of error. Also, major national censuses do not always give reliable results at the village level. It must be noted, however, that the 2001 census data for Cree communities was based on a response rate of at least 96% of residences per village.1 Abuse seems to have been less widespread in James Bay than elsewhere in Canada (Gnarowski, 2002).1 Most of the dwellings built in the communities are single-family homes; apartments for single people or young families are very rare. This can explains partly the discrepancy between the number of people per home in Cree communities and in the rest of Québec.2 This policy emphasizes the renovation of existing dwellings, the use of Native labour and firms in housing construction and access to private ownership.3 The construction of Cree housing would involve roughly 85% Cree labour (Hawkins, 2001).
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