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The Canadian fur industry deliberately overstates the importance of the fur industry to aboriginals in most of its promotional materials. Statements such as: “The Fur Trade supports the cultures and livelihoods of tens of thousands of rural and aboriginal people in North America”, attributed to the Fur Council of Canada, certainly aid in marketing fur to gullible urbanites, but are a far cry from the facts.

The Fur Institute of Canada says there is a total of 60,000 trappers in Canada, including 25,000 aboriginal trappers. source

This means that aboriginals accounted for 42 percent of the total number of Canadian trappers.

In 2002 (the last year we have data for), Statistics Canada estimates the total value of wild caught pelts in Canada was 23.6 million. source

Assuming that aboriginal and non-aboriginal pelts fetch the same prices, we can say that aboriginal pelts fetched 42 percent of the total $23.6 million value of Canadian wild caught pelts. This means aboriginal trappers earned, in total, $9,912,000.

If we divide the $9,912,000 by the 25,000 aboriginal trappers, we arrive at $396 in annual revenue for each aboriginal trapper.

In total, the Canadian fur industry brings in (according to them) $800 million each year in revenue. The $9.9 million earned by aboriginal trappers accounts for approximately one percent of the total fur industry revenues.

According to Statistics Canada, there were (conservatively) 1,319,890 aboriginal people in Canada. source
The 25,000 aboriginal trappers therefore account for less than 2 percent of the total number of aboriginal people in Canada. Or in other words, less than 2 percent of aboriginal people are involved in the commercial fur trapping industry.

Based on these industry and government provided facts we can draw the following conclusions:

1. Aboriginal trappers earn, on average, less than $400 CAD per year.
2. Aboriginal communities receive only one percent of the profits of the Canadian fur industry.
3. Aboriginals perform the lowest paid job in the fur industry – trapping.
4. Less than 2 percent of aboriginal people in Canada are involved in commercial trapping of animals for fur.