Here is the next release of 2006 Census Data. Today (December 4, 2007) marks the release of language, Immigration and citizenship, Mobility and migration data. I am providing some links to some of these ways of seeing the latest Census release. Check out the new Census Trends pages, which provides some interesting time series comparisons. Enjoy.

Article in The Daily (Statistics Canada newsletter)

2006 Census Language – Main Page

• Language Highlight Tables, 2006 Census
• Topic-based tabulations: Language

2006 Census Immigration and Citizenship – Main Page

• Immigration and Citizenship Highlight Tables, 2006 Census
• Topic-based tabulations: Immigration and citizenship

2006 Census Mobility and Migration – Main Page

• Topic-based tabulations: Mobility and migration

Cumulative profile and release components: Language, Immigration, Citizenship, Mobility and migration

2006 Community Profiles

Census Tract (CT) Profiles, 2006 Census
Option 1 – Find census tract data using a postal code
Option 2 – Find census tract data using GeoSearch2006
Option 3 – Find census tract data using a census tract name

GeoSearch 2006
Includes ability to do some basic thematic mapping by Census Tract and link to CT profiles.

Census trends NEW
This new product presents a series of summary data trends spanning three censuses: 2006, 2001 and 1996. The product is designed to facilitate the analysis and comparison of the changing demographic and socio-economic composition of selected geographic areas across Canada. The product will include approximately 85 key data indicators, released in two phases.

Option 1 – Selected data indicators for a geography
Option 2 – Compare a level of geography for a selected data indicator
Option 3 – Compare data indicators for two geographies

Recently, the United Way of Greater Toronto released a study on poverty in Toronto called Losing Ground. In a related Toronto Star column, Carol Goar talks about the numbers behind the story. Or is it the story behind the numbers? Truth carries a painful user fee talks about the issue of access to the kind of data that makes this kind of reporting happen. sort of like the cartoon below. She states that:

The United Way of Greater Toronto had to pay the agency $28,000 for government data showing that family poverty deepened in Toronto between 2000 and 2005, while low-income households made modest gains everywhere else.

It had to spend its donors’ money to prove that Toronto has the lowest median income of any major urban centre in the country.

It had to dip into its charitable givings to marshal evidence – already collected at taxpayers’ expense – that a one-size-fits-all poverty strategy won’t work for Toronto.

This article goes on to point out why access to data from Statistics Canada is crucial for citizens and nonprofit organizations (among others). Access to important data allows ALL citizens to actively pursue the kind of analysis that are is critical for a properly functioning democratic society. After all, as Ms Goar states, this particular exercise “illustrates the drawbacks of letting Statistics Canada decide what the public needs to know.” Unfortunately, until this situation changes, it means only those that have (or can find) the financial means to purchase the data will be able to carry these exercises.