The City of Airdrie will undertake a civic census this spring to gather important information about its residents, and is seeking some self-starting enumerators to help get the job done.
The 2023 census will be the first municipal poll taken of Airdrie’s population since 2019, and the first since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic nearly three years ago.
The 2019 count indicated Airdrie had a population of 70,564 residents, surpassing the 70,000 milestone for the first time. The population showed a 3.64 per cent population growth that year, and an average of 2.7 residents per dwelling.
In the years since, Statistics Canada has confirmed even larger population count of 74,100 people who call Airdrie home via its own data-gathering survey in 2021.
According to Lynn Penney, legislative services technician with the City, the municipality is eager to get going on a new census to help better inform the municipality so it can in turn serve Airdronians more effectively.
She said the main incentive for conducting a municipal census is to obtain a population count that helps the City in a myriad of ways, including obtaining provincial funding.
“It helps us with grants, our programming planning for the city, and getting things done within the City of Airdrie,” Penney explained.
She said the municipal census, which is normally conducted every year, begins with an open call for enumerators who will help to conduct the census by going door to door.
“On April 1 (Census Day), our enumerators will start going out and delivering the “PIN letters” or personal identification numbers association to that address,” she shared.
Penney added, thereafter, the City of Airdrie community will be encouraged to complete the census online with the help of a QR code.
“It’s a great way to get your census done. It doesn’t take long to do it online,” she added. “We do have QR codes that you could just take a picture of, and it takes you right there to the census.”
The City employee stated the census will ask residents questions to garner information such as their gender, the number of people living in their home, whether they own or rent their home, and whether there is a basement suite, to obtain an accurate count of residents.
“Of course, now everybody’s used to doing things on their computer, their laptop, their phone (because you can do your census on your phone or iPad) or whatever device you have,” she said.
“So, everybody’s used to having one form or the other of device, so it’ll be easy for residents to get [the census] completed.”
Starting April 14 to 19, enumerators will deliver a second round of PIN letters to residents who have not already completed the online census. Then, from April 20 to May 18, enumerators will go door-to-door for census collection to dwellings that have not already completed their census online.
The census completion date is May 18, and according to Penney, if residents have not completed the census by that point, enumerators will yet again go to their home to procure an accurate count.
“We really work hard to get at least a count because that’s our goal – to get a full count of how many people live in the city of Airdrie,” she said.
She added the information gathered in the municipal census makes a big impact on decisions for improvements within the City of Airdrie. Penney stated censuses are important tools for the City and help to guide municipal planning.
“It is important to get counted as the information gathered in the municipal census influences decisions regarding future transportation networks, the locations of schools, parks, utilities, fire protection facilities, as well as attracting business and investment,” she said.
She added it is a real pride for the municipality when they can get as close to a 100 per cent completion rate as possible. During the last municipal census, Penney claimed approximately 99.97 per cent of Airdrie households responded to the survey.
“In 2019, we had only eight homes out of 26,000 that did not complete the census,” she said.
With regards to recruitment, Penney said the application process is closing soon for enumerators as there have been a large number of applicants already this year.
“We're looking for go-getters that will be on their own to get out there and get it done,” Penney stated. “We offer a lot of support and training, but we want people who are self-driven.”
For information on compensation, skill requirements, working hours, and to apply for an enumerator position, interested applicants can visit airdrie.ca/census. There will also be 23 chances to win a $100 grocery card for those who complete their census online.
