Census Workers Hit the Streets

March 31, 2009

More than 1,300 census workers will begin knocking on doors April 1 to count every person who lives in Edmonton.

This year the City of Edmonton is using a much shorter census questionnaire than most people have experienced. Census workers will ask just four questions – how many people live in the house, their gender, the month/year of their birth and whether the home is owned or rented.

For an average family of four, this means three minutes or less at the door.

“Accurate census information is vital to delivering City services,” explains Steve Thompson, Director of Elections and Corporate Records. “If we have reliable numbers today, we can project and plan more accurately. It also ensures we receive appropriate funding from other orders of government.”

All census workers will wear photo identification. “If a census worker’s ID is not plainly visible, please ask to see it before you provide information,” Steve Thompson says.

In 2008, City Council decided to conduct a municipal census on an annual basis. Last year’s census put Edmonton’s population at 752,412, an increase of more than 40,000 over the last municipal census conducted in 2005.

If residents are not home, census workers will leave a notice in their mailbox. “Please watch for a notice and call your census worker at the number provided,” Steve says. “It’s vital 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.

Census workers will not be asking for residents’ names. The City keeps all 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.

 

For more information:

Steve Thompson

Title Director, Elections and Corporate Records, Office of the City Clerk
Telephone

780-496-8153

311

Telephone

In Edmonton:  311
Outside Edmonton:  780-442-5311
Email 311@edmonton.ca
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