Return of Long-form Census Backed by one of Canada's Leading Demographics Experts

Sept. 5, 2012 - PRLog -- One of Canada’s leading demographic experts is reinforcing a report by Statistics Canada (StatsCan) that recommends  reintroducing in 2016 the long-form census.

Dr. Susan McDaniel, a University of Lethbridge Sociology researcher, the Director of the  Prentice Institute for Global Population and Economy and a Canada Research Chair in Global Population and Life Course, said the extensive report, made public at the end of August, makes clear a number of reasons why the long form Census, which gathers  data from a  representative sample of Canadian households, needs to be re-introduced.

“The cancellation of the 2011 long-form census has left a big hole in long term trends, a hole that will always be there. The chances of a government agency or other organization making an ill-informed decision in the future could be quite high, based on the increasingly-outdated 2006 Census data.  We could save a lot of trouble for people decades from now if we were to correct this for 2016.”

McDaniel said the data provide crucial information which is used for everything from high level government policies in health, education and other ministries to, at a local level, demographic information that might assist local police, businesses or  community groups.

“People would be quite surprised  about the reach and impact that long form Census information has on the average person. For example, data from the long form Census is used to plan roads, bridges, schools, hospitals and long-term care facilities, none of which we would wish to do without. The information needs to be kept to a very high standard, and needs to be current so that accurate decisions can be drawn from the census data.”

McDaniel said that the last census, in 2011, did not include the long form Census information, an expanded series of questions that would have been sent to about one-fifth of the population, or almost 7 million households.  “With Canada’s population changing so rapidly, we have now missed a lot of information on immigration, migration and workforce changes, as well as how people are living across the country.”

The next steps will be critical to the change in information gathering, McDaniel said.

“There are many cost-effective and credible ways to gather information that we as researchers and policymakers as well as businesses and other users of the data can work with. I would anticipate that Statistics Canada is considering expanded use of internet or other electronic means of gathering this information, since more than 54 per cent of census respondents filled in their short forms online in 2011.”

A complete version of this release is available at this website: http://www.uleth.ca/notice/display.html?b=13&s=18166