Census of the Northwest Provinces, 1906
The first Prairie Province Census was in 1906. It counted people living in Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan. It began on June 24, 1906 and had 18 questions in the Population and Livestock Schedule. This is the only schedule that has been preserved.
The 1906 Census contains a new question about the post office address for the head of the household. This Schedule also collected information about livestock. You can find out how many horses, cows, sheep, and pigs were on each farm.
Some pages were completely dark and illegible, so they were not digitized.
List of districts and sub-districts
Select a province to get a listing of the census districts for that province, followed by a list of sub-districts and their descriptions.
Statistical summary
Column headings
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Column 1. Number of family in order of visitation
- A count of the family or household.
- Two or more families that occupied the same house were numbered separately.
Population
Column 2. Names of each person in family
Entered with the surname (last name) first. If applicable, a middle initial could be entered.Column 3. Relation to head of family
- The head of the family (or household or institution) was entered as such (i.e. head), with the remaining members and their relation to the head (e.g. wife, son, daughter, servant, boarder, lodger, partner, etc.).
- Persons in an institution could be described as officer, inmate, patient, prisoner, pupil, etc.
Column 4. Sex
Denoted by “m” for male and “f” for female.Column 5. Married, single, widowed or divorced
- Denoted by “s” (single), “m” (married), “w” (widowed) and “d” (divorced).
- Individuals who lived separately from their spouse were counted as married.
Column 6. Age
- For people one year of age and over, the age that the individual had reached on their last birthday was entered.
- For children under one year of age, the month and date of birth (e.g. Aug. 5) was entered.
Column 7. Country or place of birth
- For those born outside of Canada, the name of the country (e.g. England, Scotland, Ireland, Germany, France, etc.) was noted.
- For those born in Canada, the name of the province or territory was noted.
Column 8. Year of Immigration to Canada
The year in which the individual moved to Canada from another country.Column 9. Post Office Address
For the head of the family only. However, if the person was being counted with their family under the de jure system, their other address was to be entered in this column.Location
Column 10. Section
The number of the section of land.Column 11. Township
The number of the township.Column 12. Range
The number of the range.Column 13. Meridian
The number of the meridian.In parishes, the parish name was entered in columns 10 and 11 (section and township) and the land was described in columns 12 and 13 (range and meridian). In cities, towns or villages the name of the street was entered in columns 10 and 11 and the number of the house or lot in column 12.
Live stock
Column 14. Horses, all ages
Column 15. Milch cows
Column 16. Other horned or meat cattle, all ages
Column 17. Sheep and lambs, all ages
Column 18. Hogs and pigs, all ages
Domestic animals were to be counted wherever they were held—on farms, ranches, cities, towns, villages, etc. The entries were to be made opposite the name of the resident manager, or whoever was in charge of the farm. However, if the farm or ranch was held in company or partnership, or by a non-resident owner or leaseholder, the name of the organization was to be entered, with the name and post office address of the head office on the same line.