Area Suppression: “is the deletion of all characteristic data for geographic areas with populations below a specified size” in order to protect the confidentiality of respondents. “If the data are tabulated from the 100% database, they are suppressed if the total population in the area is less than 40. If the data are tabulated from the 20% sample database, they are suppressed if the total non-institutional population in the area from either the 100% or 20% database is less than 40…If the data are tabulated from the 100% database and refer to six-character postal codes or to groups of either blocks or block-faces, they are suppressed if the total population in the area is less than 100 (Statistics Canada, 2003:296).”

Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) or Census Agglomeration(CA): “Area(s) consisting of one or more adjacent municipalities situated around a major urban core. To form a census metropolitan area, the urban core must have a population of at least 100,000. To form a census agglomeration, the urban core must have a population of at least 10,000. A census metropolitan area (CMA) or a census agglomeration (CA) is formed by one or more adjacent municipalities centred on a large urban area (known as the urban core)…To be included in the CMA or CA, other adjacent municipalities must have a high degree of integration with the central urban area, as measured by commuting flows derived from census place of work data. If the population of the urban core of a CA declines below 10,000, the CA is retired. However, once an area becomes a CMA, it is retained as a CMA even if the population of its urban core declines below 100,000…When a CA has an urban core of at least 50,000 based on census counts, it is subdivided into census tracts. Census tracts are maintained for the CA even if the population of the urban core subsequently falls below 50,000. All CMAs are subdivided into census tracts (Statistics Canada, 2003:229).”

Census Subdivision (CSD): “is the general term for municipalities (as determined by provincial legislation) or areas treated as municipal equivalents for statistical purposes (for example, Indian reserves, Indian settlements and unorganized territories)(Statistics Canada, 2003:239).”

Census Tract (CT): “small, relatively stable geographic areas that usually have a population of 2,500 to 8,000. They are located in census metropolitan areas and in census agglomerations with an urban core population of 50,000 or more in the previous census. A committee of local specialists (for example, planners, health and social workers and educators) initially delineates CTs in conjunction with Statistics Canada. Once a census metropolitan area (CMA) or census agglomeration (CA) has been subdivided into census tracts, the census tracts are maintained even if the urban core population subsequently declines below 50,000 (Statistics Canada, 2003:246).”

Generation Status: “Generation status of the respondent, i.e., 1st, 2nd or 3rd + generation, refers to whether the respondent or the respondent’s parents were born in or outside Canada (Statistics Canada, 2003:119).”

Ethnic Origin (Total Responses): “refers to the ethnic or cultural origins of a person’s ancestors. An ancestor is someone from whom a person is descended and is usually more distant than a grandparent. Other than Aboriginal persons, most people can trace their origins to their ancestors who first came to this continent. Ancestry should not be confused with citizenship or nationality…In 2001 and 1996, four write-in boxes were provided on the questionnaire, and up to six ethnic origins were captured (Statistics Canada, 2003:15-19).”

Immigrant Population: “Refers to people who are, or have been, landed immigrants in Canada. A landed immigrant is a person who has been granted the right to live in Canada permanently by immigration authorities. Some immigrants have resided in Canada for a number of years, while others are recent arrivals. Most immigrants are born outside Canada, but a small number were born in Canada (Statistics Canada, 2003:21).”

Mother Tongue (Single Response): “Refers to the first language learned at home in childhood and still understood by the individual at the time of the census... two languages are reported (multiple response) only if they were used equally often and are still understood (Statistics Canada, 2003:89).”

Visible Minority: “persons, other than Aboriginal peoples, who are non-Caucasian in race or non-white in colour (Statistics Canada, 2003:143).”

Reference:

Statistics Canada. 2001 Census Dictionary. (Catalogue No. 92-378-XIE) Ottawa: 2003