1871 Canadian census

The 1871 Canadian census marked the first regularly scheduled collection of national statistics of the Canadian population on April 2, 1871, as required by section 8 of the British North America Act. The constitution required a census to be taken in 1871 and every tenth year thereafter. Parliament implemented the requirements of the constitution through the Census Act of May 12, 1870. In the first census, the population of Canada was enumerated to be 3,485,761.
All inhabitants of Canada were included, including Aboriginals. While this was the first national census of Canada, only four provinces were enumerated: Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia. Other areas of Canada continued to be enumerated in separate censuses. The results of the 1871 census, in both English and French, were reported in a five-volume set.
The following census was the 1881 census.

Questionnaire

The questionnaire was on a variety of subjects and asked 211 questions including area, land holdings, vital statistics, religion, education, administration, the military, justice, agriculture, commerce, industry, and finance. Information was collected in tabular form on population, houses and other buildings, lands, industries, and institutions. The population section included the age, sex, religion, education, race, and occupation of each person, although not every household answered all 211 questions.

Data products

As the data were compiled, Statistics Canada released various census data products.

Population by province

Population of the provinces and territories:

Province	Males	Females	Total
Nova Scotia	193,792	194,008	387,800
New Brunswick	145,888	139,706	285,594
Quebec	596,041	595,475	1,191,516
Ontario	828,590	792,261	1,620,851
Canada	1,764,311	1,721,450	3,485,761
Manitoba			25,228
British Columbia			36,247
North-West Territories			48,000
Total Canada	1,869,---	1,820,---	3,689,257

Manitoba and North-West Territories joined the Canadian Confederation on July 15, 1870, but were not included in the 1871 official census of Canada. In addition, British Columbia joined the Canadian confederation on July 20, 1871, after the census date of April 2, 1871. In Manitoba, a separate census took place on October 27, 1870.
Statistics Canada has included estimates for all three of these jurisdictionstotal population onlyin the same stated source, though totals do not add. Statistics Canada also provides the 1871 totals by sex for Canada, adjusted with their estimates for Manitoba and North-West Territories and British Columbia.

Religion

Results for religion in 1871 were as follows.

Religion	Population	Percent
Adventist	6,179	0.18
Anglican	494,049	14.17
Baptist	239,343	6.87
Brethren	2,305	—
Christian	—	—
Congregationalist	21,829	0.63
Evangelical Association	4,701	0.13
Friends	7,345	—
Greek Church	18	—
Jews	1,115	0.03
Lutheran	37,935	1.09
Methodist	567,091	16.27
Mormon	534	0.02
No religion	5,146	0.15
Pagan	1,886	0.05
Plymouth Brethren	2,229
Presbyterian	544,998	15.63
Protestant	10,146	0.29
Roman Catholic	1,492,029	42.80
Unitarian	2,275	—
Other sects	27,553	—
Not given	17,055	0.49
Canada	3,485,761	100.0

Origins

The figures for 1871 are for the four original provinces only.

Origins	Population	Percent
European	3,433,315	98.5
Irish	846,414	24.3
English	706,369	20.3
Scotch	549,946	15.8
Welsh	7,773	0.2
Totals, British	2,110,502	60.6
French	1,082,940	31.1
German	202,991	5.8
Dutch	29,662	0.9
Swiss	2,962	0.1
Scandinavian	1,623	0.0
Italian	1,035	0.0
Spanish & Portuguese	829	0.0
Russian	607	0.0
Greek	39	0.0
Other	52,571	1.5
Native Indian & Inuit	23,037	0.7
Black	21,496	0.6
Hebrew	125	0.0
Indian	11	0.0
Various	341	0.0
Unspecified	7,561	0.2
Canada	3,485,761	100.0