Indian reserves, Alberta (1921 census)

Name: Indian reserves (1921)
Address: Alberta, CA

Note on Indian Reserves in the Census of Canada. The 1851–1921 censuses enumerated First Nations populations on reserves inconsistently across years and regions, sometimes naming individual reserves and sometimes aggregating them under a generic "Indian Reserves" bundle per Census District. This page reflects the historical census record as published; it is not an authoritative description of any specific First Nation, band, or reserve. For accurate information, consult the annual reports of the Department of Indian Affairs (1864–present, available through Library and Archives Canada), the Indigenous Services Canada First Nation Profiles, and First Nations communities directly.

Indian reserves was a census subdivision in Alberta, recorded in the 1921 Census of Canada with a population of 1,621. The administrative centroid was at approximately 49.490°N, 113.321°W.

Population

In 1921, Indian reserves had a population of 1,621: 820 male and 801 female residents.

Boundary continuity (non-identical overlaps)

Spatial polygon overlaps with adjacent census years where the boundary shifted enough that the SAME_AS chain didn't merge them. These show where the territory came from and went to even when it isn't tracked as the same persistent place.

Earlier boundary forms

In an earlier year, this CSD contained Peigan I R, 1911 (23.9% share).
In an earlier year, this CSD contained Blood I R, 1911 (74.7% share).

Neighbouring Census Subdivisions in 1921

In the 1921 census, Indian reserves shared boundaries with:

Full census record, 1921

The 1921 census recorded 23 measurements for this Census Subdivision across 3 categories.

Population & families (1921). This community's record includes 1,621 total population, 820 males in the population, 806 males born in Canada, 801 females in the population, 789 females born in Canada, 9 males born in the British Empire (excluding Canada), 6 females born in the British Empire (excluding Canada), 6 females born outside the British Empire, 5 males born outside the British Empire. (Source: 1921 Census of Canada, V1T16.)

Ethnic origin (1921). This community's record includes 29 persons of British origin (Scotch / Scottish), 29 persons of French origin, 28 persons of British origin (English), 4 persons of German origin, 2 persons of British origin (Irish), 2 persons of British origin (other), 1 persons of Belgian origin, 1 persons of Dutch origin. 1,525 persons recorded under the official census category "Indian"; corresponds to what is now described as Indigenous (First Nations; in northern enumerations also Inuit) origin. "Indian" was simultaneously a census category and the legal/administrative term under the Indian Act (1876). (Source: 1921 Census of Canada, V1T27.)

Religion (1921). This community's record includes 755 Roman Catholics, 632 Anglicans (Church of England), 207 adherents of other sects (residual category in 1921), 22 Presbyterians, 5 Methodists. (Source: 1921 Census of Canada, V1T38.)

People with Dictionary of Canadian Biography entries

The Dictionary of Canadian Biography includes biographies of 1 person connected to this place who were alive in 1921, listed below by birth year. Each name links to that person's DCB entry.

Name	Lifespan	Connection
Nitai’kihtsipimi	1848–1928	died here

Identifiers

TCP UID: AB190017 — year-scoped identifier from the Canadian Census Subdivision boundary file
Persistent place ID: PLACE_AB190017 — computed from spatial-overlap chains across census years
External authority links suppressed for Indian Reserve entries. See methodological note above.

Sources

Census tabulations from the 1921 Census of Canada, transcribed and georeferenced by the Canadian Peoples / TCP project, hosted at the HGIS Lab, University of Saskatchewan. Persistent place identity computed from spatial-overlap chains across all available census years (1851–1921). Identity grounding to Wikidata performed via the HGIS Canada Knowledge Graph project's MCP-assisted disambiguation pipeline. See the About / Methodology page for the full data pipeline.

Cite this page

Clifford, J. (2026). "Indian reserves, Alberta (1921 census)" in HGIS Canada Knowledge Graph. Retrieved from https://jimclifford.ca/hgiscanada/places/ab/indian-reserves-ab190017-1921/.