Same-sex Couples in PUMFs

Question

I have been looking at same-sex couples in Canada and thought I would be able to tease them out of the 2001 Census PUMF (either the individual or the family file). I have not been able to do so, presumably because of confidentiality considerations. I know that there is a question on the long census form about same-sex common law status, but this seems to have been aggregated with all common law partnerships in the PUMF. Am I missing something, or has in fact this information been suppressed? If so I assume that it would be available at one of the RDCs.

I know that other surveys (the CCHS and the GSS) contain info on same-sex marriages, sexual behaviour, etc., which I may also find useful, but is this information also suppressed in the public use files?

Answer

There is no variable that defines same-sex couples in the 2001 Census PUMF. Same-sex couples are grouped under Common-law couples.

RDC access to the master file should remove this problem, but you should verify with them
(http://www.statcan.ca/english/rdc/index.htm)

Please also find the following information from the University of Toronto's Data Library Service:

You can't get a 'count' but you can generate an estimate, not from census, but from GSS 15 main file, in which you have the following variables:

- sex of the respondent (sex)
- sex of the respondent's partner in the household (sexpr)
- sample weight (wght_per) or bootstrap weights

Before releasing that estimate, however, make sure you read very carefully chapter 8 of the user guide, which covers release guidelines and data reliability.

There is also a count in table 97f0005xcb2001040:
Presence of other household members (5) and sex (3) for same-sex common-law partners in private households