Brandon & the Census

Feb 2 - Brandon is the second-largest city in the province of Manitoba.  According to the most recent census (2006), 41,511 people live in Brandon itself, and 48,256 live in the surrounding area. 

I’ve been referring to 2006 & 2011 census population data throughout my virtual trip, and feeling like they were rather outdated, but it just struck me that this must be the year for a new census!  I’ve spent a lot of time looking at old US Federal Census pages, too, and learning a lot about the way people lived.  I look forward to new data & new insights. 

Sure enough, Canada is gearing up for a new Census of Population.  When I searched online, I found announcements about the upcoming census and many jobs available.  And it’s starting this month.  The main data collection will take place in May, but in remote areas, enumeration starts in February using the traditional method of personal interviews.  Census representatives will visit households in remote communities across northern Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Quebec and Labrador, as well as in the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and Yukon Territories.  The census questions have been translated into 11 Aboriginal languages, including Dené and Inuktitut, so that respondents can read or hear them in their own language. 

  

Canadian Ethnicities

The questions are quite detailed.  I appreciate especially the nuances of ethnicity.  The common question on official forms confuses race & ethnicity.  They’re NOT the same thing!  Most people are grouped by the continent of their origins: White (Europe), Black (Africa), Asian, Latin American.  I’m glad to see Asians separated into more meaningful regional groups:  South Asian (e.g., East Indian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan, etc.), Chinese, Filipino, Arab, Southeast Asian (e.g., Vietnamese, Cambodian, Laotian, Thai, etc.), West Asian (e.g., Iranian, Afghan, etc.), Korean, Japanese, Pacific Islander.  But then Blacks & Whites are left in huge amorphous racial groups.  Racial categories at this scale are meaningless.  Why not get more ethnically specific, since that is how people really experience their identity?

Canada’s new question is: 

“What were the ethnic or cultural origins of this person's ancestors?” 

The form even encourages the delineation of complex ethnic mixtures by stating:  “An ancestor is usually more distant than a grandparent.”

And then it offers unlimited responses:  “Specify as many origins as applicable using capital letters.  For example, Canadian, English, Chinese, French, East Indian, Italian, German, Scottish, Cree, Mi'kmaq, Salish, Métis, Inuit, Filipino, Irish, Dutch, Ukrainian, Polish, Portuguese, Vietnamese, Korean, Jamaican, Greek, Iranian, Lebanese, Mexican, Somali, Colombian, etc.”

I also like the range of choices available to answer the questions about the relationships of people living together.  And the open-ended “Other relationship — specify”.

But in 2011, many households received only the short form, which asked less detailed questions, and many of them did not answer the short-form questions. the response rate dropped from 94 per cent in 2006 to 69 per cent, which makes the data totally unreliable.

In addition, Canada is experiencing a massive data crisis!  An article published in MacLean’s in September 2015 describes the findings of a months-long investigation, which included interviews with dozens of academics, scientists, statisticians, economists and librarians.  It found that “the federal government’s ‘austerity’ program, which resulted in staff cuts and library closures (16 libraries since 2012)—as well as arbitrary changes to policy, when it comes to data—has led to a systematic erosion of government records far deeper than most realize, with the data and data-gathering capability we do have severely compromised as a result … Economic considerations are cited routinely to justify cutbacks in collecting, analyzing and digitizing information … Stories about government data and historical records being deleted, burned—even tossed into Dumpsters—have become so common in recent years that many Canadians may feel inured to them. But such accounts are only the tip of a rapidly melting iceberg.” 

Government changes of policy about access to information have also crippled Canada’s open democracy.   This article cites examples of federal scientists being prevented from talking about their research on topics as mundane as snow and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission being forced to take the federal government to court to obtain documents that should have been available under Access to Information. “The result is a crisis in what Canadians know—and are allowed to know—about themselves … Canada’s closed-data stance is taking root at the very moment “open data” and “knowledge economy” are global mantras. … Canada is facing a ‘national amnesia’ … a condition that will block its ability to keep government accountable, remember its past and plan its future.” 

This sounds alarming indeed, a fiasco of stupidity that I did not expect to see in this country that usually seems more sane & sensible than my own.

I hope Canada’s 2016 Census of Population is a pleasant experience for everyone and provides good feedback data for community planning.

Census graphic:  http://www.liveincanada.expert/statistics-canada-needs-35000-employees-for-2016-census/

ethnic map:  Wikipedia.com

Vanishing Canada: Why we’re all losers in Ottawa’s war on data, by Anne Kingston:  http://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/vanishing-canada-why-were-all-losers-in-ottawas-war-on-data/