Census 1971 - microdata public files

Question

One of the researchers at the UdeMoncton is working with the public files from the census 1971, namely indiv1971_prov. He has reasons to believe that even though the code (three empty spaces) indicates that the person leaves outside of Montreal, in fact in should include the CMR of Montreal. So, the question is : does this file include the CMR of Montreal or does it not?

Answers and Responses

1. Page 2.3.2 of the codebook for the 1971 census pumfs says Sample units on the Quebec tape, residing in Montreal are not the same as those on the Montreal tape. On the Quebec tape residents from Montreal cannot however be recognized as such. The same holds true for Ontario, Toronto sample units.

As I interpret this, the sample of Quebec (including Montreal) and the sample of Montreal (excluding the remainder of Quebec) were drawn independently. The Quebec sample does include Montreal residents, but the CMA variable remains blank for those respondents, so they are not identified as living in Montreal, just somewhere in Quebec. Put another way, the CMA variable, to all intents and purposes, is not used at all in the province-level file, regardless of whether the respondent lives in Montreal or Toronto, or not. The CMA variable is only actually coded in the Montreal & Toronto sample file.

2. You fill find a file that you should be using from the DLI FTP for the CMA of Montreal:
Directory name: Census/1971/Pumf71, File name: indiv71_cma.zip