Glossary

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Aboriginal

Person who reported identifying with at least one Aboriginal group, i.e. North American Indian, Métis or Inuit, and/or who reported being a Treaty Indian or a Registered Indian as defined by the Indian Act of Canada and/or who was a member of an Indian Band or First Nation.

Allophone

In this study, allophones are persons whose mother tongue is neither English nor French.

Base population

Population used as the starting point for a population projection.

Cohort 

Represents a group of persons who have experienced a specific demographic event during a given year. For example, the married cohort of 2001 consists of the number of persons who married in 1966.

Components of population growth

Each of the classes of events generating population changes. Births, deaths and migration are components that alter either the size of the total population or its composition by age and sex, for example.

Emigrant

Canadian citizen or immigrant who left Canada to settle permanently in another country.

Ethnocultural diversity

In this document, the concept of ethnocultural diversity refers to diversity with respect to visible minority groups, generation status, religion, place of birth and mother tongue. Clearly, this operational definition does not cover all forms of ethnocultural diversity, and that diversity could therefore be defined using other variables.

Generation status

Rank of the respondent's generation since the settlement of his or her family (meaning direct ascendants) in Canada. Persons born abroad are the first generation; the second refers to persons born in Canada of at least one foreign-born parent; the following generations (third or more) consist of persons born in Canada of two parents also born in Canada.

Highest level of schooling

The respondent's most advanced certificate, diploma or degree.

Immigration rate

Number of immigrants divided by the size of the host population during a given period.

Labour market participation

Refers to whether or not a person is in the labour force, that is, employed or looking for work.

Landed immigrant

Person who has been granted the right to live in Canada permanently by immigration authorities.

Life expectancy

A statistical measure derived from the life table indicating the average number of years of life remaining for a person at a specific age x, if that person would experience during his or her life the age-specific mortality rates observed in a given year. 

Median age

The median age is an age "x", such that exactly one half of the population is older than "x" and the other half is younger than "x".

Migratory increase

Change in the size of a population owing to the difference between the number of migrants who settle within a geographic area and the number of migrants who leave that same area during a given period.

Mother tongue

Refers to the first language learned at home in childhood and still understood by the individual at the time of the census.

Natural increase

Change in the size of a population owing to the difference between the number of births and the number of deaths during a given period.

Net emigration

Number of emigrants minus the number of returning emigrants plus net temporary emigration.

Net non-permanent residents

Variation in the number of non-permanent residents between two dates.

Net temporary emigration

Variation in the number of temporary emigrants between two dates.

Net undercoverage

Difference between the number of persons who were covered by the census but who were not enumerated (undercoverage) and the number of persons who were enumerated whereas they should not have been or who were enumerated more than once (overcoverage).

Non-Christian religions

In this study, persons having a non-Christian religion are those who have a religion (which therefore excludes persons with no religion) other than Catholic, Protestant, Christian Orthodox or Christian not included elsewhere. The projected non-Christian religions are Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Sikhism and other non-Christian religions.

Non-permanent residents 

Persons who had a Work or Study Permit or who were refugee claimants, and family members living in Canada with them.

Participation rate

Number of persons in the labour force (employed or looking for work) divided by the total population. 

Person-year

Total number of years lived in a given status by the individuals who make up the population from January 1 to December 31 of a given year. In this study, projected population figures are presented in person-years while the figures for the base population are as of May 16, 2006 (Census Day). 

Population increase or total increase

Change in the size of a population between two dates. It can also be obtained by summing natural increase and migratory increase.

Population pyramid

Bar chart that illustrates the distribution of a population by age and sex.

Projection scenario

Set of assumptions relating to the components, demographic or otherwise, used to make a population projection.

Registered or Treaty Indian

Persons who reported, in the census, they were registered under the Indian Act of Canada. Treaty Indians are persons who are registered under the Indian Act and can prove descent from a Band that signed a treaty.

Religion

Refers to specific religious denominations, groups or bodies, as well as to sects, cults, or other religiously defined communities or systems of belief.

Returning emigrant

Canadian citizen or immigrant who previously emigrated from Canada and who returns to settle in Canada.

Sex ratio

Ratio of the number of males to the number of females. Generally this ratio is expressed as an index, where the number of females serves as the base 100.

Tempo

Distribution over time, within a cohort, of the demographic events corresponding to the investigated phenomenon.

Temporary emigrant

Canadian citizen or immigrant who left Canada to settle temporarily in a foreign country.

Total fertility rate

The sum of age-specific fertility rates during a given year. It indicates the average number of children that a generation of women would have if, over the course of their reproductive life, they had fertility rates identical to those of the year considered.

Visible minority groups

The Employment Equity Act defines visible minorities as "persons, other than Aboriginal peoples, who are non-Caucasian in race or non-white in colour."

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