Census of Population
The Census of Population is a national census operated by Statistics Canada.
Description
A national census of population is administered every five years. 75% of households are assigned a short form questionnaire, with the remainder being interviewed with the long form.
Data is generally made available two years following the census.
History
The Constitution Act of 1867 required that the government conduct a census every 10 years. The first such census was administered in 1871.
The Statistics Act of 1971 established that a census of population and a census of agriculture would be conducted every 5 years.
The 2011 census replaced the long form questionnaire with a voluntary National Household Survey (NHS), although there were almost no changes to the survey content.
In 2016, the long form questionnaire was reinstated.
Usage
Race and Ethnicity
There are two relevant variables in census data: population group and visible minority. These are created from an indiginous group question and a population group question, both in the long form questionnaire only.
The population group question generally asks about identification as:
- White
- South Asian (e.g., East Indian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan)
- Chinese
- Black
- Filipino
- Arab
- Latin American
- Southeast Asian (e.g., Vietnamese, Cambodian, Laotian, Thai)
- West Asian (e.g., Iranian, Afghan)
- Korean
- Japanese
- Other
Importantly however, respondents who identify as First Nations, Métis, or Inuit are not asked this question.
The population group variable reflects the population group question, and has dozens of categories, including many multiple-response categories. There is an "Indigenous peoples" category for those who are not asked the question.
Visible minority is defined as being "non-Caucasian in race or non-white in colour". The visible minority variable collapses many categories and combines the Indigenous peoples with White under "not a visible minority". Altogether the levels are:
- South Asian
- Chinese
- Black
- Filipino
- Arab
- Latin American
- Southeast Asian
- West Asian
- Korean
- Japanese
- Visible minority NIE ("not included elsewhere")
- Multiple visible minorities
- Not a visible minority
The legal terminology and classifications here are derived from the Employment Equity Act of 1986 and amended in 1995. See the link above for more details on this protocol.
Publications based on the 2021 census have used terms like racialized group and racialized population, suggesting that there may be a shift in language in the upcoming 2026 census.