OTTAWA – Canadians will know exactly how many neighbours they have for the first time in five years on Wednesday as Statistics Canada unveils the first batch of numbers collected during the 2011 census.
The agency is poised to release the population numbers collected during the 2011 census. The numbers are expected to show Canada has grown over the past six years.
Estimates based on the last census in 2006 projected that Canada’s total population would have reached approximately 34.5 million people by 2011, up from the nearly 33 million counted in 2005.
Wednesday’s release will show just how close those estimates are to reality.
The release will only provide the numbers of people in Canada, broken down by geographic areas such as provinces and urban centers.
Population estimates by province based on the 2006 census: Newfoundland and Labrador: 510, 578 Prince Edward Island: 145,855 Nova Scotia: 945, 437 New Brunswick: 755,455 Quebec: 7,979,663 Ontario: 13,372,996 Manitoba: 1,250,574 Saskatchewan: 1,057,884 Alberta: 3,779,353 British Columbia: 4,573,321 Yukon: 34,666 Northwest Territories: 43,675 Nunavut: 33,322 |
Details about the sex, age, family status, living arrangements and languages will be unveiled at four separate times later in the year. Other data including disabilities, immigration, education, religion will be released in 2013.
Together the two sets of data provides Canadians, academics, policymakers and decision-makers a picture of Canada, which informs everything from where electoral ridings are to where schools are built to what products to sell.
The census is done every five years and a new set of data excites those who have been relying on old data to inform such decisions.
Up until this year, the two layers of information were collected through separate surveys, the short-form census and the long-form census.
The latter census no longer exists, replaced by the Conservatives in 2010 by a voluntary survey. The move sparked a national debate over how integral the data was in shaping the country.
The Conservatives defended their actions citing privacy concerns about a mandatory long-form census and problems with the penalty of jail time for not responding. A host of organizations who use the data, including charities, universities, cities, provinces and think-tanks objected to the move, citing concerns the data would be less accurate and less in-depth.
The long-form census was made voluntary and was renamed the National Household Survey. Instead of being sent to one in five randomly-selected households, the voluntary version was sent to one in three households in the hopes that more people would respond.
The agency predicted response rates would fall to 50 per cent from 94 per cent with the change.
Population numbers are gleaned from the mandatory short-form census, so any questions about data quality coming out of the changes to the long-form census will remain unanswered until the first set of numbers comes out in 2013.
Global News will have full coverage of Wednesday's census release starting at 8:30 a.m. ET
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