Latest ‘Eh Sayers’ podcast episode: Capturing gender identity in the Census of Population

In 2021, 1 in 300 Canadians aged 15 and older living in private households were transgender or non-binary individuals.

Numerically, this is about 100,000 in total. Close to 60,000 were transgender persons and about 40,000 were non-binary persons.

The human experience and its diversity are a rich tapestry. Gender identity is a vast and evolving topic, but it is not something that we have measured at StatCan. Until now.

For the first time ever, data gathered from the Canadian census allows us to dive deeper into the story behind the numbers.

So, what's different about the 2021 Census that we didn't ask before? What is the gender binary and why can it be limiting? So far, what do the stats say about gender?

In the latest episode of the “Eh Sayers” podcast, host Tegan Bridge and StatCan’s Anne Milan (Chief of Demography) discuss important changes to the 2021 Census and how we’re using new data to paint a more accurate picture of the socioeconomic wellbeing of transgender and non-binary populations.

The episode features a drag Storytime reading from guest Cyril Cinder, Ottawa-based drag performer and drag king. Throughout the episode, Cyril talks everything from gender norms and performance types to binaries and pronouns.

To hear it all, listen to the full podcast episode.

Characteristics from the 2021 Census, such as education, labour force participation, income, and housing will be analyzed and discussed to provide further in-depth analysis of Canada’s transgender and non-binary populations in the coming months.