Census to reveal complexity of ‘family’

New data to shed light on same-sex unions, living alone

Next week’s national Census release will allow Canadians a long look over the neighbour’s fence, revealing the extent to which “family” now carries almost as many definitions as there are people.

The report will include new figures on: couples without kids, blended families, “skip-generation” parenting, same-sex unions, 20-somethings who have returned to the nest, single parents, people living alone and just about every configuration in between.

“The complexity of households is increasing. We’re seeing, for example, a shift back to multiple-generation homes for social, economic and biological reasons,” says Nora Spinks, CEO of the Vanier Institute of the Family in Ottawa. “We anticipate that [the Census data] will be very rich.”

For instance, the new counts will not only reveal the number of same-sex common-law partnerships, which Statistics Canada has measured since 2001, but also an unprecedented snapshot of any growth in same-sex married couples: the first wave of data was collected in 2006, following federal legalization, while the second wave was gathered in 2011.

“I think there’s been a real goodfaith effort in Canada to try to adjust the Census to change with families,” says sociologist Kevin McQuillan, a professor at the University of Calgary. “One of the things we have to ask ourselves is, if there’s a significant increase in same-sex unions, is

We anticipate that the data will be very rich

it because behaviour is changing or because people feel more comfortable reporting their situation in the Census?”

The new data will feature a number of other firsts, including detailed information on foster children and stepfamilies, both of which made their debut on the 2011 Census. The latter family-types will be further broken down by the complexity of their arrangements.

Ms. Spinks says the Vanier Institute plans to “drill into” the findings over the coming months, plumbing possible implications for policymakers.

“[The step family data] is certainly going to help when it comes to determining whether there are adequate support services in the community for blended families,” Ms. Spinks says. “And once we know how many foster children there are, we can begin to look deeper into what it means for them over time.”

Also expected from Statistics Canada is a big-picture analysis of changes to the family over the past 50 years; the fastest-growing household types across the country; and the types of dwellings in which people are living.

Family arrangements on which the agency has collected data include, but are not limited to:

Skip-generation families: A family that consists of grandparents and grandchildren without the presence of parents in the home.

Couples without children: StatsCan will reveal how the shares of couples with and without kids have changed over the past decade, and whether there are differences for married couples versus common-law partners.

Canadians in their 20s living in the parental home: Was this arrangement more likely for those in their late or early 20s? And was it more common among males or females?

Seniors: How many are aging in place, how many are living with relatives, and how many are in assistedliving facilities? Are the trends shifting?