Counting on Canadians Census data does much more than determine population; demographic information crucial in determining how lives are lived across the country By: Kevin Rollason Posted: 3:13 PM CDT Friday, May. 1, 2026

The children of families who live in public housing in Tuxedo are more likely to graduate from high school, go to college or university, and less likely to need income assistance when they become adults than their counterparts who live just off Main Street in the North End.

How do we know this? The national census.

Officially known as the Census of Population, in the next few weeks, an estimated 41 million Canadians will receive this year’s census to fill in the boxes that reflect their lives. Most will receive the short form, which census officials say should take only five to 10 minutes to fill out. But 25 per cent of Canadians will receive the lengthier long-form census, which includes more demographic questions, and takes about a half-hour or so to complete, depending on the size of the household.

It’s only when the numbers are tallied that we will know exactly how many people there are in the country.

But the census is more than simply knowing how many people are living in Canada, the provinces and cities. The demographic information it collects helps in numerous ways, not just to help figure out where children living in social housing can best benefit, but also in the creation of programs across the land, both in and out of government.

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Each month, Harvest Manitoba helps 50,000 Manitobans get enough food to eat.

Whether it is through its on-site food bank or the produce and other items it distributes to other food banks and networks across the city and province, the four-decade-old organization is an essential service for the ever-growing number of people who rely on it.

And the national census helps Harvest Manitoba get food where it needs to go.

“Census data is, for sure, one of several tools we use to understand food and security across Manitoba,” said Meaghen Erbus, Harvest Manitoba’s director of network, advocacy and education.

“We do have our own statistical data we gather within the organization and we utilize that to sort of paint a picture through our own research we do, called Harvest Voice. But we utilize the census throughout that report itself because it helps us paint a picture of the demographic experiencing poverty: where they live, household composition, how that’s shifting, income levels over time. All of that information is super valuable to us.”

Erbus said census data also helps Harvest determine where new food bank facilities need to be located.

“We have a map that we have developed… it uses the data for a variety of things, including poverty rates, child poverty rates, food and insecurity, income distribution. That way, if we have 17 people all applying to open a food bank, and they are all in one concentrated area, we’re likely not going to do that. We like to find the holes, or food deserts, so the census data is a tool for us we layer onto our own maps.”

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Kate Kehler, executive director of the Social Planning Council of Winnipeg, said her organization uses the census in two ways.

Kehler said it helps her organization create reports on poverty and socio-economic analysis. But she said the census also assists them in assisting other governments and organizations in the province get information because it heads the Winnipeg Data Consortium.

The consortium’s membership includes the City of Winnipeg and the provincial government’s Families Department, along with the Manitoba chapter of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, CancerCare Manitoba, Shared Health, West End BIZ and Eastern Region Immigration Partnership.

Together, the consortium is able to share the costs to buy socio-economic data from both the census and other sources, allowing each of the members to use the information for both evidence-based decision-making, but also research and analysis.

“You can pinpoint an address and pull out one or two kilometres to find out what socio-economic data is in that area,” Kehler said.

“To be able to meet the changing needs of your neighbourhood is important.”

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The last census in 2021 found the country was made up of almost 37 million people — 36,991,981, to be exact — an increase of just over five per cent from the previous census in 2016.

Geoff Bowlby, a Statistics Canada assistant chief statistician, said censuses have been conducted since before Confederation.

“The first recorded one was in 1666 and it was conducted by Jean Talon (the first Intendant of New France),” Bowlby said.

“He went door to door and did it himself. We have a long history of it and that reflects on how important it is.”

Bowlby said conducting a national census is so important to the country that it is actually enshrined in the Constitution.

“It’s the only activity of Statistics Canada required under the Constitution,” he said. “When the British North American Act was drafted up, it said a census must take place every 10 years, beginning in the year 1871.”

Bowlby said the federal government decided in the late 1950s that more information was needed, so the Statistics Act now mandates that a census also needs to be done in years ending with a six.

“It is a core piece of statistical infrastructure,” he said. “A lot of what we do, when it comes to decision making at the municipal, provincial, federal and other organizations, comes down to populations.

“I sometimes say the census is a lot more than just a population number on a city limit sign.”

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The City of Winnipeg uses census data in myriad ways. Public works uses data to forecast current and future travel patterns, while urban planning takes the information to figure out where future housing and population growth will occur. Census population data is also used to calculate the amount of annual grants going to individual community centres.

Winnipeg Transit used census data to help plan last year’s major bus route changes.

“We rely a lot on the census for really detailed information that isn’t normally available to us,” said Tyler Kroeker, an economist with the city.

“While we get city-level population estimates every year from Statistics Canada, the census really provides the most detailed look.”

Kroeker said the data helps the city keep track of changing areas, including the types of dwellings being built, condition of existing dwellings in the neighbourhood, income of residents and other information.

“It really is good at painting a picture of what’s going on.”

Kroeker said there is also information in the census not available anywhere else.

“The long form collects details about where you work and how you get there,” he said. “That really helps us, not just where people live in the city, but also where their jobs are located.”

As well, Kroeker said the census is used to create ward boundaries for city councillors. It is also used to set out the ridings for provincial and federal politicians.

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Michael Wisener, director of the Manitoba Bureau of Statistics, said census data was used in recent years to locate daycare centres after the federal government provided the province with more funds.

“We looked at all the different variables related to daycare demand,” Wisener said. “Stuff like age cohorts, working parents, commuting distance. We built a composite index to use as a tool to help them say this community is asking for a particular daycare and they could use the index to validate that information.

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Nathan Nickel, director of the University of Manitoba’s Centre for Health Policy and a professor in the College of Community and Global Health, said census information provides a look at the socio-economic status of a particular neighbourhood.

“It showed the investment in early childhood was linked to improved birth outcomes, to readiness for school entry, improved vaccination rates — this program was benefiting a whole slew of outcomes for families,” Nickel said.

Other data helps planners decide where hospitals and primary-care programs should be located, he said.

The census helped the organization conduct a study about a dozen years ago comparing outcomes of children who live in public housing in the Dufferin neighbourhood to children living in public housing in Tuxedo.

“No surprise, perhaps, but kids living in public housing in high socio-economic neighborhoods do better. They are more likely to graduate from high school, go to either college or university, and less likely to need income assistance in early adulthood. We were able to understand that better,” Nickel said.

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Bowlby said there are some new questions in the census this year, including some focused on the general health of people in the household, whether they had experienced homelessness and had lived in a shelter or on the street. Questions on sexual orientation will produce a measure of the LGBTTQ+ population.

Bowlby said Statistics Canada is currently hiring about 30,000 people to knock on doors in June, reminding residents about completing the census.

Anyone interested can go to census.gc.ca to apply.

 

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca