The 2016 Canadian census was an enumeration of
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
residents, which counted a population of 35,151,728, a change from its
2011 population of 33,476,688. The census, conducted by
Statistics Canada
Statistics Canada (StatCan; french: Statistique Canada), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and cultur ...
, was Canada's seventh
quinquennial census. The official census day was May 10, 2016. Census web access codes began arriving in the mail on May 2, 2016. The 2016 census marked the reinstatement of the mandatory long-form census, which had been dropped in favour of the voluntary
National Household Survey for the 2011 census. With a response rate of 98.4%, this census is said to be the best one ever recorded since the
1666 census of New France. This census was succeeded by
Canada's 2021 census.
Planning
Consultation with census data users, clients, stakeholders and other interested parties closed in November 2012. Qualitative content testing, which involved soliciting feedback regarding the questionnaire and tests responses to its questions, was scheduled for the fall of 2013, with more extensive testing occurring in May 2014. Statistics Canada was scheduled to submit its census content recommendations for review by the
Parliament of Canada
The Parliament of Canada (french: Parlement du Canada) is the federal legislature of Canada, seated at Parliament Hill in Ottawa, and is composed of three parts: the King, the Senate, and the House of Commons. By constitutional convention, the ...
in December 2014 for subsequent final approval by the
Cabinet of Canada
The Cabinet of Canada (french: Cabinet du Canada) is a body of Minister of the Crown, ministers of the Crown that, along with the Canadian monarch, and within the tenets of the Westminster system, forms the government of Canada. Chaired by the ...
.
On November 5, 2015, during the first Liberal caucus meeting after forming a majority government, the party announced that it would reinstate the mandatory
long-form census, starting in 2016. By early January 2016, Statistics Canada had announced a need for 35,000 people to complete this survey to commence in May.
Data release schedule
The release dates for geography products from the 2016 census were:
*November 16, 2016, for boundary files (first edition), road network files, hydrography files, reference maps (first edition), attribute information products (correspondence files), and reference guides and documents (first edition); and
*February 8, 2017, for boundary files (second edition), reference maps (second edition), attribute information products (GeoSuite and geographic attribute file), and reference guides and documents (second edition).
The release dates for data by release topic from the 2016 census are:
[
*February 8, 2017, for population and dwelling counts;
*May 3, 2017, for age and sex, type of dwelling;
*May 10, 2017, for Census of Agriculture;
*August 2, 2017, for language and families, households and marital status;
*September 13, 2017, for income;
*October 25, 2017, for immigration and ethnocultural diversity, housing and Aboriginal peoples; and
*November 29, 2017, for education, labour, journey to work, language of work and mobility and migration.
]
Enumeration
Portions of Canada's three territories and remote areas within Alberta
Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...
, Labrador
, nickname = "The Big Land"
, etymology =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Canada
, subdivision_type1 = Province
, subdivision_name1 ...
, Manitoba
Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...
, Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
and Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...
were subject to early enumeration between February 1, 2016, and March 31, 2016. Enumeration of the balance of Canada began on May 2, 2016, with the unveiling of the online census questionnaire, eight days prior to the official census day of May 10, 2016. Because of a wildfire in early May in northeast Alberta, Statistics Canada suspended enumeration efforts in the Fort McMurray
Fort McMurray ( ) is an urban service area in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo in Alberta, Canada. It is located in northeast Alberta, in the middle of the Athabasca oil sands, surrounded by boreal forest. It has played a significant ...
area with alternate means to collect data from its evacuated residents to be determined at a later date. Shortly after re-entry, residents were encouraged to complete their census form online or over the phone; however door-to-door enumeration remained suspended.
Public response
Non-binary
Non-binary and genderqueer are umbrella terms for gender identities that are not solely male or femaleidentities that are outside the gender binary. Non-binary identities fall under the transgender umbrella, since non-binary people typically ...
activists expressed concern that the choice between "male" and "female" on the "sex" question left them with no valid options. In response, Statistics Canada stated that "Respondents who cannot select one category ... can leave the question blank and indicate, in the Comments section at the end of the questionnaire, the reason(s) for which they've chosen to leave this question unanswered." Statistics Canada stated that they intend to analyze these comments but that because of the technical difficulties of analyzing free-form text, this analysis will not be released on the same schedule as the binary gender data.[
]
Results
In the 2016 Census of Population, Canada recorded a population of 35,151,728 living in 14,072,079 of its 15,412,443 total private dwellings, a change from its 2011 population of 33,476,688. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2016. Canada's most and least populous provinces were Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
at 13,448,494 and Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island (PEI; ) is one of the thirteen Provinces and territories of Canada, provinces and territories of Canada. It is the smallest province in terms of land area and population, but the most densely populated. The island has seve ...
at 142,907 respectively. Among the three territories, the Northwest Territories
The Northwest Territories (abbreviated ''NT'' or ''NWT''; french: Territoires du Nord-Ouest, formerly ''North-Western Territory'' and ''North-West Territories'' and namely shortened as ''Northwest Territory'') is a federal territory of Canada. ...
was the largest with a population of 41,786 while Yukon
Yukon (; ; formerly called Yukon Territory and also referred to as the Yukon) is the smallest and westernmost of Canada's three territories. It also is the second-least populated province or territory in Canada, with a population of 43,964 as ...
was the smallest with a population of 35,874 after Nunavut
Nunavut ( , ; iu, ᓄᓇᕗᑦ , ; ) is the largest and northernmost Provinces and territories of Canada#Territories, territory of Canada. It was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the ''Nunavut Act'' ...
's population overtook Yukon for the first time in its history.
The majority of Canada's population in 2016 were females at , while were males. The average age of the population was 41.0 years (40.1 years for males and 41.9 years for females).[
In terms of occupied private dwellings, of them were single detached dwellings, followed by being units in apartment buildings less than five storeys, and being apartment units in buildings with five or more storeys. The average household size was 2.4 people per household. Two-person households were the most frequent size among private households at .][
In regards to the journey to work data in Ottawa, there was an increase of people driving their car to work of 51.3% which has the highest mode of transportation. On the other hand, public transit decreased to 25.1% comparing to the 2011 census. The census data in 2016 shows that people have been using other modes of transportation more than other years, this includes walking and cycling.
]
Population and dwellings
Ethnic origins
See also
*Demographics of Canada
Statistics Canada conducts a country-wide census that collects demographic data every five years on the first and sixth year of each decade. The 2021 Canadian Census enumerated a Population of Canada by year, total population of 36,991,981, an i ...
*'' Statistics Act''
Notes
References
External links
2016 Census Program Content Consultation
{{People of Canada
2016 censuses
Census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...
Censuses in Canada
May 2016 events in Canada