Appendix I: Data and measures
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The data for this study are drawn from the Census of Population master micro-data files consisting of the 1/3 sample of the Canadian population for 1971 and 1976, and the 1/5 sample of the Canadian population for 1981, 1986, 1991, 1996, 2001, and 2006. We exclude residents in collective dwellings and Indian reserves in all censuses, by reason of the absence of historical comparability with Indian reserves. Before 1986, Census data files included dwellings on Indian reserves and classified them as either owned or rented. In the 1986 Census of Population, dwellings on Indian reserves were not included in the universe of the tenure variable. Starting from the 1991 Census of Population, dwellings on Indian reserves have been included in the universe of the tenure variable as a separate category named band housing (neither owned nor rented).
We calculate ownership rates at both the household level and the individual level. At the household level, we pick the primary household maintainer to calculate ownership rates by age, family income, and family structure. The definition of the household primary maintainer varied across censuses. In the 1971 and 1976 censuses, no information was collected on household maintainers, but a household head was identified. In those Census years, the head was the husband if both husband and wife were present, the parent if living with unmarried children, or any member of a group sharing a dwelling equally; a person occupying a dwelling alone is always reported as the household head. In the 1981 and 1986 censuses, the household maintainer was the one, or one of the persons, in the household who paid the rent (or mortgage) and taxes, electricity, etc., in order to maintain the dwelling.
In the 1991 to 2006 censuses, respondents in private households were able to identify more than one person as responsible for the shelter expenses. A primary household maintainer is identified as the first person listed in the question "Who pays the rent, or mortgage, taxes, electricity, etc., for this dwelling?" Comparisons with earlier censuses can be carried out using this variable of the primary household maintainer.
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