December 27, 2011:

The first census was taken in England in the year 1801. There was a great controversy about social problems at the time --
specifically whether the English population was increasing or decreasing and whether this was a cause of increasing poverty
in England. In Canada, there are Heads of Families census records taken in 1842 by Upper Canada, include the name of the head 
of each family and the number of family members broken down by age groups and by male and female family members - only the names of
the heads of families are given. Starting in 1851, (actually this census was taken in 1852),the census records names of all
family members: names and ages of all males and females. The nominal census is what is most important for purposes of this web site.

The Canadian Census records are decennial, i.e. taken every 10 years.

The first census taken after Confederation was compiled in 1871. This census was then taken every 10 years, in 1871, 1881, 1991, 1901 and 1911.
The 1911 census is the latest census to be released to the public. These census records are of tremendous value to genealogists 
and historians.It allows for the tracking of our ancestors as a family unit every ten years, from 1851 to 1911.

Historical Development of the Census, beginning in England in 1801

Here is an excerpt from England in the Eighteenth Century, by J.H. Plumb:



Library and Archives Canada, on Wellington Street, in downtown Ottawa, are the keepers of official Canadian Census Records.

Robert Sample has provided some guidelines for using the 1901 census records:

Hi Al:  I have been referring to the 1901 census quite a bit and I am 
finding a lot of mistakes in dates of births.  Unfortunately new people 
to genealogy are placing a lot of weight on this information.  I have not 
really used it to any great extent in my file but now if I do, I record 
in a conspicuous place that it is census info.  It would seem that the age 
of the person was obtained and then the year of birth was calculated.  
 
You might wish to consider including on your site some form of 
Shakespearean Warning such as Beware of the 1901 Census birth dates.
 
Although I have found some, I have not found that many mistakes in the day 
and month of birth but I have found an awful lot in the year of birth.  
In my Grand Uncles family that I was reviewing yesterday, in a family of 
six, there were five incorrect birthdates.  They did not have a year or 
birth or age for him so you could say there were six wrong.  
With my grandfather's family of four, there were three wrong.

... Robert Sample
______________________

The National Archives also has an index for the 1871 Census
(heads of households and strays) on its web site.

The 1881 Canadian Census is available at www.familysearch.org
It is searchable online and is also available to purchase on CD
for about $US 11.00. It's a bargain.

December 20, 2004: 
The National Archives and the National Library of Canada have merged into a
single institution, and the genealogy site for the two former institutions
is now in a single place: http://www.genealogy.gc.ca, the address of the
Canadian Genealogy Centre

October 18, 2005:

The 1911 Census of Canada records are now online

Here is some information on Ward Boundaries for the census records.

September 23, 2006:

The 1901 census has now been transcribed and is available at http://www.automatedgenealogy.com
It can be searched.
The 1911 census is available at the above web site, as well.

August 29, 2008:

Hi Al
 
Thought I'd mention that LAC has now put the images of the 1881 Census on line complete 
with a searchable by surname index.
 
http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/census-1881/index-e.html
 
Images are available in either pdf or Jpeg format and are of a surprisingly hi quality. This provides a 
very nice alternative to the LDS index which has a wide variety of spelling errors. 
 
Regards,
 
... Al Craig
August 30, 2008:

And the 1891 census images are now on-line at Ancestry.

... Sue
June 10, 2009:
Hi Al
 
In case you hadn't seen it yet, Ancestry added the 1861 and 1871 censuses to their site 
yesterday - the full images.  It's great!
 
Sue
June 15, 2009:
Re the 1861 and 1871 census for Nepean Township, Carleton County
It's difficult to find Nepean Township (in Carleton County) in the new records.
Taylor Kennedy has located them: 

Al
Can you post, anyone who wants Nepean, key in page 694 of the 4799 pages for Carleton County.
Thanks
Taylor

June 8, 2010:

1842 Census for Carleton County

Thanks to Sue for this question about the 1842 Nepean Census:

Hi Al;
 
Do you know of anyone who has access to above census?  I'm looking for the household of Thomas and ELIZABETH 
(not Ellen/Helen) O'Meara / Marrah / Mara etc.  They should have about 9 children (4 boys and 5 girls - 
2 born in Ireland and 5 in Canada).
 
Anyway, if you can give me a lead, I'd appreciate it.
 
... Sue 
_________________________________________

Hi Sue:
 
To my surprise, I came across a transcribed copy of the 1842 census for all of the townships of Carleton County 
and it includes a Thomas "Omara" in Nepean Township. I'd forgotten I had this book -- it's very well done by  
Jim Robinson at the Ottawa Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society, publication number 00-01. 

Here is Thomas Omara, shown in Row 50 of the following two tables.

The first part gives personal information. Here are the column titles for columns 1 to 33:








The next part contains the land and farm agriculture records for each individual. Here are column headings 34 to 124:


 


... Al

June 9, 2010:

Thanks to Andrew for bring the following census records to our attention:

Dear Al,
Hi!
Thank for getting back to me. I appreciate the work, comments, and input from you and Taylor. It helps a lot!
 
By all means feel free to use my e-mail correspondence.
 
You are probably already aware of these early 1820's Census sources for Ontario but I will list them anyways 
just in case you don't. These are excellent links to Ontario Census Records which I didn't even know about before, 
starting in 1817 then gradually going up to 1891 (1817, 1818, 1819, 1820, 1821, 1822, 1840, 1841, 1842, 1844, 1847, 1848, 1851, etc.):
 
http://granniesgenealogygarden.com
 
http://www.afhs.ab.ca/registry/regon_census.html
 
All the Best.
Have a Great Week!
Yours truly, Andrew.




March 16, 2011:
Search the 1881 Census for Ontario.