1911 Canadian census


The 1911 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population. The census was started on June 1, 1911. All reports had been received by February 26, 1912. The total population count of Canada was 7,206,643. This was an increase of 34% over the 1901 census of 5,371,315.
The previous census was the Northwest Provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba 1906 census and the following census was the Northwest Provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba 1916 census.

Census summary

Information was collected on the following subjects, with a separate "schedule" or census data collection form associated with each subject:
  1. Population
  2. Mortality, Disability and Compensation
  3. Houses, Buildings and Fruit
  4. Agriculture: Field Crops - Grain and Other Field Crops for the Harvest Year 1910
  5. Agriculture: Hoed Crops, Tobacco, Hops and Grass Seeds in 1910 and Field Crop Areas in 1911
  6. Agriculture: Animal and Animal Products
  7. Farm and Urban Values
  8. Forest Products
  9. Manufactures
  10. Churches, Schools, etc.
  11. Fisheries
  12. Dairy Factories
  13. Mineral Products
The 1911 census was the last census to include questions about "infirmities". In 1911, 28,611 people were identified as "infirm":
  • 3,238 people as blind
  • 4,584 people as deaf and unable to speak
  • 14,702 people as insane
  • 5,387 people as "idiotic" or "feeble-minded"
People who were deaf but able to speak were not classified as infirm.

Population by province

Province1911 census1901 census% change
Prince Edward Island93,728103,259-9.2
Nova Scotia492,338459,5747.1
New Brunswick351,889331,1206.3
Quebec2,005,7761,648,89821.6
Ontario2,527,2922,182,94715.8
Manitoba461,394255,21180.8
Saskatchewan492,43291,279439.5
Alberta374,29573,022412.6
British Columbia392,480178,657119.7
Yukon Territory8,51227,219-68.7
Northwest Territories6,50720,129-67.7
Total7,206,6435,371,31534.2

Methodology

The census was conducted by the Canadian Ministry of Agriculture under the authority of the Census and Statistics Act of 1905. 9,703 enumerators visited homes across the country, asked the required questions and recorded the responses from each household onto paper forms. For the census, each province or territory was subdivided into districts, usually based on electoral districts, cities or counties, which were in turn divided into sub-districts, which were towns, townships, city wards or parishes. One handwritten line in English or French was entered for each person enumerated. The responses were collected, tabulated and summary statistics were produced. In 1955, the paper records of responses were microfilmed and the original paper forms were destroyed. The microfilm has since been scanned and converted into a series of images which are now available online at the Library and Archives Canada web site.