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Documentation

Census History

Jean Talon conducted the first Census in 1666 in the New World. In 1851, royal assent was given to a new act requiring censuses of the provinces in 1852, 1861 and every 10th year thereafter. Thus began the decennial census. In 1956, the first five-year Census was conducted nationally.

The Census evolved and developed since 1666. Social and economic changes in the population occurred and the Census reflected those changes in the questions asked.


Online Documentation

License

You can view the data use policy here.

Census Geography, Summary

The primary organizing principle for Census data is census geography. For a detailed discussion of how census geography is developed and applied, see chapter 6 of the Census Handbook. The following are the units of census geography for which publicly released data-products are created:

Highest Level Geography
  Nation Canada
  Province/territory Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, Nunavut, Yukon, Northwest Territories
Administrative Levels
CD Census Division administrative areas established by provincial law, such as counties, regional districts, etc.
        CSD Census Sub-Division provincially defined "municipality"
        FED Federal Electoral District area within the boundaries of a Federal Parliamentary Riding
Economic Regions
       CMA Census Metropolitan area Area consisting of one or more adjacent municipalities situated around a major urban core with a population of an least 100,000
         CA Census Agglomeration Area consisting of one or more adjacent municipalities situated around a major urban core with a population of at least 10,000
Lowest Level Geography
CT Census tracts are small, relatively stable geographic areas within census metropolitan areas and larger census agglomerations (with an urban core population of 50,000 or more at the previous census).
         DA Dissemination area is a small, relatively stable geographic unit composed of one or more blocks. It is the smallest standard geographic area for which all census date are disseminated.
Linked spatial identifier:
        FSA Forward sortation area A set of well-defined and stable areas represented by the first three characters of a postal code.

Definitions

Taken from the Canada 2001 Census Dictionary
Cat. No. 92-378-XIE

Geography Definitions for Canada 2001 Census

Census Divisions (CD): the general term applied to areas established by provincial law, which are intermediate geographic areas between the municipality and the province/territory level. For example, they represent counties, regional districts, regional municipalities and other types of provincially legislated areas. Next to province/territories, census divisions are the most stable administrative geographical area and are therefore often used in longitudinal analysis.

Census Metropolitan Areas (CMA) and Census Agglomerations (CA): the term applied to urban centres (with a population of 10, 000 or more) which tend to expand beyond official municipal boundaries. Specific guidelines are used to group municipalities that are closely interconnected due to people working in one municipality and living in another. The resulting geographic units are called CMAs for larger urban centres (100,000 or more persons in their urban core in the previous census) and census agglomerations (with an urban core of at least 10,000 but less than 100,000 in the previous census)

Census Subdivisions (CSD): the general term used for municipalities (as determined by provincial or territorial legislation) or their equivalents (for example Indian reserves, Indian settlements, and unorganised territories). The 2001 census identifies 46 types of census subdivisions. While CSDs do change, between the 1996 and 2001, CSDs changed dramatically, especially in the provinces of Quebec, Ontario, and British Columbia. To assist user's to bridge the transition for the 1996 CSDs to the 2001 CSDs, selected tables are disseminated showing 2001 data based on the 'dissolved' 1996 CSD boundaries.

Census Tracts (CT): are small, relatively stable geographic areas within census metropolitan areas and larger census agglomerations (with an urban core population of 50,000 or more at the previous census). CTs are areas of 2,500 to 8,000 people (preferably closer to 4,000) where boundaries generally follow permanent physical features, such as major streets and railway tracts, and attempt to approximate cohesive socio-economic areas at the time of creation. The boundaries of CTs are generally held constant from one census to the next, so that the CTs are comparable over time.

Dissemination Area (DA): is a small, relatively stable geographic unit composed of one or more blocks. It is the smallest standard geographic area for which all census date are disseminated. DAs cover all the territory of Canada and replace the enumeration area. In most cases, DAs have a population between 400 and 700. However, due to operational constraints for the 2001 Census, the boundaries of DAs outside urban centres may fall below the target of 400 to 700 people. DAs respect the boundaries of CSDs and CTs.

Federal Electoral District (FED): the federal Member of Parliament's riding .The constitutional basis for the census originates from the requirement to apportion federal electoral representation based on population counts. Following the release of population counts from each decennial census, the Chief Electoral Officer determines the number of seats in the House of Commons based on those census population counts. In the geographic hierarchy, the FEDs add together to form provinces and territories, and blocks are defined to respect the FED boundaries.

Forward Sortation Area (FSA): A set of well-defined and stable areas represented by the first three characters of a postal code.


Other Important Definitions:
Agricultural region: Subprovincial geographic area used by the census of agriculture in the dissemination of agricultural statistics.
Block-face: A small recognizable geographical unit to which census data can be associated. It refers to one side of a city street, normally between consecutive intersections with streets or other physical features (such as creeks or railways).
"De facto": A "de facto" census counts people where they are on Census Day and does not take into consideration their usual place of residence.
"Dejure": A "dejure" census enumerates people at their usual place of residence, regardless of where they are on Census Day.
Derived variable: Where the variable has undergone some transformations. For example, "date of birth" was collected on the questionnaire but age is the database variable.
Direct variable: Variable in which the categories on the questionnaire correspond exactly to those on the database.
Dwelling: Refers to a set of living quarters in which a person or group of persons resides or could reside.
Form 2A: Short questionnaire containing nine questions given to four fifths of all private households.
Form 2B: Long questionnaire containing 53 questions given to one fifth of all private households.
Non-permanent residents: Any person in Canada on a student or employment authorization, a Minister's permit or as a refugee claimant.

Other Definations from Census 1996


Census Variables: Special Topics

Questionnaires

Comparing questions across census years (english, pdf file)

Census Data Public Releases

Census data are released to the public as counts (or averages) by theme and geography.

The impact of confidentiality

Whether any specific count will actually be made available for public release depends on the threat to confidentiality posed by that particular count: i.e., as the numbers involved in any particular geography-theme combination decline, the higher the level of geography for which the data will be released.

For some traits, such as age, sex, educational attainment, etc. which are traits of all respondents, univariate tabulations are released at all levels of geography. For other traits, which are applicable to far fewer numbers of Canadians, small counts are reached at ever higher  levels of geography. For example, part of the information captured in the census creates a count of same-sex common-law partners. There are only 68,405 such occurrences of this across Canada. Hence, while data at the national, provincial and territorial levels are released, it is not made available at any lower levels of geography.

Summary:

The combination of these two organizing principles can be stated as follows: the smaller the numbers of persons in a category, the higher the level of geography for which that category will be reported.

Consequences:

The result of this type of "triage" creates several types of thematic tables, combining categories of persons, themes and levels of geography in differing combinations. The two major groupings of these tables are Profile Tables and Topic Based Tabulations

Viewing Software

To view the Census 2001 data, you must have Ivation Datasystem Inc.'s Beyond 20/20 ver 6.0 Table Browser installed on your machine.

  • To Download Beyond 20/20 version 6.0 Table Browser click here.
  • To view the Beyond 20/20 User Guide click here.