Census History

There have been Censuses at least since the Roman Empire when it was necessary to collect taxes throughout the empire. Censuses in Canada are now made every five years. The last time was in 1996 and therefore this may is Census 2001.

In 1665, the King of France, Louis XIV, though the colonies were important enough and decided that they deserved a chance so he sent Jean Talon to become the first Intendant de Nouvelle-France. In 1666 Talon conducted the first census. There 3,215 inhabitants, that is Europeans. The Census sorted everyone by age, sex, marital status and occupation.

Various Censuses occurred every so often in various colonies. The first national census took place in 1871 and according to The British North America Act (now called The Constitution Act of 1867) was too take place every ten years to follow the trend from the Province of Canada, which had done censuses in 1841, 1851 and 1861.

It is obvious when looking at population charts that there are jumps every time a new province joined confederation. In 1871, only the four original provinces, Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick were censused. At this census there were 211 questions, different from those that now appear on the census. Questions were asked on infirmity, so it specified if someone in your household was blind, deaf or "simple-minded". Canada's population then was 3,689,2577 inhabitants.

In 1881, British Columbia, Prince Edward Island, Manitoba were added and the North-West Territories conducted their own census. The population of Canada then was 4,324,810 people in 1881. A jump close to a million people.

In 1891, the country had a population of 4,833,239. In 1901, questions were added for a total of 561, up from 216 in 1891. Questions on birthplace, religion, citizenship and date of emigration were amongst those added. The population then was 5,471,315 people. The census questionnaires grew again in 1911 for the number of questions. The new census also featured new provinces: Alberta and Saskatchewan. The Population was counted at 7,204,838.

In 1918, the Dominion Bureau of Statistics was created. The Census of 1921 was changed so it now contained five questionnaires with new questions on parentage. The population was of 8,788,949 people. In 1931, during the Depression, people were asked questions aimed at measuring the extent and unemployment.

In the 1941,census people were asked to describe their home. This questionnaire was only given to every 10th house to reduce costs and it gave pretty much the same results as it would in every home. The ratio was dropped to every 5th home. The population of Canada was 11,506,655, not a big rise from the 10,376,786 people in 1931.

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