If you live in the Westlock, expect a knock on the door any day now, if you haven’t had one already.
The month-long census process began last Wednesday, but information sought from respondents will only relate to April 15.
“April 15 is census day, so that’s the day that you are the usual resident in that dwelling,” said Carol Revega, census coordinator and head of legislative and corporate services with the town.
“So for example, its babies born before or on April 15, not after April 15.”
Twenty-four volunteers from St. Mary School will be door-knocking to gather information like: how many people live in your house, their general age and general area of occupation.
The questions asked, and data points collected, are not as in-depth as those in the federal census and won’t take as long to complete.
“We’re not asking financial information,” Revega said. “Even if they don’t want to answer employment information most people are willing to do the usual number of residents.”
As part of the count a census collector will knock on your door and ask you a few simple questions.
Throughout the process there are tight confidentiality guidelines, with all the data gathered being de-identified and collated before being made publicly available.
“All this information is confidential,” Revega said. “Even the information that is here [municipal office], we don’t share with anyone. We’ll share the data at the end.”
The head count is being undertaken because the municipality doesn’t believe the federal census was accurate.
In 2011, the federal census recorded 4,823 residents, a 3.7 per cent decline on the 5,008 counted in 2006.
“We don’t believe that’s what it is, so that’s why town council put it in the budget to do a census,” Revega said.
Apart from either validating or disproving the federal numbers, the data will be used to help with planning and policy making by the municipality and to assist with provincial funding opportunities.
While there’s no firm timeline for when the information will be finalized, Revega said it will be continually updated as each data set is completed.
The municipality has allocated $10,000 for the census with some of the money going to St. Mary School for the work of their volunteers at a rate of $1.25 per person counted.
