GSS Variable Question

Question:
I have a researcher using the GSS and is interested in using LUC_RST as the unit of analysis, aggregating responses to calculate percent change across two waves of the survey.  According to the code book, LUC_RST is a derived variable from PRV (province) and something called GEO_SAC_Type which isn't referenced any where else. Could GEO_SAC_Type be linked to the census or some other conventional administrative unit? 

Answer:
I would expect that it is related to the Statistical Area Classification? http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2011/ref/dict/geo045-eng.cfm

LUC_RST is referenced in http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/12-002-x/2014001/article/11901-eng.htm - based on that, it would appear to be reasonable to think that it’s using SAC.


However, the statcan division would be able to tell you for sure, while I can only guess ….

Boundaries for Indigenous

Question:
At a presentation, Vivian O’Donnell mentioned boundary files for indigenous land claim boundary regions (Inuit Nunangat), and indicated that this was a standard geography for disseminating information to those communities.

Would it be possible to obtain those boundary files for dissemination through DLI (or on the census page itself)?


Are any data sets or tables available for dissemination at this level as well through DLI? In a report I found tables with this geography (e.g., http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/82-003-x/2015011/article/14223/tbl/tbl1-eng.htm), but am curious if there are more.

Answer:
I know that in the past the aboriginal population profiles have had data by Inuit region, Indian band area, & Metis settlement (e.g. http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/nhs-enm/2011/dp-pd/aprof/index.cfm?Lang=E). 

I also see there's a boundary file on the open data portal for Aboriginal Lands of Canada, which includes Indian Reserves, Land Claim Settlement Lands, and Indian Lands: http://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/522b07b9-78e2-4819-b736-ad9208eb1067. 


Not sure if these correspond exactly though; they come from different federal agencies.

Childcare in Canada

Question:

Hello!
I’m hoping someone can help me out here. I need help finding up-to-date statistics related to child care in Canada:

• Demographics of those accessing of child care
• Money spent on child care including subsidies
• Businesses that offer child care to employees

Any help at all would be much appreciated!


Answer:
The following sources have been suggested:

• Employment patterns of families with children: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/75-006-x/2015001/article/14202-eng.htm

• General Social Survey, Cycle 25: Family, 2011 Public Use Microdata Files (12M0025X): http://www5.statcan.gc.ca/olc-cel/olc.action?objId=12M0025X&ObjType=2&lang=en&limit=0 
• The 2011 survey updated most of the information collected in previous surveys, including leaving the family home, conjugal history (marriages, common-law unions, separations and divorces), children (biological, adopted or step), maternity and parental leave, childcare arrangements, intentions to form (or re-form) a union, fertility intentions, custody and financial support agreements and work history.

• Child care in Canada study:http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/89-652-x/89-652-x2014005-eng.htm
• Using the 2011 GSS on Families, this report provides an overview of child care in Canada, examining its overall use, factors influencing use, types of child care arrangements, and cost.

These are available through the DLI.

Administrative Segregation / Solitary Confinement Canada - Statistics

Question:
I have found quite a lot of information about the topic* but not statistics, yet.  A student is wanting to know how many people (and other related details) are put in administrative segregation in Canadian jails.  Apparently, solitary confinement isn't the correct word to use in Canada.

The flip side of the coin is that she wants to study psychological effects caused by this.

*Administrative Segregation / Solitary Confinement Canada

Answer:
I noticed this new Corrections Service Canada directive to track details, http://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/politiques-et-lois/709-cd-eng.shtml#s12 , so better statistics could be coming?

The statistics must exist since there are summary statistics like “We have … decreased the segregation population by a third.” (page 1) http://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/005/007/092/005007-4500-2015-2016-eng.pdf .  I asked the Canadian Police College Library about whom to contact for help with existing statistics and they suggested the general number of  Corrections Service Canada for official (but not perhaps not publicly reported) statistics.  In the meantime, these might be some shortcuts (these being some very quick Canadian public policy collections search results_:

Profile of offenders in administrative segregation: a review of the literature By Bottos, Shauna ; Correctional Service Canada. Research Branch, 2015.

Administrative segregation in federal corrections : 10 year trends Canada. Office of the Correctional Investigator Ottawa, Ontario,  2016

A profile of women in segregation - Thompson, Jennie Mae ; Rubenfeld, Sara ; Correctional Service Canada. Research Branch Ottawa, Ontario : 2016

And

• It's a matter of time : systemic review of secure isolation in Ontario youth justice facilities. Ontario. Office of the Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth ©2015
• other topics relating to impact like aboriginal identity, mental health, and
• a very old book from the US:  An inquiry into the alleged tendency of the separation of convicts,: one from the other, to produce disease and derangement Packard, Frederick A. Philadelphia, E.C. & J. Biddle, 1849

Financial Performance Indicators

Question:
The latest Financial Performance Indicators on the DLI ftp site goes up to 2011. Is there anything more recent available or has it been superseded by a different product?

Answer:
Now available from Industry Canada as Financial Performance Data: https://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/pp-pp.nsf/eng/home

Business and Business Type by Smaller Units of Geography

Question:
I have a researcher wondering there is data on the number of business and types of businesses by smaller levels of census geography (CT or FSA)? Is this data available? 

Answer:
The University of Toronto Map and Data Library dataverse appears to have this data: Canadian Business Patterns, Dissemination Area (DA) Level. In addition to the DAs for 2012-2016, they also have DA, CA/CMA, and CSD level files for various years in the period 2007-2011. Here’s the full list of what U of T purchased:

https://dataverse.scholarsportal.info/dataverse/MDL?q=%22canadian+business+patterns%22&types=dataverses%3Adatasets&sort=score&order=desc&page=1

McGill just purchased the CT-level CBCounts.  Since these data are governed by the open data license we can share no problem.  I can send you a link if you want the CT as well.

National Pollutant Release Inventory data - Clarification

Question:
I have a student using data from the National Pollutant Release Inventory (http://ec.gc.ca/inrp-npri/donnees-data/index.cfm?do=facility_history&lang=En&opt_npri_id=0000003419&opt_report_year=2016). She is wondering if data in the Volatile organic compounds (NA-M16) section includes data from other VOCs also included on the page (e.g. Xylene which is also on the page).

Answer: 
Volatile organic compounds are reportable as a group under Part 4 of the NPRI reporting requirements and it does include data from other VOCs, such as xylene. A number of individual VOCs are reportable under Part 1A and Part 5 of the NPRI reporting requirements and care should be taken to avoid double or triple counting the same VOCs reportable to multiple NPRI parts. Part 5 substances are speciated VOCs and are essentially a breakdown of the total amount of VOCs.


For the linked facility, xylene is reported under Part 1A and Part 5 and they are included in the Total VOCs reported under Part 4. Part 5 substances can be reached through the query site by clicking on any year of the Volatile Organic Compounds table. However, the query site doesn’t show the amount of part 5 substances releases from stacks above 50 meters. This data can be found on our Single Year Tabular Data or the complete MS Access database.

Business Stats at Sub-provincial Level

Question:
I’m help a graduate-level class that is working on a feasibility study for a new downtown grocery store. The instructor would like to find things like market share, customer numbers, sales by industry, and so on.

Apart from location counts by NAICS code and employee size at the CMA-level, everything we’ve located is national or provincial.

Are there sources for more detailed information, apart from CDER or custom tabs?

Answer:
You may find some of the publications from the Centre for the Study of Commercial Activity at Ryerson useful.

I don’t know if this helps, but for sales data, employee counts and other company/industry data one place we refer students to is the D&B Million Dollar Database. You can search by SIC (e.g., 54110000 for grocery stores) and limit by geography (e.g., Manitoba / Winnipeg). Doesn’t provide all the data you want in your case, of course.

Area of 2006 Dissemination Area

Question:
I am assisting a researcher who is looking to determine the area of 2006 Dissemination Areas. Does this exist as a statistical product?

I noticed that the shapefiles have a generated “shape_area” field and am wondering if anyone knows if this field is reliable, or if it poses a Modifiable Areal Units Problem (MAUP)?

Answer:
If you don't want to use GIS software, I'm pleased to say that, once again, GeoSuite comes to the rescue.  There's a DAarea field in GeoSuite that gives area in km2.  According to the help file "Land area data are unofficial and are provided for the sole purpose of calculating population density."

Tuition Costs by Institution

Question:
A researcher is looking for recent (2016/17 and 2017/18) data from Tuition and Living Accommodation Costs (TLAC). Stats Can has released summary tables from the latest survey, but they only list costs by province, and she needs it by institution. I was able to locate data from 1993-2015 in Odesi but nothing from the past two years. Are there plans to release a PUMF for the latest years, and if so, when?

Answer 1:
You might check out: https://www.univcan.ca/universities/facts-and-stats/tuition-fees-by-university/  … I noted that the source is Statistics Canada. 

Answer 2:
 there are no PUMFs planned for TLAC data.  From subject matter: “We don’t produce any PUMF for TLAC, only standard tables.”

Now, the years your request caught my eye.  I just released the 2017/18 data* last week and sent a notification to the list.  Odesi are able to extract the tables for their users and release through their channels.  The data has been available since October 5th 2017 on the FTP site.

*Tuition and Living Accommodation Costs (TLAC) for 2017-18 (ver09) are now available on the EFT site.

 EFT: /MAD_DLI_IDD_DAM/root/other_autres/3123_TLAC_FSS/

CCHS Documentation for 2014

Question
I have received a request for the following Canadian Community Health Survey documents:

CCHS 2014 Derived Variables Documentation
Canadian Community Health Survey – Errata (updated June 2015)
These are both listed on this page: http://www23.statcan.gc.ca/imdb-bmdi/document/3226_D75_T1-V4-eng.htm

I am presuming that the Derived Variables Documentation is the same as the Derived Variable (DV) Specifications document that I found on the EFT and , but would like confirmation of that.

Answer
You are correct, the Derived Variable specs you found on the EFT is the correct document.  As for the errata, I am placing the CCHS 2015 errata on the EFT site under the documentation folder.  

As per subject matter: “Please note that this errata does not replace the existing errata for the 2000-2014 CCHS, rather it is an additional errata. Going forward, all errata items for 2015 onward will appear in this second document. This document will be updated on an ongoing basis. Please be sure to keep both the 2000-2014 and 2015+ documents.”

NHS 2011 - Commuter Flow Question

Question:
A couple of years ago I asked a question about some place of work information from the NHS that seemed to indicate a coding error.  People whose residence did not seem to make sense were seen to be working in the Village of Gagetown.  Of course, it turned out that there was a coding error based on respondents entries, and that the place of work was actually [CFB] Gagetown.  I have another such question from the same researcher. 

In looking through the 2011 commuter flow table (99-012-x2011032) for the Chipman/Minto area, he noticed that 45 people are listed as having their place of residence in Red Bank First Nation (Red Bank 4) and their place of work in Chipman Parish.  Given that Red Bank First Nation is more than an hour's drive to Chipman Parish, and given that there's also an area in Chipman Parish called Redbank, he's wondering what he can count on with respect to this data.  He's aware that "place of residence" is the location where respondents are enumerated and does not necessarily represent where respondents were at the time of the NHS; however, given his knowledge of the area he thought the numbers didn't seem realistic and that it might be possible that an error had occurred.  He's not sure, though, so he wanted to see if we could double check on this. 

Answer: 

Thank you for your feedback and observations of the 2011 National Household Survey (NHS) data on place of work (commuting flows).

Aboriginal reserves and settlements have always been a challenge for the automated and manual coding processes in place of work. Some have names that are similar, or identical except for numbers associated with them. We are also dependent on the respondent to fill out their place of work information as completely and accurately as possible. We try to do the best we can at getting them coded correctly.

After investigating the data, it appears as if the records in question should probably have been associated with Red Bank 4 and not Chipman. Unfortunately the processes in place for that cycle did not catch this particular issue.

We continue to work on improving our POW coding and verification processes, and hopefully for 2016 and future cycles you will see such improvements reflected in the data.

Questions about CIHI Discharge Abstract Database Coding

Question:
I was reviewing the 2015-2016 Status variables (ST_AT_1 through _20) on the clinical file, checking frequencies from before and after recoding those variables. I discovered that there were a large number of status codes which were missed by my recode syntax. I’ve looked at the online Canadian Coding Standards for ICD-10-CA and CCI (https://secure.cihi.ca/estore/productFamily.htm?pf=PFC2785&lang=en&media=0), the DAD abstracting manual (and for that matter, all of the other documentation files received with DAD), and haven’t been able to find a list of the possible field contents.

Is there a complete list of status attribute codes (I hope that I’ve not simply missed it)?

• I’m missing meanings for codes: D1,  DX, PA, PB, PC, RA, RB, RC, and UN.
• I have meanings for codes: 0, B, C, CR, D, DP, DS, E, I , M1, M3, M4, N, N2, N3, N4, N5, N6, P, Q, R, S, S2, TM, U, UR, V, and Z. (e.g., U – Initial consultation)
• Are there still more status attribute codes that I haven’t encountered yet?

While looking for the intervention status attribute codes, could you find a list of intervention location attribute codes (LC_AT_1 through LC_AT_20) on the clinical file (or let me know where I should have found them)?

I’m not sure where to find explanations of codes FE, FY, JU, LY, ML, MR, PI, RY, SC, and UN.

Answer:
A CCI status code list that was provided by CIHI.  They have indicated it was pulled from Appendix C of the v2015 CCI folio product.

The Folios are essentially electronic, interactive versions of the Manuals so the information contained in them should be the same. Unfortunately we cannot provide the client with a copy of the CCI Folio as it’s a paid product and there are licencing agreements etc. Hospital medical record departments may have a copy they can borrow.

Follow-Up Question:
Would it be possible to put a copy of the Word document that you received from CIHI in the documentation folder for the DAD? It could (should) be annotated to indicate that:

• the Status list corresponds to variables ST_AT_1, ST_AT_2, …, ST_AT_20 in the DAD excerpt files
• the Location list corresponds to variables LC_AT_1, LC_AT_2, …, LC_AT_20 in the DAD excerpt files
• the Extent list does not correspond to any variables in the DAD excerpt files

Follow-Up Answer:

I’ve looked into this further and the ICD-10-CA/CCI has four volumes in total:

• Volume 1—International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision, Canada (ICD-10-CA) - Tabular List
• Volume 2—International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision, Canada (ICD-10-CA) - Alphabetical Index
• Volume 3—Canadian Classification of Health Interventions (CCI) - Tabular List
• Volume 4—Canadian Classification of Health Interventions (CCI) – Alphabetical Index

Typically, for the DLI data cuts, we only include the Tabular lists (Volumes 1 & 3). As to why we only release the Tabular lists, I can’t say -  only that this is what was being done since I’ve been with the team.

Appendix C is provided in Volume 4, as well as appearing in the electronic Folio mentioned earlier, which is why it didn’t turn up in your search.

I just received volume 2 and 4 of the CCI/ICD documentation. They have been placed in the CIHI safe located here:  /MAD_CIHI_ICIS_DAM/Root/discharge-abstract-database-2015-16/Other_documents/ICD10CA CCI v2015/EN/

2011 and 2014 Public Service Employees Survey (PSES)

Question
Is it possible to get the Public Service Employees Survey (PSES) files for 2011 and 2014? At the moment the PSES files up to 2008 are available in CHASS.

Response
Thank you for contacting the Data Liberation Initiative (DLI). Public use files for the 2011 and 2014 PSES were not created. The 2008 cycle is the last reference period for which a PUMF was produced: http://www5.statcan.gc.ca/olc-cel/olc.action?ObjId=71M0016X&ObjType=2&lang=en&limit=0.

Public Service Employee Survey, 2014
Aggregate tables presenting the 2014 Public Service Employee Survey results for the entire public service and federal departments are now available upon request. Contact:
(toll-free)1-800-263-1136; or 514-283-8300
infostats@statcan.gc.ca
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/150205/dq150205f-eng.htm

The tables are also available on the DLI EFT’s collection to DLI Contacts. They are found here: /MAD_DLI_IDD_DAM/Root/other_autres/4438_PSES_SAFF

DAD File documentation

Question: I’m looking at processing the most recent (2015-2016) DAD files, but I have a question about the documentation.

The files Version 2012 ICD-10-CA Tabular List, Volume 1 PDF (4.6 MB).pdf released with a previous version of DAD, and ICD-10_Vol1_PDF_EN.pdf (released with this version of DAD) both say that they are the ICD-10-CA – tenth revision.

• Do they have the same content, and are just showing different publishing dates (2012 and 2015, respectively)? I see that I had apparently missed category U (for emergent diseases of unknown cause (e.g., SARS)), and I’ve added a variable to capture that – anything else?
  
•  A quick glance through the list didn’t pick up other substantial differences – but I didn’t compare the 1000+ pages of each release in great detail 

Similarly, are there substantive differences in the interventions recorded in the respective CCI classifications? I again did a quick scan: while new interventions may have been introduced, the high-level groups (e.g., Diagnostic Interventions on the Musculoskeletal System (2SA - 2WZ)) still appear to be the same.


Answer: The ICD-10-CA and CCI manuals are revised every 3 years and in this case it looks like your client is comparing two different versions (v2012 and v2015).

With every revision, there will be some changes in the document (new codes, retired codes, new coding methodology for certain conditions etc.), but from my experience, the majority of it will remain the same.

Because there are so many codes, and as your client has found out, a lot of ground to cover, I would recommend that they seek assistance from a medical coding professional (ex/ someone from a hospital medical records department) and have them validate the specific diagnosis codes in question for each year.

CanCHEC

Question
A researcher has expressed interest in the CanCHEC (Canadian Census Health and Environment Cohort) data. She would like to consult the documentation before deciding whether to submit a proposal to the RDC. When I look at the CRDCN website, I am not able to locate any documentation such as the data dictionary, codebook, etc. Any assistance you can provide is most appreciated.

Response
Apparently, there is no codebook for CanCHEC 2001. However, there are currently zero codebook available for CanCHEC 1991 which are usually provided to researchers interested in CanCHEC 2001. As per the SFP variables are roughly the same, except for the CCR – cancer information is not available in the 2001 dataset. However, the user guide is not part of the non-confidential tools located on the social surveys drive so, to my knowledge, it hasn’t been approved for release from the RDC.

Alternatively, researchers can get a comprehensive overview of the 2001 CanCHEC in the Health Analysis Division’s publication found here: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/11-633-x/11-633-x2016003-eng.htm. I would recommend reviewing this in the meantime as it outlines almost everything that is found in the user guide. For variable information, they can use the 1991 CanCHEC non-confidential codebooks (attached to this email).

Data Wealth Distribution in Canada

Question
I have a question from a professor who would like the most recent data for wealth distribution in Canada - she is having trouble finding anything. All I've found is a reference to Survey of Financial Security from StatsCan and some reports.

She also said she would prefer decile although quantile will do if not available.

Response
The Survey of Financial Security would be your best bet. The CANSIM numbers are 205-0002 and 205-0003.

Survey of Financial Security (SFS), composition of assets (including Employer Pension Plans valued on a termination basis) and debts held by all family units, by age group, Canada and provinces, occasional (2012 constant dollars), 1999 to 2012:
Description http://www5.statcan.gc.ca/cansim/a34?lang=eng&mode=tableSummary&id=2050002&stByVal=1&&p1=1&p2=50
Table 205-0002 http://www5.statcan.gc.ca/cansim/a26?lang=eng&retrLang=eng&id=2050002&tabMode=dataTable&p1=1&p2=50&srchLan=-1

Survey of Financial Security (SFS), composition of assets (including Employer Pension Plans valued on a termination basis) and debts held by all family units, by net worth quintiles, Canada and provinces, occasional (2012 constant dollars), 1999 to 2012:
Description http://www5.statcan.gc.ca/cansim/a34?lang=eng&mode=tableSummary&id=2050003&stByVal=1&&p1=1&p2=50
Table 205-0003 http://www5.statcan.gc.ca/cansim/a26?lang=eng&retrLang=eng&id=2050003&tabMode=dataTable&p1=1&p2=50&srchLan=-1

There could also be analytical reports or articles pertaining to wealth:
http://www5.statcan.gc.ca/olc-cel/olc.action?objId=13F0026M&ObjType=2&lang=en&limit=0
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/150603/dq150603b-eng.htm
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/75-006-x/2015001/article/14134-eng.htm

The National Economic Accounts Division produces CANSIM 378-0121, 380-0072: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/161214/dq161214c-eng.htm

Health Canada CUBE

Question
We have Human Kinetics researchers who have a lead on a new database which I can’t track down. Any tips on this would be appreciated.

They attended a Health Canada presentation last year and were told that 7-8 large health related surveys, including Canadian Health Measures / biometric data, would be made available this calendar year for extracting via a CUBE(S) at an aggregate data level. I have checked the Health Canada web site and do not see new CUBE datasets.

Would my colleagues or the Statistics Canada Health Division know whether this new initiative has been implemented and is available?

Response
I am not aware of such an initiative unfortunately, so I have reached out to colleagues in Health Statistics to inquire if they know of something. I was able, however, to find on the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) website data cubes: Data Cubes http://infobase.phac-aspc.gc.ca/cubes/index-eng.html

Data Cubes are interactive databases that quickly allow users to create tables and graphs using their web browser. These online analytical processing cubes, or OLAP cubes, produce output displayed in a table format with a corresponding graph.

Chronic Disease Infobase Data Cubes contain many different types of Chronic Disease health indicator information. The hope is to make available Data Cubes containing data such as mortality, morbidity and risk factor information for chronic diseases, as well as their associated demographic variables (such as age group, gender, and geography).

Followup (Sept 1, 2017)
In follow up, here is the response I received through my contacts in Health Statistics division:

"No one up here has any knowledge of any HC CUBE plans. I do know that HC has the intention of making their most recent biomonitoring data available through the Open Data Portal. However, PHAC (Public Health Agency of Canada) has a public data cube on health inequality that contains aggregate data from a variety of STC (mainly HSD) surveys. This might be what the researcher is referencing. The cube and related information can be found here: http://infobase.phac-aspc.gc.ca/health-inequalities/."

Survey of Emergency Preparedness and Resilience in Canada (SEPR)

Question
One of our researchers is looking for the 2014 Survey of Emergency Preparedness and Resilience (SEPR) data. All I was able to find is the report. Is the data available? How can we obtain it?

Response
The SEPR was developed in partnership with Defence Research and Development Canada's Centre for Security Science and Public Safety Canada. Unfortunately, a public use microdata file (PUMF) was not created, nor were tables produced for CANSIM. The following article as noted was made available:

The Juristat article "Emergency preparedness in Canada, 2014" (Catalogue number85-002-X) http://www5.statcan.gc.ca/olc-cel/olc.action?ObjId=85-002-X201500114234&ObjType=47&lang=en&limit=0, is now available.

[To access the above], from the Browse by key resource module of our website under Publications, choose All subjects, then Crime and justice and then Juristat.

And there are a few tables available through the data release announcement in the Daily: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/151028/dq151028a-eng.htm.

Custom tabulations, which are cost recovery, may be available. And the masterfile is available through the Research Data Centre program, see http://www.statcan.gc.ca/eng/rdc/data.

Greenhouse gas emissions by province

Question
I’m helping a user who is interested in finding data similar to CANSIM table 153-0114, but at the provincial level – specifically for Ontario 2013. Is this available or could it be produced as a custom request?

Response
Subject matter has confirmed that unfortunately greenhouse gas emissions 153-0114 is not yet available by province. That is on their work plan for this upcoming year. Energy use by province will be available as a custom tabulation following our PFA release in September.

Canadian Business Count by Revenue & non-academic patron

Question
I have had a request today from a member of the public (non-academic) looking for Canadian Business Count by Revenue. The closest publicly available data set that was located was the Business Counts by Employee Size: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/170814/dq170814b-eng.htm

Would our non-academic client be able to request a custom tab for the “Business Counts by Revenue” through Statistics Canada? (He is happy to pay to get this data). Since this would be a non-DLI request, is there another Statistics Canada department or staff I can refer him to? Many thanks for your help!

Response
For custom request, I would advise them to contact Advisory services. They are able to determine if the request can be completed from a regional office or from subject matter division. Below is their contact information:

General inquiries: Our agents are available Monday to Friday (except holidays) from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm.

Online request form:
Email STATCAN.infostats-infostats.STATCAN@canada.ca

Telephone:
(toll free) 1-800-263-1136
(international) 1-514-283-8300

Papers discussing challenges of historical census research

Question
As you know, there are some special challenges associated with exploring the Canadian census through both time and geography dimensions. Are you aware of any papers that discuss these challenges that I could share with a group of graduate students?

Some context: I'm helping a GIS professor develop a lab for her graduate students in which they will use census data to make historical comparisons. For the lab, we'll likely stick to 1990s and 2000s data, but the students might explore further back for their own projects. They will be mostly interested in community-level data, so we're likely to be exploring data from dissemination areas or enumeration areas. The professor would like to assign some reading material to her students and has asked me for suggestions.

I'm already very aware of the challenges and obstacles students might encounter as they work on their own projects (and as we prepare our own instructions for the lab), and I have some good slides to share with the students. However, in my "papers and fun material to share with students when I can assign them readings before I show up" collection, I don't have much about the difficulties of historical census research. And this feels like the kind of topic for which other people might already have some references they could share.

Response
I am not familiar with other sources, but can recommend the following Statcan pubs:

From the Geography Working Paper Series (92F0138M):
1. The Population Ecumene of Canada: Exploring the Past and Present: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/92f0138m/92f0138m2008003-eng.htm
2. Geographic Structures As Census Variables: Using Geography to Analyse Social and Economic Processes: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/92f0138m/92f0138m2001001-eng.pdf

Also of potential interest:
Appendix 2.0 Census of Population and National Household Survey questionnaire content and derived variables since Confederation: http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/ref/dict/app-ann/a2_0-eng.cfm

Regarding historical comparison of geographic areas:
The boundaries and names of geographic areas can change from one census to the next. For this, you have the correspondence files, http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2011/geo/ref/cor-eng.cfm, which contain unique identifiers for the current census geographic area and the corresponding unique identifier for the previous census geographic area.

And presentations from the DLI Training Repository:
1. DLI National Training Day 2014 - Historical Census Statistics, by A Guindon & S Mowers: https://cudo.carleton.ca/dli-training/3713
2. Creating Historical Digital Census Boundary Maps for Canada, by A Petrov & L Ruus: https://cudo.carleton.ca/dli-training/2386
3. The Canadian Century Research Infrastructure: Locating and Interpreting Historical Microdata, by N Farnworth: https://cudo.carleton.ca/dli-training/2511

GSS Time Use (GSS) (Cycle 29)

Question
I am trying to track down GSS Time Use - Cycle 29 for a researcher, but it does not appear to be in the usual places (mirror, odesi, EFT). Here is the announcement: http://www23.statcan.gc.ca/imdb/p2SV.pl?Function=getSurvey&SDDS=4503#a2

Response
According to the Tentative release dates page: as of May 2017, the PUMF is due Fall 2017 (http://www.statcan.gc.ca/eng/dli/prod_date).

Followup
The Masterfile has been released in June. We expect the PUMF to be released late September, or early fall. An exact release date has not yet been released.

CSD Correspondence files 1976 - 2006

Question
I have a researcher who is seeking a correspondence file linking 2011 or 2006 CSD codes to 1976 CSD codes. My suspicion is that any correspondence files that exist are specific to successive Censuses (i.e. one Census to the previous Census) and do not span the broader time period being asked about. I’d be pleased to hear otherwise.

Response
The short answer is correct, in general we do not have correspondence files for time spans longer than one census to the next. Also, we normally do not do a correspondence file at the CSD level. We do it for the lowest levels of geography, EAs, DAs, or DissBs. So, there is no such product that we can just send out to the client. That being said, here are a couple of other points to consider:

1. The concept of the Standard Geographical Classification (SGC) came into existence around 1971/1976. The CSD information I see available then does not follow the standard Pr(2)/CD(2)/CSD(3) code structure that we use today. I believe the CSDs that existed then are conceptually the same… municipalities, indigenous reserves, etc. However, I would need to confirm that with subject matter, to make sure the client was getting the relationship that was requested.

2. We do have the GAF from 1976 which does contain rep pts for each EA, and the code for the CSD that an EA belongs to. In theory, we could use those rep pts, and overlay them with the 2006/2011 CSD boundaries, and do an analysis to create a relationship between the 1976 CSDs and 2006/2011 CSDs.

Normally custom work for clients external to StatCan goes through the Regional Offices since it would be cost recovery. No such file, but one could be created (not sure by whom) if the client requests it.

Changes to monthly LFS 2017 data files

Notice
It has been brought to the attention of the DLI team that Labour Force Survey (LFS) data from January 2017 – July 2017 contained errors with numerical variables. Variables such as HRLYARN and UHRSMAIN were missing decimal place holders. As such, their values were off by a factor of 100. We have since fixed the issue and re-released the data on the DLI FTP site.

The updated files are named v2 and located here:
/MAD_PUMF_FMGD_DAM/Root/3701_LFS_EPA/1976-2017/data/micro2017-01-v2.zip /MAD_PUMF_FMGD_DAM/Root/3701_LFS_EPA/1976-2017/data/ micro2017-02-v2.zip /MAD_PUMF_FMGD_DAM/Root/3701_LFS_EPA/1976-2017/data/micro2017-03-v2.zip /MAD_PUMF_FMGD_DAM/Root/3701_LFS_EPA/1976-2017/data/micro2017-04-v2.zip /MAD_PUMF_FMGD_DAM/Root/3701_LFS_EPA/1976-2017/data/micro2017-05-v2.zip /MAD_PUMF_FMGD_DAM/Root/3701_LFS_EPA/1976-2017/data/micro2017-06-v2.zip /MAD_PUMF_FMGD_DAM/Root/3701_LFS_EPA/1976-2017/data/micro2017-07-v2.zip

These changes will be reflected in NESSTAR shortly. We will notify the list when this is complete.

National and Provincial Multipliers 2013

Question
I have a researcher inquiring when the National and Provincial Multipliers for 2013 will be available. It looks like they were released on June 9th, 2017.

Response
They were indeed released on June 9th 2017. I just received a large inventory of tables from subject matter this week. You can find the National and Provincial Multipliers for 2013 on the FTP site: /MAD_DLI_IDD_DAM/Root/other_autres/1401_IO_ES/2013/. They were uploaded this morning.

Followup, August 8, 2017
As a follow up to last week’s communication, I’m happy to report all Statistics Canada’s Input-output tables are now available for the DLI community. They are currently available on the DLI FTP site. (Path: /MAD_DLI_IDD_DAM/root/other_autres/1401_IO_ES/) All holdings are organized by product number. Yearly releases are grouped within said product folders.

Minimum Wage

Question
We have a student looking for minimum wage rates in Thunder Bay. We've been able to find median income for Thunder Bay and hourly wages by province but nothing for Thunder Bay.

Response
Try Hourly Minimum Wages in CANADA for Adult Workers.

Qts on PCCF/PCCF+

Question
I am trying to get a better understanding of the PCCF/PCCF+ products in order to assist its use by health researchers at Dalhousie. I will use an example to illustrate my questions: A researcher is working with patient data for the time period (year) 2008 to 2011 including postal codes. He would like to use the PCCF/PCCF+ product to better identified each patient’s locality. My questions are:

E.g. 1. Census 2006 has multiple PCCF+ version 5 releases.

Release	Including Postal Codes through
c	Mar 2008
d	Sep 2008
e	Mar 2009
f	Jul 2009
g	Dec 2009
h	Oct 2010
j	May 2011
k	May 2011

Should he be using multiple releases of the PCCF+ to correspond with the patient year data? That is PCCF+ 5d for patient data in year 2008, PCCF+ 5g, PCCF+ 5h for patient data in year 2009, PCCF+ 5k for patient data in year 2009? Or can he just use PCCF+ 5k to identity patient locality info for the full 4 years patient data?

E.g. 2. If the patient data only came with FSA, is/are there any advantage(s) in using PCCF+ over PCCF? If not, given that there are multiple PCCF releases (see below), should he be matching up the PCCF releases with the patient year data? Can he just use the latest PCCF release to allocate patient locality info for the full 4 years patient data?

E.g. 1. Census 2006 has multiple PCCF+ version 5 releases.

Release	Including Postal Codes through
Pccf_sep2008	Sep 2008
Pccf_dec2009	Dec 2009
Pccf_oct2010	Oct 2010
Pccf_may2011	May 2011

Answer
Thank you for the question. We have received the following response from Subject Matter:

“With regards to your client’s situation, I would suggest using the PCCF+ over the PCCF because the PCCF+ provides correspondence to historical dissemination/enumeration areas (back to 1981) and it also processes partial postal codes, such as FSAs (although the geocoding is less precise than full 6-digit postal code). 

In general, we recommend always using the latest letter version of a PCCF+ census release because they are the cleanest versions of the product.  For example, if your client chose to use the PCCF+ based to the 2006 Census then he would use version 5K.  Having said that, I would recommend that he uses the most recent version of the product, PCCF+ 6D (based to the 2011 Census geography), because it will assign both the 2011 and 2006 DAs to the patient record and it also includes improvements that are not part of version 5. 

FYI, I have attached a document which provides some guidance on when to use the PCCF+ over the PCCF, along with a more detailed overview presentation."

Smoking habits of young Canadians

Question
I have a very strong feeling that the answer to this question lies in a custom tabulation, but I figured I’d throw it out in case anyone knows of a resource I missed…

I have a researcher who is looking into the habits of young legal Canadian smokers. Of course, this means they want different age ranges depending on the province of origin (18-20 or 19-20 depending). They were using CCHS 2014, but are open to using another source if they can get the data they need – the closest I could get was using the Youth Smoking Survey, which lets us group the ages how we’d like, but since it’s looking at students and not the whole population in the age range it’s still not quite right. Is there a survey I missed that might let them get the data for the age ranges I mentioned?

Response
The PUMF for the Canadian Tobacco, Alcohol and Drugs Survey (CTAD) might work. The 2015 person file has an "age of respondent" variable (dvage) with detailed ages from 15 to 85. There's a variable for provinces (prov). And the survey certainly includes a lot of variables about smoking! It's more of a question of seeing if the ages can be grouped together with large enough amounts of respondents for your researcher's analysis to make sense.

Bonus content: It just so happens that I use "smoking" as an example search in an Odesi exercise I sometimes give to students (attached). We don't subscribe to Odesi, but it has great metadata and I often use it to identify potential PUMFs of interest on different topics, using pretty much the same procedure as described in the exercise. Searching Nesstar is another great way to go about it. Please note that this last link might not work from off-campus.

Canadian Cancer Registry documentation

Question
I’m trying to help a researcher who’s interested in using the CCR. For the moment all he needs is documentation (data dictionary, code book, or even just a variables list) to determine if it’s worth going the RDC route, but the items linked on the CCR page at StatCan are rather dated, the newest having a 2008 release date. Is there newer documentation available?

Answer
Attached is the 2015/2016 edition of the CCR Data Dictionary. The author division did clarify that the most recent documents will be made public and put online once they’re fully translated.

Student responses about culture of higher ed. institutes

Question
I have an inquiry from a researcher who is looking for responses from students about the culture and behaviours found in higher educational institutes. I am new to DLI and as such am sure that I haven’t looked in all the possible places, but if such data exists I would appreciate being pointed in the right direction!

Answer
I couldn’t find anything from a quick search on our website, so I’ve asked our Education team for information. Please stay tuned for a response.

Unfortunately the education team does not have any data collected for student culture and behaviour. Do you mind elaborating on what the researcher is specifically looking for? We might be able to find something similar if we can get a sense of the context of these terms.

Most current SHS PUMF

Question
Is the PUMF for the 2015 SHS available? I’m finding loads of tables, and Nesstar has the 2009 PUMF, but that’s all I’m seeing.

Followup
I last asked this question in March. The SHS was revised and changed in 2010. No PUMF has been done since the revision. We keep asking but the author division has not had the resources to produce a PUMF.

We will keep making the case that even doing a PUMF every couple of years would be a huge benefit from or this very important and heavily used survey.

Answer
Unfortunately the last PUMF produced for this survey was in 2009, but I have passed this thread along to the author division and I’ve asked them whether they have any news on releasing a PUMF. Unfortunately there is no plan yet in the decision to produce a SHS PUMF. The more recent data remains the SHS PUMF 2009. As Peter said, we’ll continue to make the case for a PUMF to be produced and highlight its importance in the data community.

Ultrafiltered milk exports and imports

Question
There is a researcher interested in getting the import and exports in Canada and US for ultrafiltered milk. The CIMT has trade data on milk that is full cream, partially and completely skimmed milk not ultrafiltered milk.

Is US and Canada import/export data available on ultrafiltered milk?


Answer
Unfortunately the division responsible checked and could not find a Harmonized Classification System code specified for ultra-filtered milk, whether for exports or imports.

HS codes are employed to track the international trade of commodities; this specific product isn’t tracked.

Most popular Census release

Question
Of the standard census releases below,  which is the most popular ?

Population and dwelling counts - Age and sex - Type of dwelling - Families, households and marital status – Language – Income - Immigration and ethnocultural diversity – Housing - Aboriginal peoples – Education – Labour - Journey to work - Language of work -Mobility and migration

That is, which ones do they  get the most questions about and the most interest on day of release ?  Which gets the most media interest?

I would have thought that Pop. And Dwelling counts gets the most buzz,  just because it is the first release, and people are interested in communities changes in population size. I would have thought that income would be the next most popular, giving a look at poverty changes. But does  the Census division have any information on whether these assumptions are correct or not. They may be able to comment more on past census releases, rather than the current one which is not finished yet. What was most popular in 2006 and 2011 would be great.

Answer
The most popular standard census release is Pop and Dwell by a large margin.

2011 Census release
http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/ref/release-dates-diffusion-eng.cfm

NHS release
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/130814/dq130814a-eng.htm

CTUMS variance tables for 2007

Question
Can anyone tell me why the variance tables for CTUM 2005 are available on the Statistics Canada website but 2007 aren't?

2005 seems to be available from http://www23.statcan.gc.ca/imdb/p2SV.pl?Function=getSurvDocument&Item_Id=48423&InstaId=22693&ai=1&dis=1 but all I can find for 2007 are the user guides.

Answer
Variability tables for CTUMS 2007 can also be found on the DLI PUMF EFT safe: /MAD_PUMF_FMGD_DAM/Root/4440_CTUMS_ESUTC/2007/annual/doc

If you require any assistance with accessing your EFT account, please let us know.

I inquired whether they would be placed online and unfortunately there are no plans to put them online; but they are part of our release package for the PUMF that the DLI receives and uploads to the EFT.

Offenses by Aboriginal individuals leading to incarceration

Question
Are there any data on this, anywhere? A student is looking for information on the types of crimes committed by people of Aboriginal origin that lead to incarceration of some kind. I've found some reports on the Public Safety Canada website, but the offence categories given are quite broad. What I imagine is something like what appears in CANSIM table 251-0013, but for adults and youth, and where information on the Aboriginal offenders is available.

Answer
We have received the following response from subject matter regarding your request:

"I have looked into the request and the details of the offense and incarceration (like in table 251-0013 CANSIM) is no longer collected, so the available data are until 2014. We will start collecting these data again and will be releasing them in the future, but not at this point in time."

Impact of years to graduate (undergraduate and graduate degrees) on wages

Question
A student is looking for data in order to conduct a regression analysis.

She writes I am “trying to see if taking gap years or just taking longer time to graduate for other reasons will effect the wage of that person.The data that I am looking at should have wages, and some other variable that will be able to tell me if the person took longer time than expected to graduate.”

Data on level of degree obtained is available, but we can’t locate anything on years to complete the degree. Canadian data is preferable, but U.S. would be taken if necessary.

Additional Question
Would number of years taken to complete a graduate degree be available as well? I am looking for Canadian data.

Answer
Subject matter has provided the following suggestion for this request:

“I took a look at the NGS codebook and there is variables that would provide you with the duration of an education program. The variables [that] would give you the start date of the program are:
- PR_Q06A - In what year did you start your program at (your educational institution)?
- PR_Q06B - In what month was that?

Then the variables [that would give the end date of a program are]:
- PR_Q11A - In what year did you complete the requirements for your (certificate / diploma / degree) program? By "complete the requirements" I mean write the last exam, submit the last paper, report or assignment, or successfully defend your thesis.
- PR_Q11B - In what month was that?

If we use these 4 variables we are able to find the duration of the program.”

I was unable to locate any additional surveys apart from the NGS; this would be the best source to start with.

Followup Question
Thankyou but unfortunately, those variables aren’t included in the PUMF. The income variables aren’t either. In this case, the student needs it for a paper so a custom tabulation, even if available, will be out of the question.

However, for the future, are custom tabs available on the NGS?

Followup Answer
Unfortunately those variables are only available in the Masterfile. As for your question, subject matter has confirmed that it is possible to create custom tables for the NGS.

CCHS 2015 - Nutrition Component Availability

Question
Could you please tell me when the CCHS 2015 Nutrition component data will be available in the RDC?

Also, I believe I saw that someone recently asked on the list about the CCHS 2015 PUMF and that the response was that there wasn’t going to be a PUMF released for just the 2015 data or the nutrition data. Am I remembering this correctly?

Answer
The CCHS 2015 Nutrition data has been available in the RDC’s as of Friday June 29th 2017. They are now available for use in the RDCs. Furthermore, the CCHS team has confirmed the following: There is a CCHS Nutrition PUMF in the works. No committed release date as yet. I would say end of 2017 at the earliest, but more likely sometime in 2018. We’ll likely have a better idea on the timing at the end of the summer.

Dropout rates for Universities

Question
Where would I find drop out rates for universities in Canada?

Answer
Unfortunately the education division has confirmed that they do not collect data on drop out rates.

DB-level data for Halifax

Question
I have a faculty member preparing a brief for City Council regarding a proposed heritage designation for a small downtown neighbourhood in Halifax, consisting of Dissemination Blocks 12090855009, 12090854004, 12090854003 and 12090965001. He is looking for any data that may show the array of incomes within this small area, which he hypothesizes to be a very wide spread (from poor students to wealthy homeowners).

We have some data of this sort, from the NHS 2011, at the level of Dissemination Areas, but, as always, the smaller DB geography is needed if possible. I’ve also found household income ranges by postal routes, but postal route geography is also larger than the dissemination blocks that constitute this neighbourhood.

Is there any way in which income data (households or individuals, averages, medians, etc.) at the level of these DBs might be made available to a client?

Response
According to the 2016 Census Dictionary: Only population and dwelling counts are disseminated at the dissemination block level (with the dissemination area being the smallest standard geographic area for which characteristic data are disseminated). The Chief from the Tax Section of ISD confirmed that the 2 possible geographic options using tax data would be the DA or postal code.

Furthermore, the Data Quality and Confidentiality Standard and Guidelines for the 2011 NHS states that income data is suppressed when an area has a population less than 250 or the number of private households is less than 40.

I’m currently checking with the regional office to confirm that by combining DB’s together both the population and household requirements are met so they should be able to get the information that you’re looking for.

Canadian labour turnover rates

Question
A student is looking for Canadian labour/employee turnover rates, broken down by industry. Are there any current surveys that would provide this data?

The best source I’ve found so far is the Labour Force Survey PUMF which identifies “Job leavers” in the “Flows into unemployment” variable (FLOWUNEM). Data can be cross-tabulated by broad industry using 21 NAICS codes (NAICS_21).

Am I overlooking a better source? I have seen mentions of other data sources in various Statcan publications:

Longitudinal Employment Analysis Program:  CANSIM tables from this data do not identify job leavers or turnover rate
Workplace and Employment Survey:  included data on turnover, but survey discontinued
Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours:  CANSIM tables available don’t seem to include data on turnover

I see that this question has been asked before (see archived answer from 2007 in DIGRS), but I wondered what the best source would be now?

I noticed some discussion of a new Statcan survey funded by ESDC which would include turnover data, but (as of 2014) the findings had not been released. I’m not sure which survey the following sources are referring to, nor whether the data is available now:

Drummond, D. (2014, June). Wanted: Good Canadian labour market information. IRPP Insight, 6. Retrieved from Institute for Research on Public Policy website, http://irpp.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/insight-no6.pdf
“ESDC has piloted a workplace survey that focuses on skills shortages, hard-to-fill vacancies, employment and turnover.” (p. 13)

Bradshaw, J., & Grant, T. (2014, April 22) Lack of funds keeps Statscan study from public. Globe and Mail. Retrieved from.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/lack-of-funds-keeps-statscan-study-from-public/article18088971/


Answer
The Labour Statistics Division has confirmed that the LFS cannot produce turnover rates. Unfortunately the also confirmed that do not know of any survey in Statistics Canada that could produce this.

Manitoba Basic Annual Income Experiment data

Announcement
There has recently been renewed interest, in the news, regarding a universal basic income. This discussion sometimes refers to Mincome or the Manitoba Basic Annual Income Experiment. This experiment took place in Winnipeg and Dauphin back in the 1970s. Some of you might be interested to know that the data and documentation for this can now be accessed at:

Mincome overview and links to documentation
http://gregorymason.ca/mincome/ 

Mincome data - six Excel data files and documentation
http://dataverse.lib.umanitoba.ca/dataverse/Mincome_Data 

Revisiting Manitoba's basic-income experiment / Professor Gregory Mason. 
http://news.umanitoba.ca/op-ed-clarifying-the-impacts-of-the-mincome-experiment/ 

Professor Mason was part of the "Institute for Social and Economic Research", which used to be located at the University of Manitoba. This is the agency that documented and processed the Mincome data. Professor Mason is largely responsible for resurrecting this data.

Credit should also go to the University of Toronto (Leanne Trimble) and the University of British Columbia (Paul Lesack) for supplying us with the raw data and some of the documentation. 

I believe both sites retained this data thanks to the foresight of Laine Ruus.

Finally, credit should also go to Lisa O'Hara, Carell  Jackimiek, and Mullai Manickavalli for setting up the University of Manitoba dataverse, where the data can now be accessed.

Further to...
Wow!  What a wonderful message.  And to add to the good news, Prof. Evelyn Forget, a Health Economist from the University of Manitoba has revisited the data and conducted a quasi-experimental analyses.  If your researchers are interested in the data and her work, you might direct them to her.  She's also part of the CNRDC network of research data centres across Canada.

The Town with No Poverty: The Health Effects of a Canadian Guaranteed Annual Income Field Experiment | Canadian Public Policy

NACRS and DAD

Question
A researcher has inquired about the manuals for the National Ambulatory Care Reporting System (NACRS) - https://secure.cihi.ca/estore/productFamily.htm?pf=PFC3081&lang=en&media=0) and DAD (Discharge Abstract Database) - https://secure.cihi.ca/estore/productSeries.htm?pc=PCC78.

How might he acquire?  Are they part of our DAD licence? They are hoping to acquire them quickly.

Answer
The abstract and manuals for the Discharge Abstract Database (DAD) are located on the EFT, specifically in the CIHI Safe: /MAD_CIHI_ICIS_DAM/Root/discharge-abstract-database-2015-16/Other_documents. 

Unfortunately the DLI does not have manuals for the National Ambulatory Care Reporting System (NACRS). You would have to contact CIHI for this. I’ve listed their information below:  
CIHI’s Central Client Services team provides support to users of CIHI’s website Monday to Friday (except statutory holidays), from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. ET.

Detailed Profiles for Historic Censuses

Question
I have a print-out (or at least a copy of a print out)--not an official publication--from the 1961 Census regarding population counts and characteristics of the Yukon including Whitehorse and Yukon districts. It has a cover sheet saying "Descriptions of individual sets of EA computer print-outs 1961" and includes age groups, language, farm residence, mother tongue, birthplace, ethnic groups, religions, household, labour force including occupation divisions by sex.

Is it possible to generate similar profiles of other geographic regions for this census?

Answer
This question concerned detailed profiles for historic Censuses--based on this wonderful custom print out  from 1963 on the Yukon Territory .

For pre-1971 Censuses, StatCan Library archives can provide scans of print publications but these do not have the level of detail that contemporary profiles have. Also, much of this content is already scanned and is available at statisticscanada.

For 1971, 1981, 1986 and 1991, semi-custom tabulations can be produced for a fee.

SPSD/Model

Question
A student is wondering whether or not he could use the SPSD/M in a project.  His deadline is very near and I am under the impression there is a relatively steep learning  steep learning curve associated with the product.  I have not noticed/found any tutorials to give him an idea as to what is involved and how long it might take to learn to use it.

Any comments about your experiences with it will be welcome.

Answer
The DLI hosted a webinar on the SPSDM in the Winter of 2016. The session materials are available on the DLI Training Repository: https://cudo.carleton.ca/dli-training/4078

For more information on the SPSD/M, please see http://www.statcan.gc.ca/eng/microsimulation/spsdm/spsdm

If you have any specific questions on the product, we can contact the SPSDM team here at Statistics Canada on your behalf.

Firm-level Data

Question
A graduate student here needs firm-level business data at a level of detail not found in CANSIM.  The specifics of this request are:

“I am trying to put together a dataset that contains locations (postal codes would be ideal, but something more aggregated could also work) as well as dates of births and deaths of businesses by NAICS code.  I would need the geographic area to include BC and Alberta at least, and the time span to cover 2005-2016.  Also, if the exact dates of births and deaths are not available, then quarterly counts could also work. (I noticed that there are some similar CANSIM tables (552-0005, 553-0005, and 529-0002), but none of these cover the years that I am looking for.)”

Any advice on how to obtain these data – custom tab? RDC?

Answer
Thank you for your question, we are looking into it with subject matter to confirm what options would be available. Here are some things to consider –

Statistics Canada is prohibited by law from releasing any data that would divulge information obtained under the Statistics Act that relates to any identifiable person, business or organization.  Specific locations by postal codes would never be available, custom tab or otherwise.

Much of the CANSIM tables are referencing Canadian business counts.  The CBC product provides counts of active business locations on the basis of several variables, such as geography, business activity and employment size. However, it is not advised to use this product for time-series analysis involving comparisons across reference periods.

With respect to RDC access, this is considered business data and thus would only be accessible through the Canadian Centre for Data Development and Economic Research (CDER). CDER provides researchers with direct access to a wide range business and economic microdata files for analytical research. The Centre is located at Statistics Canada's head office in Tunney's Pasture in Ottawa, and operates entirely on a cost-recovery basis.

Followup
Here is the response I’ve received from subject matter regarding your request for firm-level data.

“For the firm level data, we are able to construct files that combine postal codes with information on entry date, firm age and exit date.  However, it is not possible for us to send your student a firm level dataset as this is prohibited by law.  There are provisions in place through the Canadian Centre for Data Development and Economic Research for researchers to access the micro files for research purposes.  They require coming to Ottawa to use the data and typically require a cost recovery charge for the construction of the dataset and any vetting required to ensure respondent confidentiality is maintained.  If this is a preferred option, please see the application process guidelines on the link above.

For published data, please ask your student to look at these tables:  527-0007; 527-0008; 527-0009; 527-0010; 527-0011; 527-0012. They contain estimates for counts, entry, exit, employment growth, employment creation and employment destruction within the provinces and territories.  The data come from the Longitudinal Employment Analysis Program (LEAP),which is different from the tables listed in your question.  The LEAP data are annual, and focus on employer enterprises.  They cover the period 2001 to 2014, and will be updated for 2015 later this year.  If there was a special tabulation desired, that can be looked into as well.”

Numbers of radios and televisions owned by Canadians

Question
A researcher here is looking for data on the numbers of radio and television receivers owned in Canada, particularly during the 1950s, 60s, and 70s. I found some figures in a UNESCO document for the 50s and 60s, but these are only national figures; he'd liked as much geographic detail as he can get. I know that the census lasted asked about television ownership in the 1971 census, and I think there must be some figures in early census years, but I wondered if anyone knew of a compilation of this kind of information. Thanks much in advance!

Answer
The following set of digitized publications from the Dominion Bureau of Statistics provides monthly sales and production statistics for radios broken down by type of radio and by province (except for the Maritimes/Atlantic Canada, which are clustered). It's not the same as the number of radios owned, but might be helpful.

Here is a link to the series record which runs from 1952-1979: 

Title: Radio and television receiving sets
Publication Type: Series
Language: Bilingual-[English | French]
Continues: Radio receiving sets ; Jan. 1949-v. 6, n. 12 (Dec. 1951).
Format: Electronic
NoteL Digitized edition from print [produced by Statistics Canada].
DateL [1952?]-1979.
Chronology: Vol. 7, no. 1 (Jan. 1952)-v. 33, no. 12 (Dec. 1978).