Income Data

Question
I have a graduate student who has her own survey data with postal codes, and would like to match income data to it. Since we've been advised that the 2011 NHS income data is not to be relied on, is there another source from which we can get household income data at the FSA level?

Answer

I can provide data by FSA for Census Families, lone-parent families and Persons not in a Census family--household usually refers to an economic family. I copied the definition of an economic family from the internet and a separate definition of census family from the user's guide enclosed above.

I'm going to suggest two different tables:

Family, table 1, Summary, which provides median income data Family, table 4, distribution of Total Income by all Family types.

The most current year is 2011 and the source of this data is from the T1 Tax File (TIFF), Administrative Data. I can only provide a cost quote once you choose one or more of the tables attached. For example, one table for all FSAs in Canada will cost $145.36 + taxes. If you choose more than two tables and more years then the cost will rise accordingly. I have data going back from 1990 to 2011--not all tables are available historically. If cost is an issue,you can download data from CANSIM for free from 2000 to 2011 by CMA and CA.

CANSIM numbers that may be helpful:
1110009 FAM 1 Family characteristics, summary
1110010 FAM 2 Family characteristics, by family type and age group
1110011 FAM 3 Families by type, composition, and parent characteristics
1110012 FAM 4 Family characteristics, by age of older adult, family type and family income
1110013 FAM 5 Families by family type, composition and total income
1110014 FAM 6 Sources of income by family type
1110015 FAM 17-18 Low Income Measures, by family type and family type composition
1110016 Fam 7 - 8 Economic dependency profile, by family type and source of income
1110017 Fam 9 - 10 Family characteristics, labour income profile, by family type
1110018 Fam 11 Labour characteristics, by sex and age group
1110019 Fam 12 Persons receiving Employment Insurance, by sex and age group
1110020 Fam 13 Single-earner and dual-earner families, by number of children
1110021 Fam 14 Husband-wife families, by wife's contrubution to husband-wife employment income
1110022 Fam 15 Family characteristics, families with children, by age of children


Definition of Economic Family:

Family structure refers to the combination of relatives that comprise a family. Classification on this variable considers the presence or absence of: legally married spouses or common law partners; children; and, in the case of economic families, other relatives.

Economic family refers to a group of two or more persons who live in the same dwelling and are related to each other by blood, marriage, common-law or adoption. A couple may be of opposite or same sex. Foster children are included.

By definition, all persons who are members of a census family are also members of an economic family. Examples of the broader concept of economic family include the following: two co-resident census families who are related to one another are considered one economic family; co-resident siblings who are not members of a census family are considered as one economic family; and, nieces or nephews living with aunts or uncles are considered one economic family.

Definition of Census Family:

Census family classifies people in the following manner: 1) couples(married or common-law) living in the same dwelling, with or without children; and 2) lone-parents (male or female) with one or more children. The residual population is called "persons not in census families" and is made up of persons living alone and of persons living in a household but who are not part of a couple family or lone-parent family.

Households and Environment Survey Release

Question

When will the Households and Environment Survey be released?

Answer
The full 2013 microdata will be available in about 15 months time (i.e. March or April of 2015). There may be a few select variables available as early as August 2014, but that is dependent on resources, and in any event would be aggregate results rather than microdata.

HIV/AIDS in PEI

Question

Where can I find information on how many people are living with HIV/AIDS in PEI?

Answer

A lot of information on HIV/AIDS is on PHAC. You can also use STC, for mortality and cause of death (Table 102-4310).

Pregnant Women in PEI

Question

Where can I find information on how many pregnant women there are in PEI per year?

Answer

In 1995, the collection of the data for this survey was transferred from Statistics Canada to the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI). Once the data was collected, it was transferred to Statistics Canada to be released in The Daily. This process has caused some confusion with the users of the data. Statistics Canada has decided, in consultation with CIHI that the responsibility for disseminating these data should reside with CIHI. I would recommend viewing CIHI’s website for more information.

For Pregnancy and birth related tables, see:
<http://www.statcan.gc.ca/tables-tableaux/sum-som/l01/ind01/l3_2966_2961-eng.htm?hili_none>I did find some tables from Statistics Canada, however, they were terminated in 2005.Pregnancy outcomes by province or territory of residence (Total Pregnancies)
<http://www5.statcan.gc.ca/cansim/a26lang=eng&retrLang=eng&id=1069002&paSer=&pattern=&stByVal=1&p1=1&p2=37&tabMode=dataTable&csid=>

Farm Financial Statistics

Question

A researcher is looking for Farm Financial Statistics from the Census of Agriculture at the sub-watershed level around Lake Simcoe.We have found information at the Consolidated Census Subdivision (CCS) level via the Census of Agriculture website, which provides some granularity in the area but it's not a great match for the researcher's needs.

What are the options for getting Farm Financial Statistics that more closely matches the desired geography? If we sent a boundary file to StatCan, could we have a custom tab made? Or would we have to use the PCCF? Or something else entirely?

Answer

I confirmed with the author division that unfortunately this request would not be feasible because we do not release financial statistics at the watershed level. The database we use for these types of projects is not designed for these type of variables -- it is developed for "production" variables only.

Franchise Information

Question

I'm trying to measure the impact of franchise businesses/locations across the economy. I'm interested in knowing the number, what industry they are in, how many people they employ, their financial information, etc. It looks like this information is available in the various Annual Survey of Service Industries (food services, travel arrangement services, etc), but these don’t seem to be available via the DLI, how can I access this information?

Answer

Try the Canadian Franchise Association: http://cfa.ca/Publications_Research/FastFacts.aspx
There's also a Daily release for an Annual Survey of Service Industries, contact Client Services (toll-free 1-877-801-3282; 613-951-4612; servicesind@statcan.gc.ca).

Developing Math Skills Among Students

Questions

One of our researchers has been working with a multi-wave EQAO (Education Quality and Accountablility Office) dataset (100,000 students' responses) to look at students' developing ability in mathematics. The EQAO dataset provides a full-census snapshot for Ontario but the questions used are tied to the Ontario curriculum (this limits interpretation). Thus, he is looking for a dataset that would give him another way to look at how people learn new things. He has gone over Statistics Canada's YITS data codesheet in some detail. This data, however, mostly reflects questionnaire responses and derived data and he needs more detail. For example, does StatCan data include children's responses to each of the Peabody test questions? (the YITS only shows frequencies of the number of correct responses).

Answer

There are questions about the Peabody test on the NLSCY. The NLSCY master file includes the raw score and standard score for the PPVT-R. We do not release the results for individual items. Information about the scores can be found in the NLSCY User Guide.

Survey of Giving, Volunteering and Participating

Question

Do the master files for the Canada Survey of Giving, Volunteering and Participating - 1997 to 2000, 2004, 2007, 2010 contain the full 6-digit postal codes?

Answer

They do not.

201 Census and NHS Data with 2006 Boundaries

Question

A researcher would like to obtain the complete 2011 census and NHS profiles at the CSD level, but with the 2006 CSD boundaries.

I know that Statistics Canada can reconstruct the 2006 CSD boundaries from the 2011 dissemination blocks as explained here: <http://0www.statcan.gc.ca.mercury.concordia.ca /pub/92-195-x/2011001/geo/csd-sdr/previous/pc-rp-eng.htm>

But since the profiles are not publicly available at that geography level, I suppose this would require a custom tabulation. Am I right?

Can you tell me what it would cost to get all the CSD cumulative profiles (for both the census and the NHS) with the 2006 boundaries?

Answer

Yes I would believe this is a custom tabulation.

Epidemiology Dataset

Question

Wondering if anyone could suggest a data source for the following request. I initially thought of CIHI but cannot find anything that would help out this student:

"I'm a graduate student, and I'm looking for a dataset containing the times that individuals became infectious during an epidemic (or at least the time they were first observed to be infectious)."

Answer

Try McMaster, they have an epidemiology department.

CCHS Rapid Response Tables

Question

It was announced in The Daily on October 9th, 2013 that these tables are available: "CCHS - Rapid Response on access to health care services & waiting times, 2013", but I haven't been able to find them. Where can I access these tables?

Answer

The summary tables are no longer confidential and may be sent to anyone who requests them. They are however, not currently posted anywhere. I will send them to you and add them to the EFT site.

Business Tables Announced Recently

Question

I can't seem to remember, let alone locate, the announcement re the 1500 business tables which were added to the DLI a couple of months ago.

Answer
There's the the Survey of Innovation and Business Strategy? = There are 1450+ tables that make up that product.

DLI EFT - /MAD_DLI/Root/other-products/Survey of Innovation and Business Strategy - sibs

And there's also these tables:

"Survey of Innovation and Business Strategy (SIBS) - The survey was conducted by Statistics Canada in 2009 and sponsored by Industry Canada and Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada. The survey, which covered manufacturing, most service industries, and other industries, was designed to address gaps in the understanding of factors that drive and impede business innovation and the adoption of technology in Canada. It provides information on the strategic and tactical decisions of Canadian businesses, as well as their innovation and operational activities."

DLI EFT - /MAD_DLI/Root/other-products/Survey of Innovation and Business Strategy – sibs

SPSD/M Version 21

Question

When will version 21 of SPSD/M has been released?

Answer

SPSD/M will be released December 10th.

Hospitals with Operating Rooms

Question

Where can I find information of the number of hospitals with operating rooms in Canada?

Answer
CIHI: <http://www.cihi.ca/CIHI-ext-portal/internet/EN/Home/home/cihi000001>

Botulism Outbreaks in Canada

Question

Where can I access statistics for the number of botulism outbreaks in Canada in recent years (anything from 2005 onwards)?

Answer
The quickest place to find information like this would likely be with CIHI. The STC data holdings on morbidity is limited. CIHI does have botulism listed in their classification of diseases, however, you'll have to search around in their tables to find the incidents.

These sources may also help you:

The PHAC website states that: “While outbreaks of food-borne illnesses in Canada are relatively common, botulism outbreaks are quite rare. In recent years, about two cases per year have been reported in Canada.” <http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/fs-sa/fs-fi/botulism-eng.php> (Under Surveillance tab).

There's also: Estimates of Food-borne Illness in Canada which provides the number of cases caused by a list of 30 known pathogens, one of which is botulism. <http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/efwd-emoha/efbi-emoa-eng.php>

Changes to Data Sharing as a Result of PCCF Licensing

Question

We had our first request for PCCF data under the new license agreement.

The faculty member wants to match postal codes to census geography at the dissemination area for research purposes. Simple and straightforward, and certainly within the constraints of the PCCF license as I understand it.

He then anticipates being asked to share the data about the selected dissemination areas with colleagues with whom he is doing the research, who happen to be at American universities. Previously, if it was public data (i.e., not DA level), he could have done this, I think, since the researchers would have been able to retrieve the census data from the web site, and he could simply have provided them with a list of the census geographies (not including postal codes) in which they were interested. At the DA level, however, I believe that he would have to do the analysis (which he could share), but not the DA-level data underlying the analysis.

Three questions:

1. Am I accurately describing the “public” data level situation?

2. Am I accurately describing what is normally necessary with the DA-level data:

a. that he do the analysis and share results, and

b. that the underlying data can’t leave his machine, since his colleagues are not at DLI-member institutions?

3. Has the new license for PCCF has added any wrinkles to this picture?

Answer

Any aggregate table available through the DLI falls under the STC open licence regardless of the level of geography. This includes the latest addition of the Census profiles at the DA level.

If the researcher is working from a PUMF then you are correct, they can't share the underlying data with their colleagues (though nothing is stopping them from signing a licence themselves).

In terms of the PCCF, I think this is fine... As long as they don't distribute the tool they should be in business.

Ethnic Minorities in the Federal, Quebec and Ontario, Civil Services

Question

I am looking for data on the representation of ethnic minorities in the civil service at the Federal level as well as in Ontario and Quebec. Does the Federal government collect that type of statistics on the civil servants?

Answer

For the federal civil service (employment equity designated groups and demographic snapshots), use: http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/chro-dprh/rp-eng.asp

List of Re-sellers

Question

There used to be a link on the StatCan site to the licences and lists of data re-sellers and brokers. Where is this list on the new site?

Answer

With the introduction of the Statistics Canada Open Licence on Feb 1, 2012, they were removed.

Student Enrollment by Region or School Board

Question

I am looking for primary-secondary student enrollment in Quebec at the regional or school board level. I first thought that ESES would provide those numbers as one table is called “Enrolments by Type of Program, Age and Sex, School Boards and Districts (Headcount), 2002/2003 to 2009/2010” . But looking at the table (and the other ESES tables) I could only find data aggregated at the provincial level. Is the school board data available as a custom tab? Is it possible to get information on "School Boards and Districts"?

Answer

The data tables can be accessed from CANSIM(free-online)as per the link below from the Elementary-Secondary Education Survey (ESES)which are aggregated at the provincial level and not at the school board level. We do not produce custom tabulation from the ESES.http://cansim2.statcan.gc.ca/cgi-win/cnsmcgi.exeLANG=e&ResultTemplate =CII &CORCMD=GETEXT&CORTYP=1&CORRELTYP=4&CORID=5102

Yes, that is correct. The following is taken from the IMDB under disclosure control: http://www23.statcan.gc.ca/imdb/p2SV.plFunction=getSurvey&SDDS=5102&lang=en&db=imdb&adm=8&dis=2#a4

Statistics Canada is prohibited by law from releasing any data which would divulge information obtained under the Statistics Act that relates to any identifiable person, business or organization without the prior knowledge or the consent in writing of that person, business or organization. Various confidentiality rules are applied to all data that are released or published to prevent the publication or disclosure of any information deemed confidential. If necessary, data are suppressed to prevent direct or residual disclosure of identifiable data.

The data is aggregated by province and territory. The tables are evaluated in accordance with Statistics Canada's policies on confidentiality.

In regard to client requests for cross-classified data, Statistics Canada does not supply any tables that could identify a student, graduate or educator. As a guideline, a cell with a count of less than five (5) is suppressed, and in order to avoid residual disclosure, other cells are also chosen for suppression.

Municipal Operating Expenses and Capital Formation

Question

A researcher is looking for data on Municipal Operating Expenses and Municipal Capital formation (or government capital formation) for 1997 to 2013. Is this data available on CanSim? If so, where can I find it?

Answer

For local governments, the most recent data is obtained through a questionnaire as budget estimates are not available and financial statements (obtained through the provincial/territorial departments of municipal affairs) are not available until 2 to 3 years after the reference year. Questionnaire content and wording are reviewed annually to reflect changes in the availability of information and to incorporate additional dimensions to fulfill Statistics Canada needs.

Local government data are maintained from the administrative records of their respective provincial and territorial Departments of Municipal Affairs, from information contained in official provincial and territorial Gazettes, from municipal directories and from responses to on-going sub-annual municipal surveys. I would recommend reviewing the respective provincial and territorial Departments of Municipal Affairs.

This may be of use for British Columbia: <http://www.civicinfo.bc.ca/81_ver2.asp> If so, your researcher might be able to get more years by contacting them. They also have this, but it's very new, and I don't see financial data in there: <http://data.civicinfo.ca/>

Canadian Community Health Survey and Health Number

Question
What happens with the health number that StatCan collects with the CCHS data as per the attached screen shot. Who might see the file with this number? What kind of restrictions would there be on this number? Is it available to some areas within StatCan? Does this go to the provinces or territories or go to the RDC’s? 

Answer

The Health Card number collected by the CCHS is stored securely, at Statistics Canada’s head office, on a separate file from the main CCHS data file. This file is called a link file, and it is used to combine data from more than one source for the same respondent, by matching their Health Card Number from each data source.

The provinces may request the link file, in which case they receive the information only for the respondents in that province who agreed to link their information. The Province can link their data to the CCHS data so they can gain a more in-depth picture about health in their province. So if Ontario made the request, they would only receive the data for respondents in Ontario who gave permission to link their data.

From time to time, analysis may be done within Statistics Canada which requires CCHS data to be linked to other datasets, using the Health Card Number. Analysts must go through a lengthy process to have their request to link datasets approved by Senior management.

The Health Card information does not go to the RDC. If there is a proposal that requires linked information, the CCHS data is linked at Statistics Canada’s head office to data provided by researchers, and stripped of all identifiers, including the Health Card Numbers, before being transmitted securely to the RDC.

Child National Immunization Coverage Survey (CNICS)

Question
When will the 2011 CNICS data be released? I've been able to find older immunization rates in some Canadian publications and some Unicef/WHO documents have more current statistics; however, I don't think the Canadian figures in the latter are from the CNICS. When I read the IMBD write-up I also don't see any handy "links to related products," which is why I'm wondering if anything cites the 2011 CNICS.

Answer

There are no data available for CNICS, not even custom tabulations. Any inquiries would be forward to the Public Health Agency of Canada.

Aboriginal Demographic Stats

Question

I have a researcher who’s looking for aboriginal demographic information for the Meadow Lake, SK region. She has data from 2006 and would like to find current figures for the sake of comparison. Three of the nine reserves that make up the Meadow Lake Tribal Council are on the list of CSDs for which no 2011 NHS data was released, so I suspect info for the others may be difficult to access.

Answer

Try searching the NHS Aboriginal Population Profile, 2011, the First Nation name associated with the Meadow Lake region: <http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/nhs-enm/2011/dp-pd/aprof/index.cfm?Lang=E&fpv=10000>
National Household Survey: Data tables – Aboriginal Peoples <http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/nhs-enm/2011/dp-pd/dt-td/Lp-eng.cfmLANG=E&APATH=3& DETAIL=0&DIM=0&FL=A&FREE=0&GC=0&GID=0&GK=0&GRP=1&PID=0&PRID=0&PTYPE=105277&S=0&SHOWALL=0&SUB=0&Temporal=2013&THEME=94&VID=0&VNAMEE=&VNAMEF=>
Data tables under the subject – Aboriginal People <http://www5.statcan.gc.ca/subject-sujet/theme-theme.action?pid=10000&lang=eng&more=0&HPA>

The Aboriginal Peoples Survey (APS) purpose is to identify the needs of Aboriginal people and focus on issues such as education, employment, health, language, income, housing and mobility. There is a PUMF available for 2006 APS: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/dli-ild/data-donnees/ftp/aps-eapa-eng.htm
Aboriginal Statistics at a Glance: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/89-645-x/89-645-x2010001-eng.htm?fpv=10000

NHS data is based on the population enumerated within the Census subdivision affiliated with the first nations. If the First nations communities that the student is looking for are not available in the above resources, the data may be available through a custom tabulation, which is cost recoverable.

Calgary CMA -Census Tract Conversion 1996-2006

Question

I have a student who is working with census tract data from Calgary for a geography assignment. He’s looking for a conversion table that he can use to match up the tracts from 1996 until 2006, which have changed. Do you have any suggestions on where he could find this?

Answer

Try the correspondence files :
http://www5.statcan.gc.ca/bsolc/olc-cel/olc-cel?lang=eng&catno=92-156-X
but working with census tracts should be easy to trace back – from the Illustrated Glossary
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/92-195-x/2011001/geo/ct-sr/def-eng.htm

Changes to census tract boundaries are discouraged in order to maintain maximum data comparability between censuses. Boundary revisions rarely occur, and only when essential. Road construction, railroad abandonment, community redevelopment, neighbourhood growth and municipal annexations may contribute to changes in census tract boundaries. A census tract may be split into two or more new census tracts (usually when its population exceeds 8,000). CT splits are usually done in a way that allows users to re-aggregate the splits to the original census tract for historical comparison. Census tract naming is consistent from census to census to facilitate historical comparability. When a CA enters the census tract program, the census subdivision (CSD) that gives the CA its name is assigned the first CT 'name,' starting at 0001.00. When all of the CTs within the first CSD are named, then the CTs of the adjoining CSDs are named, and finally those on the periphery are named. If a census tract is split into two or more parts due to a population increase, the number after the decimal point identifies the splits. For example, CT 0042.00 becomes CT 0042.01 and CT 0042.02. If CT 0042.01 is subsequently split, it becomes CT 0042.03 and CT 0042.04. Similarly, if CT 0042.02 is split after CT 0042.01, it becomes CT 0042.05 and CT 0042.06. Any splits occurring after this would be numbered in a similar fashion, with the next sequential number. This allows users to re-aggregate the splits to the original census tract.

StatsCan Open License Agreement

Question

When a custom tabulation is purchased and the purchaser agrees to share the purchased files, do they become part of the Statistics Canada Open License Agreement?
I was asked by a DLI member what the terms of use would be for the NHS FSA Profiles and my understanding was that if purchaser agrees to share they are part of the STC Open License.
I think it gets potentially confusing, partly because the DLI License in 6(a) seems to imply that there could potentially be odd exceptions to custom products (beyond postal code data) that are not part of the Open License Agreement.
“6) authorized users shall be made aware, by my educational institution, of the conditions of use of the data by being provided with the appropriate licence as outlined in a, b and c below:
a) With a few exceptions, including the Postal CodeOM Conversion File and Postal CodeOM Federal Riding File and Postal CodeOM Conversion File Plus
(see: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/reference/exceptions-eng.html); the majority of our standard and custom products will be disseminated under the terms and conditions of the Statistics Canada Open Licence Agreement.”

Answer

You are correct that custom tabulations fall under the Statistics Canada Open Licence Agreement, and thus can be subject to this agreement. Statistics Canada grants you a worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive licence to: "use, reproduce, publish, freely distribute, or sell the Information; use, reproduce, publish, freely distribute, or sell Value-added Products; and, sublicence any or all such rights, under terms consistent with this agreement."

Please also refer to the Statistics Canada Open Licence Agreement - Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) :

3. Does the Statistics Canada Open Licence apply to all Statistics Canada products?

The Open Licence governs the use of aggregated free and priced information, regardless of medium, format or reference year, that is published on Statistics Canada's website or available through a Statistics Canada representative. The Open Licence applies to both standard and custom products and services with the exception of Statistics Canada's postal products (see list) and Public Use Microdata Files (PUMFs). When you obtain a PUMF or a postal product from Statistics Canada, you will be informed of its terms and conditions of use. If you already have one of these products and would like information on its conditions of use, please Contact Us.

Home Schooling in Canada

Question

One of our researchers is looking for statistics on home schooling in Canada. I understood that Stats Canada started collecting home schooling data for the 2011/12 collection period. When will this data be accessible?

Answer

There will be no separate data by home schooling however it will be included under: "Other: includes private schools and/or home schooling data" as provided by the jurisdictions. It will be available in the publication “Summary Elementary and Secondary School Indicators for Canada, the Provinces and Territories”. The ESES release will be in December of 2013.

A custom tabulation cannot be done simply because the data collected for “home schooling” is considered not reliable.

LFS Exclusions

Question

I have some questions about LFS exclusions:

Does the LFS exclude official representatives of foreign countries living in Canada and their families (regardless of Canadian citizenship)?

Does the exclusion of people living in institutions include residences for seniors, chronic care patients, hospitals, psychiatric wards and rehab centers?

Answer

Government representatives of another country, who are posted to that country’s embassy, high commission, or other diplomatic mission in Canada, and family members living with them, are excluded from the LFS sample.

Full-time members of the Armed Forces are also excluded.

Residents of institutions such nursing homes, seniors’ residence, chronic care facilities, etc. are excluded.

Temporary residents of institutions (collective dwellings) who have been, or expect to be, in the institution for less than six months are considered as usual residents of their family dwelling, i.e., the dwelling that is their usual place of residence. Temporary residents of institutions are persons who have a usual place of residence but who are receiving care, or who are in custody, while living or staying at an institution.

NHS at FSA Level

Question

Is NHS data available at the FSA level in our collection, or would it be available only by custom tab?

Answer

Statistics Canada will not be releasing any NHS data at the FSA level of geographies on the website, or as "standard products". The Regional Offices are able to provide data at these levels of geography, but at a cost-recoverable basis.

Opening .EXE Files

Question

I have a 1991 boundary file from the FTP site which is an .EXE file type and I cannot make it do anything. The error messages tell me that I don't have the right Windows version. I have changed the compatibility settings but nothing seems to work. Is there anything I can do?

Answer

There's 3 things to try:

1)The boundary files are self extracting zip files. To unzip, drop to the command line and type
unzip [filename].exe.

2)Alternately, just use one of the many GUIs for unzip

3)You can even change the extension from .exe to .zip and double click and you're done. ArcGIS 10+ can now open .e00 directly -- no painful conversion process is required. Just drag them into Arcmap and save as whatever format you'd like.

Survey of Young Canadians

Question

How can a researcher access this Survey of Young Canadians? <http://www23.statcan.gc.ca/imdb/p2SV.pl?Function=getSurvey&SDDS=5179&Item_Id=81300&lang=en#b4>

Answer

The file is available through the RDCs, or your researcher can request a custom tabulation

2001 Census DA Profile, Education Variables

Question

I'm helping a researcher who is working with the 2001 census profile at the DA level, particularly with education variables re highest level of attainment (p491_29 to p491_42). This is my first time working with these variables. Nearly half the observations are marked invalid (valid:29277; invalid:25025). The researcher wants to know why there are so many invalid observations, if it has to do with suppression, and if the data might be available in an RDC.

Answer

I took a look in PCensus and found the following category of ‘education’ statistics for 2001.





I extracted the DA-level statistics for this, and the other education-related categories, limiting results to Kingston, and did not encounter suppression.




The other education categories are:

:

Market Research Handbook

Question

Is there another publication produced at Statcan (or elsewhere) that addresses the same information as the Market Research Handbook (Catalogue no. 63-224-X) (terminated after 2008)? I know that most of the data is available to be derived, but our marketing students found this to be a well-rounded one-stop-shop for Canadian market data, so I’m wondering if any similar product has been produced.

Answer

It does not seem that there is anything published similar to that. I noted in the handbook, that many of the data tables in the Market Research Handbook are derived from CANSIM.

Internet Use by Immigrant Status

Question

I'm looking for data on internet use (by province, ideally) by immigrant status? Preferably on people who've not become Canadian citizens, but I'll make do with whatever is available. It would appear that the 2007 CIUS master file might be useful, but I'm wondering if the more recent versions might have also produced some good results. Do you have any suggestions besides the RDC?

Answer

I checked the userguide of GSS22, variables on the internet (and other characteristics place of birth and visible minority status) and thought these could be of potential interest:
Socio-demographic factors influencing use of the Internet - Internet use among new Canadians <http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/56f0004m/2008016/findings-resultats/socio-eng.htm#a1> (data from the 2003 General Social Survey on social engagement). For more recent data, consider 2008 - Cycle 22 Social Networks <http://www.statcan.gc.ca/dli-ild/data-donnees/ftp/gss-esg/gssc-esgc2008-eng.htm>
Selected activities of home Internet users1, by immigration status, Canada, 2007
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/56f0004m/2008016/tbl/socio/tbl001-eng.htm
Data source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Internet Use Survey, 2007.

National Input-Output Data

Question

Are the National Input-Output Data Tables available through DLI? If so, where?

Answer

For National Input-Output data at the National level is available here: <http://www.statcan.gc.ca/dli-ild/data-donnees/ftp/io-es-eng.htm>.

National Symmetric Input-Output Tables - Aggregation Level L
(15-208-XCB)

The Industry Accounts Division of Statistics Canada publishes annual symmetric industry-by-industry I-O tables at the L level. The symmetric industry by industry table shows the inter-industry transactions, that is, all purchases of an industry from all other industries including expenditures on imports and inventory withdrawals as well as all expenditures on primary inputs. Similarly, the symmetric final demand table shows all purchases by a final demand category from all other industries, including expenditures on imports and inventory withdrawals as well as all expenditures on indirect taxes.

Or on the EFT site:

/MAD_DLI/Root/other-products/Input-Output-Tables

Health Care Expenditures

Question

Has there ever been a longitudinal analysis on health care expenditures prior to patient death in Canada. I have found the metric used in a Swiss research paper cited in PubMed, but is there any comparable data in Canada?

Answer

Have you considered looking at CIHI data?
http://www.cihi.ca/CIHI-ext-portal/internet/EN/Theme/spending+and+health+workforce/cihi010658
National Health Expenditure Trends, 1975 to 2013
https://secure.cihi.ca/estore/productFamily.htm?locale=en&pf=PFC2400&lang=en
Spending<http://www.cihi.ca/CIHI-ext-portal/internet/EN/SubTheme/spending+and+health+workforce/spending/cihi015954>

Find out how much is spent on health care every year, what and whom that money is used for, and where it comes from. Our analyses of Canadian health care spending include: overall spending at national, provincial and territorial levels; details of health facility and regional health authority spending; cost estimates of services provided to patients in hospitals.

Variables to Measure Socio-Economic Status

Question

I'm researching which variables are used to measure socio-economic status (SES). I don't need the data, just which questions are being asked and what variables are being used in dealing with SES. Do you have any suggestions of where I could find this information?

Answer

Hi, Monica Boyd is an expert in this field. You might want to have a look at "A Socioeconomic Scale for Canada: Measuring Occupational Status from the Census, Canadian Review of Sociology, Feb 1, 2008.

Union Memberships Among Visible Minorites

Question

A researcher is looking for union memberships for Aboriginal and visible minority populations. Union memberships shows up in the Labour Force Historical Review and the Labour Force Survey PUMF, but neither seems to include anything about Aboriginal or visible minorities. The LFS questionnaire does ask about Aboriginal status, so I would guess that the researcher might access this tabulation via a Research Data Centre. But, is there any way to get information on memberships by visible minority status?

Answer

The Labour Force Survey (LFS) does have custom tabulations with union coverage for aboriginals living off reserves, but it does not collect data on visible minorities.

PIAAC Release Date

Question

We have a user looking for data from the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC). It's release date is listed as October 8, 2013: http://www23.statcan.gc.ca/imdb/p2SV.pl?Function=getSurvey&SDDS=4406&Item_Id=132267&lang=en. Is there/will there be a public use microdata file available?

Answer

The information is available in a publication, which was released on Oct 8th –Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies Series http://www5.statcan.gc.ca/bsolc/olc-cel/olc-cel?catno=89-555-x&lang=eng

On the OECD website the first results of and key findings of PIAAC have been made available ; the report can be downloaded there. A PUMF has also been created and we are taking requests from the website.

That said, we were just informed that the PIAAC PUMF has been temporally suspended due to a couple of small problems. We hope to have it fixed in the very near future. http://www5.statcan.gc.ca/bsolc/olc-cel/olc-cel?lang=eng&catno=89-555-X2013002

Class of 86 Revisited tables

Question

I have a StatsCan publication, The Class of 86 Revisited: A Compendium of findings of the 1991 Follow-up of the 1986 Graduate Survey with comparisons to the 1988 National Graduate Survey, that has a list of Supplementary Tables (Appendix C) in the back (Groups A – H). We have a disk with tables from Group A and the publication has the tables from Group B. Do you know if we can get our hands on any of the other tables (Groups C – H)?

I believe that a PUMF was not produced for the 1991 Follow-up Survey but would the tables have been made public? There is a note in Appendix C that says the tables can be ordered from Human Resources Development Canada.

Answer

We have one file that could work, otherwise HRSDC would need to be contacted.

NHS Data

Question

I have a researcher who would like to download NHS data for a complete geographic level (http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/nhs-enm/2011/dp-pd/prof/details/download-telecharger/comprehensive/comp-csv-tab-nhs-enm.cfm?Lang=E) for the DA level. Would this be available as a custom tab?

Answer

That is correct, DA level data is not being disseminated as a standard product, and is available as a custom tab, which is cost recoverable.

CIP Codes

Question

We have a researcher who wants a CIP code (Classification of Instructional Programs) that is more granular than the Primary Codes given in CANSIM Table 477-0019.

Specifically, 45.1099 (http://www.statcan.gc.ca/subjects-sujets/standard-norme/concordances/concordance-cip-cpe-2011-2000-eng.htm) for specific Ontario universities – i.e. York, Ryerson and UofT - cross-tabulated by enrollment and also graduation.

Do you know if this is possible to obtain through Statistics Canada or should the researcher contact the universities, directly?

Answer

I did a quick run for you based on the 6 digit CIP (45.1099), and there are too many suppression issues making the data pretty useless. We would not sell your client the table for this reason. In fact we really try to discourage using data at the 6 digit CIP for PSIS, and if the client is insistent we advise caution. I did a run at the 4 digit CIP (45.10) and it yields far more consistent results.

If your client is OK with the data at the 4 digit (45.10), we could produce tables for graduate and enrollment, for Ontario, and by institution, for most current year for a cost of $145.36. The turnaround would be about 5 days.

Child Care Québec

Question
A researcher is looking at family time use for child care of children ages 0-4 before and after day care policy changes in Québec.

Before the day care policy changes is not a problem. e.g., for 1986 and 1992, we know families with children ages 0-4, and the number of the children in this age range. And only for 1986, we know the activity codes between 22 and 25 cover kids ages 0-4 only. However, for 2005 and 2010 is it possible to find out:

1. The number of children in the samples ages 0-4?

2. For codes higher than 200, do these include ages 0-4? If they do, do they also include ages 5-15?

3. If these codes cover children ages 0 up to 15, is there a variable (e.g., 1992: RESC0004: Number of respondents single children aged 0-4) or combination of variables we could use to identify families with children ages 0-4?

Answer
After some discussion with the subject matter specialist, it seems what they are trying to do would be impossible.

The only codes that are meant for 0-4 are 200. Anything above 200 is a mixture of any child within the household. There are variables to verify if there is a child of 0-4 within the household, however, there is no way of knowing if the time used was for the child 0-4 years of age (unless it’s an only child).

Provincial PCCF Files

Question

Are we still able to get PCCF files for specific provinces?

Answer

File specifications
The current version of the Postal CodeOM Conversion File (PCCF) includes five files: the PCCF, three name files (CD_DR.txt, FED03_CEF03.txt, SAC_CSS.txt), and a special file, Retired 2010 (R2010.txt). Postal codesOM retired before January 1, 2011 are included in the Retired 2010 file. This reduces the size of the PCCF. These are ASCII files and do not include any software nor instructions on how to use the product within specific Geographical Information Systems (GIS) or mapping packages.

File naming convention
The naming convention for Postal CodeOM Conversion Files (PCCF) is bilingual and reflects the reference date (June 2013) of the Canada Post Corporation (CPC) data used in the release. The file name for this release is pccfNat_JUN13_fccpNat.zip.

Suppression from 2006 Census

Question

I looked at the 2006 community profile , since the 2011 census doesn’t have data for the Indian reserve of Pikangikum 14). Total population for 2006 is given as 2100. However, no characteristics other than total population and dwelling counts are given. Why is the rest of the data for 2006 suppressed?

Answer

Geographic areas with a non-response rate higher than or equal to 25% are suppressed from tabulations. In the case of Pikangikum 14, Indian reserve:

--Data quality index showing, for the short census questionnaire (100% data), a global non response rate higher than or equal to 25% (suppressed).

--Data quality index showing, for the long census questionnaire (20% sample data), a global non-response rate higher than or equal to 25% (suppressed).

Therefore, two of the 8 criteria for suppression were met for Pikangikum 14

GSS Cycle 26

Question

Is GSS Cycle 26 currently available in the RDCs? If not, when might it be?

Answer

GSS C26 has now been staged in the RDCs, which means it should be available now.

Wait Times for Medical Specialists

Question
A researcher would like to compare two separate years of CCHS microdata on wait times to see a medical specialist by province. The years the researcher is looking for are 2007 and 2009 (uncoupled from the 2008 data as per: the 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 PUMFs).

The Health Services and Access subsamples in 2007 and 2009 covered all provinces for modules ACC: Access to health care services, and WTM: Wait times. In the grouped files 2007-2008 and 2008-2009, these modules are optional, providing poor provincial coverage. The researcher would like to work with these Canada-wide subsamples. Can she do so and if so, what would her options be?

Answer
Yes, it is possible to assess the subsample files through a RDC proposal.

Canadian Health Measures Survey Cycle 2 Documentation

Question
A researcher here is looking for the data dictionaries for the CHMS cycle 2. CHMS isn’t on the Nesstar Master File list thus far, but is there another way to access this information?

Answer

Cycle 2 of the CHMS actually has multiple dictionaries, and not just one. Right now, we cannot make them available outside the RDC. I’m going to ask subject-matter to remove the reference to them from the list of available documentation until the issue of whether or not we can distribute them is resolved.

Immigrant Entrepreneurship

Question

I have a student who’s looking for information about immigrant entrepreneurship and immigrant-owned businesses. I’ve contacted the agency that processes business registries in SK to see if they keep such stats, but I’d like to find out if there’s a national source as well.

Answer
There are a few different Sources to look at:

-Feng Hou and Shunji Wang's article "Immigrants in self-employment" may be of use. This study uses the 20% sample files of the 1981, 1986, 1991, 1996, 2001 and 2006 censuses, and the combined May and November files of the 2006 to 2010 Labour Force Survey (LFS) to calculate the share of the self-employed among all employed workers. The selected sample consists of individuals who were employed in the week prior to the census or in the LFS reference week. Institutional residents and persons living in the Northwest Territories, Yukon and Nunavut were excluded. Immigrants who arrived in the census or survey year and individuals whose immigration status were not identified in the LFS were also excluded....

- "The Immigrant Labour Force Analysis Series" - This series of analytical reports provides an overview of the Canadian labour market experiences of immigrants to Canada, based on data from the Labour Force Survey. These reports examine the labour force characteristics of immigrants, by reporting on employment and unemployment at the Canada level, for the provinces and large metropolitan areas. They also provide more detailed analysis by region of birth, as well as in-depth analysis of other specific aspects of the immigrant labour market.

- SME Business Owner Characteristics from Industry Canada

- http://www5.statcan.gc.ca/bsolc/olc-cel/olc-cel?lang=eng&catno=61C0002

Aboriginal Data and the NHS

A brief 4-page article appeared recently about aboriginal data and the NHS.

It is accessible at: <http://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2013/aadnc-aandc/R3-196-2013-eng.pdf>

There are many parts of the text that are unclear to us, and we’ve outlined a few of them below. If you have time to read the article, we’d be interested in your comments.

The article sets out to address the impact of the NHS on the quality of data relating to aboriginal people. It compares the response rate of the NHS to the 2006 census, taking into consideration the reserves and Inuit communities.

On page 3, there is a bar graph, that seems to contradict what appears in the text. For instance, the response rate for Inuit communities is given as 92% in the text but as 76% in the graph.How did the author arrive at 76%?

Figure 1 does not represent response rate for communities but rather community level data published by STC.

A similar contradiction between text and graph seems to appear for the reserves. How did he arrive at 72%?

And what does the 3rd bar below represent? In what way does it meaningfully compare with the two preceding bars?

National Household Survey

Question

Are there any published response rates by age groups for the 2011 National Household Survey?

Answer

The published response rates for NHS – are available here:

National Household Survey: Final response rates
http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/nhs-enm/2011/ref/about-apropos/nhs-enm_r012.cfm?Lang=E

National Household Survey: Final response rates, census subdivisions (CSDs)
http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/nhs-enm/2011/ref/about-apropos/nhs-enm_r013.cfm?Lang=E

Global non-response rate of the 2011 National Household Survey, Canada, provinces and territories
http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/nhs-enm/2011/ref/nhs-enm_guide/guide_5-eng.cfm#A_6_3

National Graduates Survey

Question

Will there will be a new National Graduates Survey, one that will cover our “post- recession” era? The status of the IMDB record indicates that this is an active survey.

Answer

The last NGS was in 2007 (class of 2005), we had a PUMF, no FOG (follow up graduate class). The next NGS will be in 2013 (class of 2009/2010), no PUMF, no FOG. We are aiming for the end of March 2014. The NGS is a survey that looks to see what graduates are doing 2 years after graduation (i.e. class of 2000, surveyed in 2002). The Follow-up of graduates survey (FOG) is a survey that looks to see what NGS respondents are doing 5 years after graduation (i.e. class of 2000, surveyed in 2005)

We will have NGS 2013 (class of 2009/2010) but there will not be a FOG and the master will be in the RDC.

Sex Workers in Census

Question

Yesterday, while I was presenting a class, one of the Masters students asked about the availability of data about sex workers. In a sign that I’ve been doing this far too long, I wondered out loud what the National Occupational Classification System coding would be. The class of suggested some possible (typically euphemistic) job categories. Today, I searched the HRSDC site to try to find a definitive answer, since the student asked in all seriousness, and would like data for her project.

I’m not sure if I was surprised to find that there were no results for either “Prostitute” or “Sex worker” (but was DEFINITELY amused to see the list of suggested words for prostitute:http://www5.hrsdc.gc.ca/noc/english/noc/2011/SearchDescriptionResult.aspx?val27=prostitute&val28=0&val29=0&val30=2&val31=2&val32=2&val33=2&val34=2&val35=2&val36=2&val37=2&val38=1&val39=0&val40=Section).

The closest I could locate (and, sadly, VERY close to what I suggested) was “6564 Other personal service occupations” , which includes (under view all titles) Escort. (http://www5.hrsdc.gc.ca/noc/english/noc/2011/ProfileQuickSearch.aspx?val=6&val1=6564&val65=*)

Since there doesn’t appear to be a “Not elsewhere classified” category in the NOC (or at least none on the HRSDC site), where are sex workers or prostitutes classified by Statistics Canada when using the detailed National Occupational Classification coding?

Answer

You are correct - 6564 is correct

1995 SLID PUMF

Question

Why is there no 1995 SLID PUMF? Does it have to do survey changes (as I understand this to have happened) in 1998? Is there any data for 1995 (e.g., in an RDC), or does my researcher have only the 93-94 file and then the 1996 file to work with?

Answer

SLID was a pilot test to SCF for the period of 1993 to 1997, SLID became official in 1998; public files were available from SCF until 1997. The SLID panel had only one panel from 1993 to 1995; the SLID panels doubled in 1996, so 1996 was a good starting point for producing a public SLID file.

CCHS - Mental Health

Question

Will there will be a PUMF available for the CCHS Mental Health (2012)?

Answer

Data from the CCHS – Mental health are available in CANSIM tables : CANSIM table105-1101. If you're interested in the PUMF, Canadian Community Health Survey: Mental Health, it will anticipated to be released “Spring 2014”.

Woodstock Ontario Population

Question

The data for NHS and Census 2011 for Woodstock, Ontario shows that the Census Agglomeration has about 400 more people than does the Population Centre, and they are mapped differently. Since the CA was larger (in terms of geography), it’s easy to accept that the population is higher. But, since I didn’t know what the Population Centre was, I went to the Illustrated Glossary (http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/92-195-x/2011001/geo/pop/def-eng.htm) and found that “Population centre population includes all population living in the cores, secondary cores and fringes of census metropolitan areas (CMAs) and census agglomerations (CAs), as well as the population living in population centres outside CMAs and CAs.”

Why are there more people in the Woodstock Ontario census agglomeration than in the Woodstock Ontario population centre, and why aren’t the boundaries the same?

Answer

The census explains that – we are looking for a more detailed comparison between the two, but population centres are based on contiguous (connected) blocks, whereas CMAs and CAs are based on Census Subdivisions (CSDs) which are much larger and can include both urban and rural areas.

So Woodstock, Ontario Census Agglomeration has a higher count as it can include one or more rural areas in it, while Population Centre is “urban” only.

Saskatchewan Population Projection Data

Question

I have a request from a grad student for population projection data for Saskatchewan at the CMA/CA level. Is this info available without resorting to a custom tabulation?

Answer

We have the Population Projections for Canada, Provinces and Territories : <http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/91-520-x/91-520-x2010001-eng.htm>. For sub-provincial level, you are looking at Annual Demographic Estimates: Subprovincial Areas <http://www5.statcan.gc.ca/bsolc/olc-cel/olc-cel?catno=91-214-X&lang=eng>.

Customized assumptions and scenarios are always available on request. Those interested should contact the client services unit of Statistics Canada's Demography Division.

NHS Suppressed Data

Question

I have a researcher looking for data on “The Narrows 49, IRI” (Manitoba 19 065). [Incidentally for librarians, you have to search for “The Narrows”, as a search for “Narrows” will not find it.] The user would like to know if “not available” is the final answer, or if Statistics Canada might consider custom data for specific topics or variables? Would this depend on whether it is a confidentiality issue, or a data quality issue? Is there someone that users should contact directly to inquire about such possibilities?

Answer

if an area is not released in the standard product line, it is still be possible to request it via custom tabulation, of course that is cost recoverable. The custom tab would include, as I understood, areas that were suppressed, with detailed notes.

Custom tabulations from the 100% database are available for census years 1971 to 2011 and from the 20% database for census years 1971 to 2006. They are produced to meet the needs of individual users, according to their exact requirements in terms of content, geography, format and output medium. This includes the derivation of new variables and the creation of custom geographies. http://www5.statcan.gc.ca/bsolc/olc-cel/olc-cel?lang=eng&catno=97C0001

2011 Survey of Household Spending

Question

The 2011 Survey of Household Spending tables that were recently released have household characteristic information but no expenditure information. Will we be getting tables with the expenditure information?

Answer

The standard tables are no longer produced starting with SHS-R 2011, only CANSIM numbers will be offered.

Imputation Rates vs. Global Non-Response Rates

Question

What is the relationship between global non-response rates and imputation rates for specific sets of variables?

To quote the 2011 NHS Ethnic Origin Reference Guide:
"The imputation rates for the NHS Ethnic origin variable are similar to those of the 2006 Census (see Table 1). The NHS imputation rate for Ethnic origin at the national level is 5.8% which compares with the 2006 Census imputation rate for ethnic origin of 5.9%."

Does this suggest that the NHS data and 2006 Census data are of comparable quality at the national level for ethnic origin? If the global non-response rate (again, at the national level) is higher that the imputation rate for a given set of variables (and it was for all the groups of variables in the Reference Guides), what exactly does that mean?

Answer

Yes, the NHS data and 2006 Census data are of comparable quality at the national level for ethnic origin - as the client quoted directly from the Ethnic Origin Reference Guide below.

The GNR global non-response rate is an important measure of the quality of NHS estimates. It combines household and item non-response. This measure is used for the 2011 Census, just as it was in 2006 for dissemination of the Census, including the long form. In the specific case of the NHS, the global non-response rate is weighted to take account of the initial sample and the subsample used in non-response follow-up. It is calculated and presented for each geographic area.

The National Household Survey User Guide provides more detail - Chapter 6 would be of particular interest. http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/nhs-enm/2011/ref/nhs-enm_guide/guide_5-eng.cfm#A_6_3

Imputation replaces missing, invalid or inconsistent responses with plausible values after non-response follow-up has occurred. The National Household Survey User Guide provides more information on data processing: http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/nhs-enm/2011/ref/nhs-enm_guide/index-eng.cfm

Irish Immigration Statistics

Question

I am working with a PhD student who is looking for long time series for Irish immigration to Canada, going back as far as possible (even back to the 19th Century) and I have a few questions.

The 1966 to 1996 period is well covered by the Citizenship and Immigration statistics archives (http://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/202/301/immigration_statistics-ef/index.html). When looking for older statistics, I went to Historical Statistics of Canada which referred me to the Immigration statisticsannual publication by the CIC which provided me with the stats for the 1956 to 1966 period

This leaves me with 3 main questions:

1) After 1996 things are not that clear (at least not to me). CANSIM does provide a table (Immigrants to Canada, by country of last permanent residence #051-0006) but that table does not provide stats for Irish immigrants as those would be lumped under “Other Europe”. IS there another source to obtain that breakdown? I looked at the CIC website and more specifically at their Canada Facts and Figures 2012 document. That document presents data for the 2002 to 2012 period for “Permanent Residents by source country” and Ireland is listed as one of the countries. Would that number be equivalent to the number of immigrants by country of last residence? Even it that is the same number, that still leaves the 1997 to 2002 period uncovered, how can we obtain those stats?

2) For pre 1956 stats, I saw that the Canada Year Book would present tables going back to 1906 and I did find those numbers in the publication. However, the first edition of Historical Statistics of Canada seems to imply that, before 1956, immigrants were asked about their ethnic origin (or racial origin even earlier) rather than their country of last residence or country of origin. Can someone confirm this? The Canada Year Book tables do not have any explanatory notes and the language that they use for immigrant origins seems to change every so often.

3) And finally, for pre 1906 statistics, the essay in Historical Statistics of Canada (first edition) mentions various sources including, for the 1852 to 1959 period, the Annual Report 1959-60 of the Department of Citizenship and Immigration. Does anyone know if that report actually has immigration statistics for the whole period and, if so, does it provide statistics by country of origin or ethnic origin?
Answer

For historical data

Table 075-0022  offers Historical statistics, country of birth of other British-born and foreign-born population, *Terminated* every 10 years (foreign-born persons unless otherwise noted): <http://www5.statcan.gc.ca/cansim/a05?lang=eng&id=0750022&pattern 07500 22&searchTypeByValue=1&p2=35> (Data from the Census of Pop) Immigrant population by place of birth and period of immigration (2006 Census) <http://www.statcan.gc.ca/tables-tableaux/sum-som/l01/cst01/demo24a-eng.htm>

For the early period (1867-1920s or so). You and your researcher may not like the answer although I am truly surprised these figures have not been compiled *somewhere.*

The CIC or its equivalent would be found in the documentation generated via administrative processes. For the early period, your information should be contained in the annual reports of the departments responsible for immigration and those reports will be found in the Sessional Papers of the Parliament of Canada. The Department of Agriculture was responsible for immigration from 1869-1892; the Department of the Interior was responsible for immigration from 1892 until 1917 when a Department of Immigration and Colonization was established.

The Sessional Papers were published as a discrete set from 1867-1925. You have to go to the series for each year and, using the Table of Contents/Index, find the SP number for the department you seek and then grab the appropriate volume. The Table of Contents/Index will give you a SP number and should also tell you the volume in which it will be found. From 1925-1929, only the Annual Reports were published (in a discrete series entitled "Departmental Annual Reports" with, however, the same binding and they are usually found on the shelves right after the earlier run of SPs). Thereafter, you need to look at departmental publications. A couple of years ago, I had my gov doc students find 1940s and 1950s immigration stats by country of origin and seem to recall it was an easy task as the department produced them in an annual report of some sort.

Note that many of the SPs have been digitized and can be found in, I think, Canadiana and the Internet Archive but, as the tools of discovery are not really that good, it might actually be easier to use the paper.

I checked the 1896 SPs at random and found the figures for 1895 in Annexes to the Dept. of the Interior’s Annual Report. It is Sessional Paper 13 and the report is a long one. Appended to the report are Annexes, which include reports of immigration agents from the principal ports (I saw one for Halifax and one for Quebec during my 10 minute perusal). Annex No. 2, for instance, is the report of the Halifax Agent of the ‘Dominion Government Immigration Agency’ and I found tables there, most of them broken down by origin (‘English,’ ‘Scotch,’ “Irish,’ and ‘other’).

You should consider, however, that the dates sought will impact upon the search and, possibly, the quality of the information. Prior to 1921, there was one Ireland and it was a part of the UK. Figures from that period tend to break down UK immigration and group the rest into “other.” If you need Irish immigration from, say, 1924, you may find one figure for “Ireland” (what we know as Northern Ireland) and another, either lumped in with “other” or, if you're lucky, found separately under “Ireland” (what we would call today Eire). You may also have problems with the accuracy of the figures as they pertain to intended destination -- attempts seem to have been made to clarify and to classify but a great many immigrants passed through Canada on their way to the US and the Agents made mention of this.

GDP Deflator Data

Question

I have a researcher looking for GDP deflator data for provinces and territories from 1976 (or later, if 1976 is not available) to present.
I believe data at the national level is available from 1981-present in table 383-0008 under the metric "implicit price deflator"; however, I have not been able to find provincial-level data through CANSIM or the EFT. Does any such data exist?

Answer

The implicit price deflator is equal to current-dollar output, divided by real output. The output measure is consistent with the Quarterly Income and Expenditure Accounts, prepared by the Income and Expenditure Accounts Division.

GDP information is available from the National Economics account here
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/nea-cen/list-liste/gdp-pib-eng.htm

Below are the tables available
http://www5.statcan.gc.ca/cansim/a45?lang=eng&childId=37641037&CORId=3764&preState=3&childIds=

National Survey of Work and Health of Nurses

Question

A researcher would like to have access to the “2005 National Survey of the Work and Health of Nurses” – STC Record Number: 5080http://www23.statcan.gc.ca/imdb/p2SV.pl?Function=getSurvey&SDDS=5080&Item_Id=13648 Is this file available in PUMF form?

We found the STC/CIHI publication: "Findings from the 2005 National Survey of the Work and Health of Nurses" http://www23.statcan.gc.ca/imdb/p2SV.pl?Function=getSurvey&SDDS=5080&Item_Id=13648 but we’re hoping to use the underlying data.

Answer

There is no PUMF available for that survey. But it is available in the RDCs
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/rdc-cdr/data-donnee-eng.htm

Public Housing Expenditures

Question

A student is looking for government expenditures at the municipal (Montreal) and provincial (Quebec) level for public housing, from 1990 to 2013. Short of adding up the data from annual budgets (which is not easy to do if you are not an accountant) is there any compilation of such public expenditures? I could not find any so far. I have contacted Office municipal d'habitation de Montréal and FRAPRU (a community organization). Is there anywhere else I could try?

Answer

Under the new bilateral agreements for the IAH, provinces and territories will report publicly on outcomes of the investment using agreed-upon indicators:
- Société d'habitation du Québec <http://www.habitation.gouv.qc.ca/english.html>
- Quebec Agreement for Investment in Affordable Housing 2011 - 2014<http://www.schl.ca/en/inpr/afhoce/fias/upload/CMHC-Quebec-Agreement-for-Investment-in-Affordable-Housing-2011-2014.pdf>
- Public Reporting on Outcomes of the IAH: 2011/2012<http://www.habitation.gouv.qc.ca/fileadmin/internet/publications/0000022141.pdf
- Affordable Housing Programs Across Canada<http://www.schl.ca/en/inpr/afhoce/fuafho/iah/afhopracca/index.cfm>
- Affordable Housing Project Profiles<http://www.schl.ca/en/inpr/afhoce/afhoce/prpr/index.cfm>

Access to CIHI Documentation

Question

Is the CIHI Discharge Abstract Database considered public (i.e., anyone who wants to can look at it), or are users required to agree to the license agreement before they can look at it? I have assumed the former, but it occurred to me that since there is a separate license on the look-up table program, they might want all of the formal documentation locked down.

Responses
The documentation would not be considered public – DLI authorises users only.

The files from CIHI are not considered public, if I understand your question correctly. In order to use the files, the DLI licence has to be signed, and only authorised DLI users are allowed to use the file.

Not all of the documentation included with the DAD data is available publicly. The DAD Data Quality (DQ) documents are the only resources that are also available on CIHI’s website.

Student Loans: Amount Loaned to Recipients

Question 

I am looking for data on the amount loaned to students from Canadian Student Loans from the Survey of Consumer Finance from 1993 to 2010. I could use most statistical packages. If the data is in .dta or .csv, that would be great. Please let me know if the library has the data. 

Answer

This survey has a fairly complex history. This link will set out the overall changes: <http://www23.statcan.gc.ca/imdb/p2SV.pl?Function=getSurvey&SDDS=3502 &lang=en&db=imdb&adm=8&dis=2>

As mentioned, it was replaced by SLID – which has also been discontinued:

Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics
The final release of longitudinal data from the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics was published on June 18, 2012. Statistics Canada will continue to conduct a survey to produce annual estimates on income. <http://www42.statcan.ca/smr09/smr09_039a-eng.htm>

There is a website called Equinox: <http://equinox.uwo.ca/EN/BasicSearch.asp> where almost all of the Statistics Canada micro-data that have been released to universities through the DLI is available for down-load. The data files are all ASCII matrices, but command files are provided for the user to generate the format of choice. I would suggest that you check out the data there, as it will show you exactly what types of expenditure files were generated through the SCF while it was being conducted. If you have any problems using the Stata Do-files that you download from Equinox.

I does not look like data from the Canadian Student Loans Program is available.

However, I did a brief search and came across the following article Student loans: borrowing and burden (Product: Education Quarterly Review, vol. 8 no. 04) <http://www5.statcan.gc. ca/bsolc/olc-cel/olc-cel?lang=eng&catno=81-003-X20010046387>, which addresses issues around student borrowing and debt loads, using data from the Canadian Student Loan Program. They survey consulted for this study was the National Graduates Survey(NGS)  <http://www23.statcan.gc.ca/imdb/p2SV.pl?Function=getSurvey&SDDS=5012&Item _Id=122603>

Another publication of potential interest: Student loans: Is it getting harder? Borrowing, burdens, and repayment <http://www5.statcan.gc.ca/bsolc/olc-cel/olc-cel?lang=eng&catno=81-589-X20010015847>. Dr. Finnie began his paper and his presentation by noting that since its commencement in 1964, the Canadian Student Loan Program (CSLP) has aided millions of Canadians in meeting career goals and taking their education to a higher level.

Use of General Social Survey 2008 - Cycle 22

Question
We were contacted by a STC analyst in regards to the use of the GSS cycle 22 by the DLI community:

I would like to get a sense of who in the DLI community is accessing this data and for what purpose. Ideally, I would like to know if the data is being referenced for a research paper, data tables, qualitative analysis, etc.

While I can provide to them data access statistics from the DLI FTP/EFT, any information you can share is greatly appreciated.

Answer

I can provide three examples of use at the University of Calgary for this particular survey:

- Sociology professor is teaching an advanced statistical methods course this semester and is using this survey.

- Undergraduate sociology class has a term project to use a public use microdata file to develop a research question and then do the quantitative analysis. GSS 22 is one of the files being used by students in this class, although I don’t know what their particular research questions are. This is the second iteration of this particular research project. It is running this semester and also ran last winter.

- Sociology professor used the GSS 22 to research the characteristics of same sex friendships amongst women.

Another few more are

2012 MA Thesis, Sociology, 2012

MPA Grad(uating) Paper, 2012

Metropolis BC Working Paper Series, 2012

CCHS 2008 Annual File

Question
I have a user who is wondering about the “CCHS 2008 Annual Component”: <http://www23.statcan.gc.ca/imdb/p2SV.pl?Function=getSurvey&SurvId=3226&SurvVer=1& InstaId=15282&InstaVer=5&SDDS=3226&lang=en&db=IMDB&adm=8&dis=2>

Would I be correct in saying that the “CCHS 2007-2008 Annual Component” contains that survey? Or perhaps the “CCHS 2008-2009 Healthy Aging” file contains the “CCHS 2008 Annual Component”? He is intent on acquiring every piece of the CCHS if possible.

Answer

The Author Division responded with the list of CCHS annual PUMFs that are available:

- CCHS 1.1
- CCHS 2.1
- CCHS 3.1
- CCHS 2007-08
- CCHS 2009-10 and 2010 and the next release is in the Fall 2013.

There is no separate 2008 PUMF for the annual CCHS. There is also CCHS Healthy Aging (2008-09).

Labour Force Historical Review

Question

Are B20/20 tables from the 2010 Labour Force Historical Review available online, or only on CD (71x0004x)?

Answer

Most, but not all of the tables are available free in CANSIM. The LFS series starts with 282. You can download the CANSIM tables in IVT.

Unfortunately there is no list of which tables are missing. There is limited space on CANSIM and some of the tables had too many blank cells for the provinces, so only Canada data was loaded.

Survey of Household Spending

Question

When will the 2011 Survey of Household Spending (SHS) be available through DLI? It appears to be available according to Statistics Canada January 30, 2013:

http://www23.statcan.gc.ca/imdb/p2SV.pl?Function=getSurvey&SDDS=3508&Item_Id=64678&lang=en

Answer

There are no plans to produce a PUMF in the future, including SHS-R 2010 and 2011.

There was no 2010 PUMF for Survey of Household Spending and Income Statistics Division will not produce a Public-use Microdata File of the 2010 SHS, due to resource constraints. The 2010 SHS confidential microdata file will be available to authorized researchers through the Research Data Centres as of October 2012.

Information on other releases can be found in the Daily: Home>The Daily>Wednesday, January 30, 2013
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/130130/dq130130b-eng.htm

When a PUMF will be available to the DLI can be found on the follow page: Tentative release dates of DLI products http://www.statcan.gc.ca/dli-ild/prod_date-eng.htm

Postal Code Boundary Data

Question 

I have a researcher who is looking for postal code boundary data for Ontario. She has postal code point data right now but needs to know the boundaries of each postal code. Where can I find this information?

Answer

The Postal Code Conversion File (PCCF) provides a link between six-character postal codes and standard Census geographic areas such as dissemination areas, census subdivisions and census tracts. It also provides a latitude and longitude coordinate for a point representing the approximate location of the postal code to support mapping. You can access the PCCF files on the DLI FTP and EFT sites.

For more information, review the PCCF reference guide
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/92-153-g/92-153-g2011002-eng.htm

ATIP Writing

Question

Does anyone here have any kind of "best practices" webpage published on how to structure the nature of the ATIP request? I'm thinking in particular about the sections where he is given space to provide more details on the information sought. Right now, I'm suggesting that he use clean, plain language with bulleted items, etc., in order to make it easier to read, but if anyone's got a resource he could turn to, I'd appreciate it.

Answer

Here are some tips with writing ATIs. It's a mix of abstract/practical. The purpose of the abstractness is to drive home the message that librarians have knowledge for thinking about how to use the method of access that Parliament has set down in the Access to Information Act.

The Access to Information Act defines general parameters of a method of information retrieval. This method of retrieval can be examined using existing concepts, like recall and precision. The concepts have a very practical effect on how to write ATIs.

Recall is the ratio of returned relevant documents to all relevant documents while precision is the ratio of returned relevant documents to returned documents. When using the method of access in FOI legislation, people often try for high recall (e.g., "Send me any and all documents, memos, faxes, telegraphs, .... from 1867 to the present"). The problem with this strategy is that recall ignores the amount of returned documents. This isn't a big deal with computers but it becomes a problem when it's an institution returning the materials. The amount of returned documents can slow the process down, can come with search fees, etc. So writing ATIs that go for high recall can inadvertently create barriers/frustrations.

Tip: Avoid the temptation of trying to get everything imaginable

A better strategy is to aim for high precision. Since it factors in the number of returned documents, high precision can reduce the barriers/frustration that high recall ATIs create. The goal here is to be as specific as possible (e.g. "Send copies of forms AB-1235 that were completed in April 2012 where the tick-box 'Atlantic Canada' is checked off"). This strategy, however, requires having sufficient bibliographic description of the documents. To get this level of description can involve using the method of access in the ATI Act to acquire materials that contain bibliographic description. The trade-off with high precision is that getting this level of description can take some time. But once you have it, it's like having a mini-catalogue.

Tip: Do use the method of access in ATI Act repeatedly to gather material that contains bibliographic description and then be super specific.

Tip: Bibliographic description can often be found in government manuals. It's not uncommon for people to order copies of unpublished government manuals (e.g. search for "manuals" on this page http://www.admfincs-smafinsm.forces.gc.ca/aip/cr-dc-eng.asp)

I'd like to mention that if anyone is interested in what librarians and library associations have to say about the Access to Information Act, the Information Commissioner recently received submissions for a public consultation to modernize the Access to Information Act. There are submissions from the CLA, BCLA, the Progressive Librarians Guild (London Chapter), BC librarian Heather Morrison and one from myself. http://www.oic-ci.gc.ca/eng/modernization-atia_2012_all-submissions-tous-soumissions.aspx

This might help although much of the information is BC-centric.

http://fipa.bc.ca/help/HelpWithToday/FOI-HOWTO.php