Aboriginal ancestry refers to a person who can trace his or her ancestry to the Aboriginal linguistic family whose traditional lands fell in total or in part in the geographic area that is now Canada. Aboriginal ancestry also refers to a person who has been accorded Aboriginal rights by legislation, for example, by marriage to an Aboriginal person. (Source: Statistics Canada).

(ascendance autochtone) Persons who, in response to the census question on ethnic origin, reported at least one Aboriginal origin (North American Indian, Métis, or Inuit).