Wilcox, SK - Religion in 1991 and 2001

Question

A researcher is studying the village of Wilcox, SK. He thinks that there may be an error with the number reported in the 1991 Census pertaining to the religion question.

In 1991, there were 75 Catholics and 165 Protestants (and no other groups).
In 2001, there 215 Catholics and 75 Protestants.
(Looking down the road to 2011, I am expecting there won't be a number to compare.)

Because Wilcox is home of Notre Dame College, it would be easy to think that he is correct in his hypothesis. Is it possible that the numbers in 1991 were flipped?

Answer

Subject matter experts have looked into the researcher's question about the religion data for Wilcox, SK for 1991 and have provided the following response:

"We have compared the religion data for Wilcox, SK for 1981, 1991 and 2001 and found no indication of any errors made during processing. No change was made to the data from the load stage to the unimpute stage to the final disseminated Religion data.

One possible explanation for the difference between the 1991 and 2001 data is the fact that the 2001 Census was conducted in mid-May, three weeks earlier than it was done in 1991. It is possible that by early June, school residences (i.e. Notre Dame College) would essentially be empty but in mid-May there would still be students in the school residence as well as in private dwellings. So many years after collection, there is no way we can confirm this for sure."

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