It's Census time in Canada. It comes once every five years and all Canadians would have received their questionnaire recently in the mail. I'm not big on filling out forms anymore and prefer to do so online whenever possible. I "key" faster than I write and being left handed it saves me from getting ink smudges on my fingers.
I found the Government site to complete the census form online but "due to technical difficulties" the site was "currently unavailable" and I was informed to complete my paper questionnaire and send back via snail mail.
I do love technology - when it works.
I did find some interesting information however, while viewing the Government site. For quite a few years now I've been working on my family history and I've often used past census's to find my ancestors. The trouble for genealogists is that census information is kept private for 92 years. 
Therefore the "newest" census that I can have access to for information purposes is 1911. Another Canadian Census now being performed is the Census of Agriculture. Now that I've recently moved to a smaller community in the heart of Ontario agricultural land I've taken more interest in my neighbouring farms and the agricultural industry.
I found the 2006 census information to be very interesting, especially that the average age of a Canadian farm operator is 52 and that only 2.2% of Canada's total population are farmers.
"The Census of Agriculture provides a statistical portrait of Canada's agriculture industry and its farm operators and families. Read about what's new for this Census of Agriculture and find answers to all your questions.
The last Census of Agriculture, in 2006, told us that Canada's agriculture industry has: "
- 229,000 farms
- 67.6 million hectares of total farm area
- 35.9 million hectares of land in crops (excluding Christmas trees)
- 15.8 million cattle
- 15.0 million hogs
- 125.3 million hens and chickens
- $248.3 billion in farm capital
- $42.2 billion in total gross farm receipts
- 2.2% of Canada's total population (known as the farm population)
- 327,000 farm operators, of which
- 27.7% are female and
- 52.0 years is their average age.
Are we to assume then that farmers are aging and farms are decreasing in numbers? I guess we will have to wait to see what the 2011 Census results tell us.
So if you are Canadian and you haven't completed your Census yet, please do so. I'm heading over to the Government website to see if the technical problems have been resolved.
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