Connecting Stats, Stories and People
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Released: 2018-05-24
To celebrate Statistics Canada's centennial throughout 2018, the blog Connecting Stats, Stories and People will feature stories of leaders and change-makers who have impacted the world of statistics.
This month, the blog tells the story of Jean Talon, Canada's first official statistician, who conducted the very first census door-to-door in Montréal in 1666.
He conducted his census on the de jure principle—that is, counting people where they normally reside—and he did much of the enumeration himself, going door-to-door. Jean Talon's first census recorded everyone in the colony by name and included age, occupation, marital status, and relationship to the head of the family in which they lived. The census also measured the wealth of industry and agriculture, the value of local timber and mineral resources, and the number of domestic animals, seigneuries, government buildings, and churches.
More than three centuries later, Statistics Canada's Census Program continues to evolve, to both reflect and measure our ever-changing society and economy.
Note to readers
Published monthly, Connecting Stats, Stories and People features a series of articles that tell the stories of leaders and change-makers who have impacted the world of statistics. The series will include profiles on Robert H. Coats and Agatha Chapman, among others. For more information about our centennial program, visit One Hundred Years and Counting.
Products
The May 2018 edition of Connecting Stats, Stories and People, "Laying the foundations: Jean Talon and the historical parallels of the 1666 Census," is now available.
Contact information
For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; STATCAN.infostats-infostats.STATCAN@canada.ca) or Media Relations (613-951-4636; STATCAN.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.STATCAN@canada.ca).
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