The 1871 Canadian census marked the first regularly scheduled collection of national statistics of the Canadian population on April 2, 1871, ^{[1] [2]} as required by section 8 of the British North America Act. ^[3] The constitution required a census to be taken in 1871 and every tenth year thereafter. ^[3] Parliament implemented the requirements of the constitution through the Census Act of May 12, 1870. In the first census, the population of Canada was enumerated to be 3,485,761. ^[4]

All inhabitants of Canada were included, including aboriginals. While this was the first national census of Canada, only four provinces existed at the time: Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia. Other areas of what later became part of Canada continued to be enumerated in their own separate censuses. The results of the 1871 census, in both English and French, were reported in a five volume set.

The following census was the 1881 census.

Questionnaire

The questionnaire was on a variety of subjects and asked 211 questions including area, land holdings, vital statistics, religion, education, administration, the military, justice, agriculture, commerce, industry and finance. Information was collected in tabular form on population, houses and other buildings, lands, industries and institutions. The population section included the age, sex, religion, education, race and occupation of each person, although not every household answered all 211 questions. ^[5]

Data products

As the data were compiled, Statistics Canada released various census data products.

Population by province

Population of the provinces and territories: ^{[6] [2] [7]}

Province	Males	Females	Total
Nova Scotia	193,792	194,008	387,800
New Brunswick	145,888	139,706	285,594
Quebec	596,041	595,475	1,191,516
Ontario	828,590	792,261	1,620,851
Canada (official 1871)	1,764,311	1,721,450	3,485,761
Manitoba			25,228
British Columbia			36,247
North-West Territories			48,000
Total Canada (with estimates)	1,869,---	1,820,---	3,689,257

Manitoba and North-West Territories joined the Canadian confederation on July 15, 1870, but were not included in the 1871 official census of Canada. In addition, British Columbia joined the Canadian confederation on July 20, 1871, after the census date of April 2, 1871. Statistics Canada has included estimates for all three of these jurisdictions – total population only – in the same stated source, though totals do not add (see notes at source). ^[6] Statistics Canada also provides the 1871 totals by sex for Canada, adjusted with their estimates for Manitoba and North-West Territories and British Columbia. ^[8]

Religion

Results for religion in 1871 were as follows. ^[9]

Religion	Population	Percent (%)
Adventist	6,179	0.18
Anglican	494,049	14.17
Baptist	239,343	6.87
Brethren	2,305	—
Christian	—	—
Congregationalist	21,829	0.63
Evangelical Association	4,701	0.13
Friends (Quaker)	7,345	—
Greek Church	18	—
Jews	1,115	0.03
Lutheran	37,935	1.09
Methodist	567,091	16.27
Mormon	534	0.02
No Religion	5,146	0.15
Pagan	1,886	0.05
Plymouth Brethren	2,229
Presbyterian	544,998	15.63
Protestant	10,146	0.29
Roman Catholic	1,492,029	42.80
Unitarian	2,275	—
Other sects	27,553	—
Not given	17,055	0.49
Canada	3,485,761	100.0

Origins

The figures for 1871 are for the four original provinces ( Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia) only. ^[10]

Origins	Population	Percent (%)
European	3,433,315	98.5
English	706,369	20.3
Irish	846,414	24.3
Scotch	549,946	15.8
Other	7,773	0.2
Totals, British	2,110,502	60.6
French	1,082,940	31.1
Dutch	29,662	0.9
German	202,991	5.8
Italian	1,035	0.0
Russian	607	0.0
Scandinavian	1,623	0.0
Swiss	2,962	0.1
Other	53,441	1.5
Hebrew	125	—
Native Indian & Inuit (Eskimo)	23,037	0.7
Black	21,496	0.6
Various	1,222	0.0
Unspecified	7,561	0.2
Canada	3,485,761	100.0

See also

• Census in Canada
• Canadians
• United States census

References