Census Data for Ontario & Nova Scotia

Question

I have 2 separate requests:

1. Census data for Ontario (DA) with all possible variables, for 2011 (if available)

2. Census data for Nova Scotia (towns and counties) with all possible variables for 1981 onwards

For the second request, he’s perfectly willing to “take whatever you can find”.

I’ve managed to hunt down the folders in the FTP that I think I’ll need, but in terms of file names (and deciphering them) I’m still quite the amateur!

Answer

1. Not available for the Census, but it is available from the National Household Survey (NHS). DLI EFT file path: /MAD_DLI/Root/NHS_ENM/NHS-Profile_Profil-ENM/da_ad

NHS Survey User guide: http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/nhs-enm/2011/ref/nhs-enm_guide/index-eng.cfm

Comparability of the NHS estimates and the 2006 Census http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/nhs-enm/2011/ref/nhs-enm_guide/guide_4-eng.cfm#A_5_4

2. To help decipher file names, review the read me files

Eg: /MAD_DLI/Root/census_pop_recens/1981/bst—1981/1981readme.xls

Provides the file name and description:

For example: c1981-bst-csd-a10.cldat.gz Population by mother tongue (9) and sec (x)
/MAD_DLI/Root/census_pop_recens/1981/bst—1981/census-subdivision/data/c1981bst-csd-a10.cldat.gz