from the Progressive Econimics

The story of child poverty in Canada is very much an urban story. One out of every 10 children living in urban areas was poor in 2010, compared to one in 20 children living in non-urban areas. Three quarters (or 76%) of all poor children in Canada lived in one of the urban centres shown in the chart below.*Child poverty isn’t a question of jobs: the cities with worst child poverty only had middle-of-the-pack unemployment rates (out of the 19 cities, St. John’s, NL was 8th highest and Vancouver, BC was 11th highest). Similarly, the cities with the lowest unemployment rates in 2010 (Regina, SK and Quebec, DC) did not score particularly well in terms of child poverty. This is why it’s so important to talk about the living wage in Vancouver and wages in general.

from The Globe and Mail

The dry data of the National Household Survey paints a grim picture of the challenges facing Canada’s First Nations youth. But what, if anything, can be done?

For the Conservative government, the answer lies in a new education act to address the inadequate quality of many schools on reserves. Whether this is the right approach – who it will help and how much it will help – will be the crux of a major national debate when the bill is brought before the House of Commons in a few months.

from CTV News

The federal government’s decision to replace the mandatory, long-form census with a voluntary survey has left information gaps about Canada’s changing demographics, experts say.

The first results of the 2011 voluntary National Household Survey, released Wednesday, had a response rate of 68 per cent, well below the projected 94 per cent response rate for a traditional census.

from Environics Analytics

Immigrant Population Reaches Highest Level in 80 Years

TORONTO, May 8, 2013 – The first release of data from the new 2011 National Household Survey (NHS) provides evidence of Canada’s increasing cultural diversity, as reflected in the growing Aboriginal population and the rising number of immigrants, according to Doug Norris, Senior Vice President and Chief Demographer at Environics Analytics.

By: Jennifer Ditchburn, The Canadian Press @ Winnipeg Free Press

OTTAWA - The federal government's decision to axe the long-form census has left parts of the Conservative heartland in western and rural Canada without some of the newest data on how its population is changing.

Statistics Canada released the first results Wednesday from the 2011 voluntary National Household Survey, the replacement for the long census. The data covered such topics as religion, visible minorities, aboriginals and immigration.

The results of the NHS: near sighted truthiness with far flung damage

(Ottawa) Today's first release of National Household Survey (NHS) data proves the federal government made a massive error in eliminating the mandatory nature of the “long form” census collecting detailed information to guide decision making in Canada, according the one of the largest non-government user of Stats Can data.

The reported participation rate for the long form is just 68.6% down from 94% in the 2006 Mandatory Long Form Census.  Only 1/3rd of Canadian households were sent the survey, 68% translates to 1/5^th of Canadians are counted in the NHS.

from datalibre.ca, Tracey P. Lauriault

A survey is not a census, a census is a state sanctioned mandatory scientific and systematically carried out count of the population and its characteristics.  It is a national civic duty to fill it out, providing of course one believes that knowing the nature of the Canadian population matters.  A volunteer survey can be a one off activity, as funding is not guaranteed, and in this case, it was conducted in a non systematic way and there is no way of knowing where the count was complete and where it was not.  Further, this volunteered national household survey breaks the possibility of a longitudinal analysis of the population, and there is great concern that local small area geographic analysis will be impeded as sampling will be uneven.