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1991 Census Geography Files

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census geography diagram

Enumeration Area (EA)

The geographic area canvassed by one census representative. It is the smallest standard geographic area for which census data are reported. All the territory of Canada is covered by EAs. There were 45,995 EAs in 1991.

Census Tract (CT)

Small geographic units representing urban or rural neighbourhood-like communities created in census metropolitan areas and census agglomerations (with an urban core population of 50,000 or more at the previous census). There were 4,068 CTs in 1991.

Census Subdivision (CSD)

General term applying to municipalities (as determined by provincial legislation) or their equivalent (for example, Indian reserves, Indian settlements and unorganized territories). There were 6,006 CSDs in 1991.

Census Metropolitan Area (CMA)/Census Agglomerations (CA)

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). The census population count of the urban core is at least 10,000 to form a census agglomeration and at least 100,000 to form a census metropolitan area. To be included in census metropolitan areas and census agglomerations, 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. There were 25 CMAs and 115 CAs in 1991.

Urban Area (UA)

Urban areas have minimum population concentrations of 1,000 and a population density of at least 400 per square kilometre, based on the previous census population counts. All territory outside urban areas is considered rural. Taken together, urban and rural areas cover all of Canada. There were 893 UAs in 1991.

Census Consolidated Subdivision (CCSD)

A grouping of census subdivisions. Generally the smaller, more urban census subdivisions (towns, villages, etc.) are combined with the surrounding, larger, more rural census subdivision, in order to create a geographic level between the census subdivision and the census division. There were 2,630 CCSDs in 1991.

Census Division (CD)

General term applied to areas established by provincial law which are intermediate geographic areas between the municipality (census subdivision) and the province level. Census divisions represent counties, regional districts, regional municipalities and other types of provincially legislated areas. There were 290 CDs in 1991.

Federal Electoral District (FED)

An area represented by a member of the House of Commons. The federal electoral district boundaries used for the 1991 Census are based on the 1987 Representation Order which had a total of 295 federal electoral districts.

Province and Territory

Boundaries of the 10 provinces and 2 territories.

Skeletal Street Network Files (SSNF)

Street Network Files (SNF)

Documentation

Geographic Reference Files

Block Face Data Files (BFDF)

Refers to one side of a city street, between consecutive intersections with streets or similar physical features, for which census data are coded and stored on the basis of grid coordinates.

Geographic Attributes Files

Place Name Master File (PNMF)

Enumeation Area Correspondence File

Last Updated: 21 November 2014

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Kingston, Ontario, Canada.