Interim List of Changes to Municipal Boundaries, Status, and Names
From January 2nd, 2016 to January 1st, 2021

Release date: November 17, 2021

The Interim List of Changes to Municipal Boundaries, Status and Names provides a summary of the changes to census subdivisions such as municipal boundary or name changes in effect between January 2, 2016 and January 1, 2021. This report presents the changes which have been processed by Statistics Canada based on the information received and, therefore, may not include all the changes that may have occurred in this time period.

About this product

Preface

Census subdivision (CSD) is the general term for municipalities (as determined by provincial/territorial legislation) or areas treated as municipal equivalents for statistical purposes, such as Indian reserves, Indian settlements and unorganized territories. Municipal status is defined by laws in effect in each province and territory in Canada.

CSDs are an important component of the geographic structure used at Statistics Canada for collecting and disseminating data. As such, Statistics Canada carefully monitors and updates changes to the boundaries, names and other relevant information related to CSD. These changes are published in this Interim List to advise users doing trend or longitudinal analysis that the areas being compared have changed over time.

Content considerations

The summary data in this product reflect municipal changes in effect between January 2, 2016 and January 1, 2021. Notifications of the changes that took place during this period were obtained from provincial gazettes and statutes, orders of the Municipal Board and special provincial acts.

Boundary changes are compiled from legal descriptions and accompanying maps into Statistics Canada’s National Geographic Database (NGD) using the best available information. Census Subdivision Boundary Files are published on an occasional basis for public use. Any corrections or additional changes to those published boundaries reported back to Statistics Canada are represented in the subsequent issue of the Interim List.

An important reference for users of the Interim List is the Standard Geographical Classification manual. It is composed of:

Geographic changes

After a census, Statistics Canada makes public the total number of persons and the total number of dwellings counted in a given area, for example, in a municipality. By the next census, the municipality's geographic boundaries may have changed, especially if it has annexed part of another municipality or has merged with another municipality. When a boundary change occurs between censuses, the population and dwelling counts for the geographic areas affected by the boundary change are revised (adjusted). Once the dwellings affected by the boundary change are identified; it is possible to establish the population affected. These counts are then added to the geographic area that has increased in size and subtracted from the geographic area that has decreased in size.

Tables

Table 1, “Changes to census subdivisions by province and territory" (HTML | CSV), presents all changes received to date, with 2016 population adjusted to modified CSD limits, where applicable. The table is available for viewing or download for all of Canada.

In Table 1, the information is presented using the assumption that a CSD may be gaining or losing information, be it area, population, a combination of both area and population, as well as codes, names and types.

Note: A gaining CSD may have more than one entry in the table if more than one losing CSD is associated with the same transaction. Records can be grouped by transaction using the File Number field.

The record layout of Table 1 is presented in Table 2.

Table 2
Record layout - Interim List
Table summary
This table displays the results of Record layout - Interim List. The information is grouped by Attribute name (appearing as row headers), Data type and Description (appearing as column headers).
Attribute name Data type Description
Gaining CSDuid Character (8) The code that uniquely identifies the CSD that is gaining information in the transaction.  This code is based on the Standard Geographical Classification (SGC). In order to uniquely identify each CSD in Canada, the two-digit province/territory (PR) code and the two-digit census division (CD) code must precede the three-digit CSD code.
Gaining CSDname Character (100) The name associated with the CSD that is gaining information in the transaction.
Gaining CSDtype Character (3) The CSD type associated with the CSD that is gaining information in the transaction. The census subdivision type accompanies the census subdivision name in order to distinguish CSDs with the same name within a given province or territory.
Gaining Change Code Character (2) The code that is associated with the type of change of the gaining CSD.  A full list of change codes and their meanings can be found in the description of Table 4.
Gaining Change Code Description Character (150) A brief description associated with the change code of the gaining CSD.
Losing CSDuid Character (8) The code that uniquely identifies the CSD that is losing information in the transaction.  This code is based on the Standard Geographical Classification (SGC). In order to uniquely identify each CSD in Canada, the two-digit province/territory (PR) code and the two-digit census division (CD) code must precede the three-digit CSD code.
Losing CSDname Character (100) The name associated with the CSD that is losing information in the transaction.
Losing CSDtype Character (3) The CSD type associated with the CSD that is losing information in the transaction. The census subdivision type accompanies the census subdivision name in order to distinguish CSDs with the same name within a given province or territory.
Losing Change Code Character (2) The code that is associated with the type of change of the losing CSD.  A full list of change codes and their meanings can be found in the description of Table 4.
Losing Change Code Description Character (150) A brief description associated with the change code of the losing CSD.
Census Population Affected Number (8) The population count, derived from the 2016 Census, that is affected by the transaction, if applicable.
Effective Date Date The date on which the change was effective.
File Number Character (6) The code that identifies the transaction number for a given change or set of changes.  The code is assigned by Statistics Canada for the purpose of logging CSD changes.  The first two digits are equal to the province code in which the affected CSDs are located.  The following four digits are assigned sequentially within the tracking system as the transactions are entered.

Table 3, “Number of census subdivision changes by type of change,” presents the number of CSD changes according to the type of change. The type of change is represented by a change code. The different change codes are presented in Table 4.

Table 3
Number of census subdivision changes by type of change
Table summary
This table displays the results of Number of census subdivision changes by type of change. The information is grouped by Province and Territory (appearing as row headers), Change Code and Total (appearing as column headers).
Province and Territory Change Code Total
1 2 2C 23 3 3C 4 5 5A 6 7 7C 8 8C 9 9C 10 11
Newfoundland and Labrador Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable 3 3 6
Prince Edward Island 78 5 Note ...: not applicable 1 29 Note ...: not applicable 92 3 7 149 Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable 7 6 7 6 Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable 390
Nova Scotia 3 2 Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable 4 Note ...: not applicable 2 2 Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable 1 3 1 3 Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable 21
New Brunswick 3 Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable 1 Note ...: not applicable 10 12 1 17 Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable 4 4 4 5 1 1 63
Quebec 3 8 Note ...: not applicable 2 17 Note ...: not applicable 6 20 Note ...: not applicable 20 Note ...: not applicable 8 18 25 18 26 25 27 223
Ontario 8 7 Note ...: not applicable 1 1 Note ...: not applicable 6 10 6 19 Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable 11 13 11 13 3 5 114
Manitoba 14 3 Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable 4 2 4 17 Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable 13 13 14 13 8 8 113
Saskatchewan 19 5 Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable 1 Note ...: not applicable 18 43 18 67 Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable 17 19 17 19 5 5 253
Alberta 9 5 Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable 4 Note ...: not applicable 11 30 11 40 Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable 18 35 18 37 1 1 220
British Columbia 23 15 Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable 4 Note ...: not applicable 8 18 7 43 Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable 37 83 38 87 3 3 369
Yukon 1 Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable 2 Note ...: not applicable 2 1 Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable 4 3 5 3 Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable 21
Northwest Territories Note ...: not applicable 1 Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable 3 Note ...: not applicable 5 Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable 9
Nunavut Note ...: not applicable 2 Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable 1 1 4
Canada 161 53 Note ...: not applicable 4 57 Note ...: not applicable 161 138 58 375 Note ...: not applicable 8 130 207 133 217 50 54 1806
Table 4
Change codes
Table summary
This table displays the results of Change codes. The information is grouped by Code (appearing as row headers), Description (appearing as column headers).
Code Description
1 Incorporation
2 Change of census subdivision name
2C Correction of census subdivision name
23 Change of census subdivision name and type
3 Change of census subdivision type
3C Correction of census subdivision type
4 Dissolution
5 Census subdivision has annexed a new part from another census subdivision
5A Census subdivision has annexed a complete census subdivision (could also include the annexation of another census subdivision part)
6 Census subdivision has lost a part annexed by another census subdivision
7 Revision of Standard Geographical Classification (SGC) code
8 Census subdivision limits have been corrected and census subdivision has gained land area and population
8C Census subdivision limits have been corrected and census subdivision has gained land area
9 Census subdivision limits have been corrected and census subdivision has lost land area and population
9C Census subdivision limits have been corrected and census subdivision has lost land area
10 Population has increased
11 Population has been reduced

Appendices

See definitions of the geography universe from the Dictionary, Census of Population, 2021.

See the “Census Subdivision Boundary Files” from the 2021 Census Boundary Files.

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