Long-form census: More jobs, better info for northern Ontario

Morning North6:53Long form questionnaire is back for the 2016 census

It's been 10 years since the census featured a mandatory long from questionnaire. It's back for this year's census. Tomasz Mrozewski is a data librarian at Laurentian U. who looks at census data. He told us about why the long form census is a good thing.

Statistics Canada is looking to hire 35,000 workers to conduct the 2016 long-form census — and many of those new jobs will be in northern Ontario.

Stats Canada will be hiring both enumerators and crew leaders for the next census, which will be held in May.

"For northeastern Ontario, we're looking about 350 jobs," said Gary Dillon, director of Ontario with Statistics Canada.

"For all of northern Ontario, we're looking for about 1,000 people to hire. We hire in all communities big and small. We're also working closely with the First Nations community leaders to get the word out about jobs."

• Why the long form census is a good thing

The long-form questionnaire was scrapped by the Harper Conservatives five years ago and replaced with the National Household Survey.

The data that was lost then, will be restored, and will be more specific when it comes to northern Ontario communities, said Tomasz Mrozewski, a data librarian at Laurentian University.

"So really detailed, localized, income data … we're only going to get through the long form census," he said.

Mrozewski said the reintroduction of the long-form census is a good thing for northern Ontario, but with a caveat:

• According to StatsCan, the National Household Survey was 15 per cent more expensive than the long-form census, with poorer results
• There were glaring errors in the NHS with respect to income data and immigration data
• For northern Ontario specifically, the census is the ONLY look we get at socioeconomic data; other surveys cover provinces and large cities but for scholars studying the North this is the only reliable look we get at our area
• Restoration of the long-form census is great progress, but not everything we need to get a good insight into the North.

"In other words, [the census] is necessary, but not sufficient for good governance, policy making and research," Mrozewski said.

To illustrate his point, Mrozewski supplied the following map that shows where information wasn't gathered in northern Ontario during the 2011 National Household Survey.