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About Canada 2006 Census

The 'Canada 2006 Census' was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population. Census day was May 16 2006. The next census following will be the 2011 Census. Canada's total population according to the 2006 census was 31,612,897.

Contents

Summary

Data products

Population and dwelling counts

Age and sex

Advertising

Outsourcing

Form colours

Controversy

See also

External links

References

Summary

Over 12.7 million households, 32.5 million people are expected to be counted. Canada Post delivered census forms by mail to 70% of the country, primarily residents in urban areas. Census enumerators delivered to the remaining 30% of households. Every fifth home received the long questionnaire (53 questions versus 8 questions on the short form). For the first time, Canadian residents were able to go online to fill in their forms. Statistics Canada expected approximately 20% of households to file their surveys electronically. Persistent census staff are contacting tardy households. The total estimated cost of the 2006 census is $567 million spread over seven years, employing more than 25,000 full and part-time census workers.
New in the 2006 Census Questionnaire:

★ Education. Where did individuals receive their highest level of education? (Only on extended questionnaire)

★ Income. Permission to use income information from individual's income tax file. Income from child benefits. Income tax paid. (Also only on extended questionnaire)

★ Access to personal information. Permission to make information public in 92 years.
Questions not asked in the 2006 Census:

★ Religion. Normally asked only once every 10 years, and the religion question was asked in the 2001 Census.

★ Education. The number of years of schooling received.
Modified questions:

★ Education. A separate question for each level of schooling, and type of school attended.

Data products

Once the data is collected and digitized, Statistics Canada will begin to release a series of census data. On March 13, 2007, the first batch of data, covering geographical information and population and dwelling counts, was released. This will be followed by other census reports, to be released by the summer of 2008.^[1].

Population and dwelling counts

Population of the provinces and territories

Province / territory	Population	% Change (2001-2006)	Total private dwellings	Density
Newfoundland and Labrador	505,469	-1.5	235,958	1.4
Prince Edward Island	135,851	+0.4	62,753	23.9
Nova Scotia	913,462	+0.6	425,681	17.3
New Brunswick	729,997	+0.1	331,619	10.2
Quebec	7,546,131	+4.3	3,452,300	5.6
Ontario	12,160,282	+6.6	4,972,869	13.4
Manitoba	1,148,401	+2.6	491,724	2.1
Saskatchewan	968,157	-1.1	387,160	1.6
Alberta	3,290,350	+10.6	1,335,745	5.1
British Columbia	4,113,487	+5.3	1,788,474	4.4
Yukon	30,372	+5.9	15,296	0.1
Northwest Territories	41,464	+11.0 ★	16,774	0.0
Nunavut	29,474	+10.2	9,041	0.0
'Canada'	'31,612,897'	'+5.4'	'13,576,855'	'3.5'

★ This change is likely overstated due to improvements in coverage of the Northwest Territories in 2006.[1]

Age and sex

Province / territory	0 to 14	15-64	65+	Males	Females
Newfoundland and Labrador	78,230	356,975	70,265	245,730	259,740
Prince Edward Island	23,985	91,685	20,185	65,595	70,260
Nova Scotia	146,435	628,815	138,210	439,835	473,630
New Brunswick	118,255	504,110	107,635	355,495	374,500
Quebec	1,252,510	5,213,335	1,080,285	3,687,695	3,858,435
Ontario	2,210,800	8,300,300	1,649,180	5,930,700	6,229,580
Manitoba	225,175	761,340	161,890	563,275	585,125
Saskatchewan	187,695	631,155	149,305	475,240	492,915
Alberta	631,515	2,305,425	353,410	1,646,800	1,643,550
British Columbia	679,605	2,834,075	599,610	2,013,985	2,099,495
Yukon	5,720	22,365	2,290	15,280	15,090
Northwest Territories	9,920	29,570	1,975	21,225	20,240
Nunavut	10,000	18,660	810	15,105	14,365
'Canada'	5,579,835	21,697,805	4,335,255	15,475,970	16,136,925

Advertising

In contrast to 1996 focus-groups that found it important to know the legal requirement at the outset, participants of 2005 focus-groups were annoyed or provoked by draft ads reminding Canadians about the census law. As a result of the finding, Statistics Canada's initial newspaper, radio and TV ads avoided mention of the legal requirement. Instead, reference to the census law was highlighted only in ads appearing after census day, to capture late filers.
To encourage participation, Statistics Canada set aside $13 million for "saturation" advertising, including billboards, bookmarks, inserts in municipal tax bills, and ads on bags of sugar and milk cartons.^[2] For comparison, the United States Census Bureau budgeted $166.6 million USD for paid advertising over 3 years for the 2000 Census.^[3]

Outsourcing

Statistics Canada reports less than 20% of the work will be outsourced, spending $85M over 5 years. Despite an open public tender process, controversy arose on the announcement of a $43.3 million deal awarded to Lockheed Martin Canada -- a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin, the world's largest defense contractor by defense revenue -- for the purchase of scanning and printing software and hardware.^[4]

Form colours

Short forms

★ English: orange

★ French: yellow
Long forms

★ English: red

★ French:
Census of Agriculture

★ English: yellow

★ French:

Controversy

Special interest groups have criticised Statistics Canada over the design of questions, accuracy, and the future of the census data:^[5]

★ Question 6: Relationship. Couples in same-sex marriages are offended by and/or object to Statistics Canada's instruction that they use the write-in field "Other" instead of checking the "husband or wife" box.

★ Question 16: Mother tongue. An anonymous email misinformation campaign advises bilingual francophones to not mention their knowledge of English.

★ Question 53: Election to release census data after 92 years. Genealogists worry future research will be hampered if Canadians don't check this box.
The quality of data is further hampered by individuals advocating minimal cooperation or non-cooperation, in protest to the outsourcing contract awarded to Lockheed Martin.^[6] Many people believed that Lockheed Martin would have access to their information, and that the US government could then access that information through the USA PATRIOT Act. However, despite assurances to the contrary (i.e., only Statistics Canada employees would and could handle, store, and access the information), some people refused to participate fully in the Census.
In addition, Statistics Canada's online questionnaire has been criticized over accessibility issues:^[7]

★ Failure to comply with Treasury Board guidelines to meet W3C accessibility recommendations for the visually impaired.

★ Failure to support open source operating systems. Support for Linux was eventually added, Notice to Linux users but support for other operating systems was not.

See also

★ Demographics of Canada

★ Statistics Act

External links

★ 2006 Census: Release topics and dates - Statistics Canada's page on the 2006 Census.

References

1. 2006 Census release dates
2. Statistics Canada revamps census ad campaign to play down legal requirements
3. Prepared Statement of Kenneth Prewitt, Director, U.S. Bureau on the Census, Committee on Government Reform, U.S. House of Representatives
4. Census contractor comes under fire
5. Census coloured by broad array of interests
6. Census faces attack from blog rumours
7. Canadian Census controversy continues

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