The Census of Population is conducted by Statistics Canada every 5 years, and consists of both a mandatory short-form census, answered by all Canadians, and a long-form census, which goes to 25% of the population. This program gives in-depth insights into many aspects of our population, including income, language, education level, and more. Because this program is mandatory the data is available down to very small geographic areas for a number of topics, making it an excellent resource when looking at cities, towns, and smaller areas.
In 2011 the mandatory long-form census was replaced by a voluntary survey, called the National Household Survey. As this survey was not mandatory there are a number of geographic regions with response rates low enough that the results cannot be reported, and data from this survey is not directly comparable to data from the 2006 or 2016 Census.
The short-form census was not affected, meaning data that can be found in the short-form questionnaire is comparable in 2011.
