News Release
Door-to-Door Census Starts May 10, 2014
Census workers will begin knocking on doors on Saturday, May 10, 2014. They’ll count in Edmontonians who did not take part in the online census.
The census questionnaire includes questions about the number of residents in the household, the primary language spoken at home, marital status and the type of transportation used for getting from home to work. Answering the questions takes only a few minutes.
“Accurate census information is vital to delivering City services,” said Laura Kennedy, Director of Elections and Census. “With reliable numbers, we can more accurately plan for the services, facilities and infrastructure that we will need. It also ensures that the City of Edmonton receives appropriate funding levels from other levels of government.”
All census workers wear photo identification. “If a census worker’s ID is not plainly visible, please ask to see it before you provide information,” said Kennedy. Census workers never phone residents. They do not ask for residents’ names or addresses.
If residents are not home, census workers will leave a notice. “Please watch for a notice and call your census worker at the number provided,” said Kennedy. “It’s important that we don’t leave anyone out.”
Notices will be posted in apartment lobbies to let residents know when the census workers will be in the building.
The City keeps all individual household information confidential. Reports are released only at the neighbourhood level, in groups of no less than 50 people. The census forms that workers fill out at the door are mechanically scanned into a database and destroyed within six months.
The last municipal census was conducted in 2012. Edmonton’s official population on April 1, 2012 was 817,498.
Residents can find out more about the census and the census questions at edmonton.ca/census.
Pinoy Edmonton News 