Census of the Prairie Provinces, 1926

The third of the Prairie Province Censuses began on June 1, 1926. Only Schedule 1, Population has been preserved, and it had 25 questions. It was the first Prairie Province Census to ask about time spent at school. It did not include questions about occupation or religion.

Within each District, each Sub-district is identified by unique number. Each one also has a Sub-district Name and/or a Sub-district Description. The descriptions are usually for rural areas and cities. Examples:

• In District 27, the name of Sub-district 51 is Keeler Village. There is no description.
• In District 45, Sub-district 68 does not have a Sub-district Name. It only has a Sub-district Description: Township 46 in ranges 16, 17 and 18, west of the fourth meridian

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.

• Alberta
• Manitoba
• Saskatchewan

Instructions to enumerators

• Census of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, 1926: Instructions to Commissioners and Enumerators

Statistical summary

• Census of Saskatchewan 1926, population and agriculture

Column headings

In 1926, the census form did not include questions about occupation or religious denomination.

• Number in the order of visitation

  Column 1. Dwelling house
  A count of the houses, numbered in the order visited by the enumerator.

  Column 2. Family, household or institution
  A count of the family or household. Two or more families that occupied the same house were to be numbered separately.

  Name and residence

  Column 3. Name of each person in family, household or institution.
  
  Place of abode

  In rural localities, give parish or section, township, range and meridian. In cities, towns and villages, use space in columns 4, 5, 6 and 7 to write name of street and number of dwelling.

  • Column 4. Section
  • Column 5. Township
  • Column 6. Range
  • Column 7. Meridian
  • Column 8. Municipality (This may be urban or rural.)

  Personal description

  Column 9. Relationship to head of family or household

  • The head of the family or household was entered as "head" and the other members with their relationship to the head (for example, wife, son, daughter, servant, boarder, lodger, partner).
  • People in an institution were described as officer, inmate, patient, prisoner, pupil, etc. The chief officer of the institution was designated through his/her proper title (for example, warden, superintendent or principal).

  Column 10. Sex
  Denoted by "m" for male and "f" for female.

  Column 11. Single, married, widowed, divorced or legally separated
  Denoted by the letter "s" or "c" for single/célibataire, "m" for married, "w" or "v" for widowed/veuf/veuve, "d" for divorced or "l.s." for legally separated..

  Column 12. Age at last birthday

  • For people one year of age and over, the number of years completed before June 1, 1926.
  • For children under one year of age, fractions were used (for example, for 2 months, "2/12" was indicated).

  Place of birth

  • For people born in Canada, the name of the province or territory.
  • For people born outside of Canada, the name of the country (for example, England, Norway, Japan, etc.). The state, region or city was to be given only for those born in Austria-Hungary, Germany, Russia and Turkey, as they were before the war (for example, Croatia, Bohemia, Prague).
  • These instructions are valid for columns 13, 14 and 15.

  Column 13. Person

  Column 14. Father

  Column 15. Mother

  Race and citizenship

  Column 16. Racial or tribal origin
  The racial or tribal origin was usually traced through the father, with the exception of Indigenous peoples, whose origin was through the mother.

  Column 17. Year of immigration to Canada

  • The year in which the person first moved to Canada from another country.
  • Also applies to Canadian-born persons who had lived in another country and returned to Canada.

  Column 18. Year of naturalization

  • For persons who were born in a country outside the United Kingdom or any of its dependencies, the year in which they attained full citizenship.
  • If a person had applied for papers, but not yet reached the full status of citizenship, the abbreviation pa (for papers) was used.

  Column 19. Citizenship (Country to which this person owes allegiance)

  • "Canadian" for every person who had acquired rights of citizenship by birth or naturalization. This included people born in the United Kingdom or any of its colonies who were permanently residing in Canada.
  • For Non-Canadians, the country of their birth or the country to which they professed allegiance.
  • A married woman was to be reported as of the same citizenship as her husband.
  • A foreign-born child under 21 years of age was to be reported as of the same citizenship as his or her parents.

  Language

  Column 20. Can speak English
  Yes or no.

  Column 21. Can speak French
  Yes or no.

  Column 22. Mother tongue
  Give the language commonly used in the home.

  Education

  Column 23. Can read
  Yes or no.

  Column 24. Can write
  Yes or no.

  Column 25. Months at school since September 1, 1925
  The number of months the child attended school between September 1, 1925 and June 1, 1926.