Canadian Census Workshop

CITY 7410

Today we will cover:

• Census geography
• How to access census data, both current and historic
• Using Beyond 20/20 software

Census Geography

• Census Division (23 in MB)
• Census Subdivision

• Dissemination area

Largest area

Smallest area

• Census Metropolitan area
• Census Tract

Stats Canada Homepage:

statcan.gc.ca

Census subdivisions can be:

• reserves
• rural municipalities
• towns
• villages
• etc

The City of Winnipeg is a census subdivision

Winnipeg and Headingley together make up Census Division #11

The area surrounding Winnipeg is included in the Winnipeg Census Metropolitan Area

Census Metropolitan Areas are divided into Census Tracts.

Census tracts are a level of census geography commonly used when researching large cities.

Census tract geography changes over time due to population thresholds.

Accessing Census Data

• Stats Can website: statcan.gc.ca
• Census in top menu
• Further down that page:

Data Products

A variety of data products & visualizations are available. Most of the easy-to-use options provide data for large levels of geography - country-wide, province- or territory-wide, city-wide.

• Census Profiles: provide data describing a single variable
  • useful for quick fact checking

To access census tract data:

• Data Products page:

IVT = multidimensional table file

for use with Beyond 20/20 software

Getting Started with

• Download B20/20 (Windows only)
• Quick Start Guide
• Full User Guide

Beyond 20/20

Key terms:

• dimension: an attribute of table data, such as sex, geography, time, etc. Tables can have up to 10 dimensions.
• item: an element of a dimension. E.g. Female is an item of the sex dimension.
• label: a title or display heading of an item. An item may have multiple labels: e.g. census tract #, geographic ID #...

Dimensions:

• Census profile (population & more)
• Sex
• Geography - not active in image below

Click & drag dimension names to view values in the table

Geography is now the active dimension (name highlighted in black, name visible in drop-down menu)

The Search tool can be used to skip to the geography of your choice

The first column of Winnipeg (602) data is a summary total of all of Winnipeg's census tracts

Right-click column label > Show All

to see neighbouring rows

A few more B2020 tips:

• Selecting columns or rows:
  • Click & drag to select nearby adjacent items
  • CTRL + click for non-adjacent items
  • To select a large range, click first item, SHIFT + click last item
• In top menu, Item > Show to see only selected items
• File > Save As - export as an Excel worksheet, CSV, etc

Finding a specific census tract #:

Finding Historical Census Data

Census tracts were trialed in 1941; boundaries changed for 1951 onwards

• Canadian Census Analyser - via UM Libraries Databases A-Z list
  • Census tract data back to 1961
• 1951 & 1941 census tract data available only in PDF format, via our Statistics Subject Guide
  • Scroll about halfway - Census Publications Digitized - Winnipeg Census Tracts

Even more historical census tract data

Mapping with Spatial Files

2001 - 2016 shapefiles available via StatsCan website

Older boundary files

Scholars GeoPortal

• Browse > Census and administrative boundaries (95)
• Search for "tract" to find census tract files going back to 1951

More on working with census data in B2020:

Working with Census 2011 Data [PDF] - still relevant for 2016 data

• Getting more data dimensions at census tract level (e.g. family structure - common-law couple families, lone-parent families, male-parent families...)

More on finding historical census data:

Census of Canada Report Locator (1851-1996), by Gary Strike