1921 Canada Census Questions

The official enumeration date was June 1, 1921, and the enumerators were instructed to record the information as it existed on that date although the actual enumeration of the population took longer than a single day.

Enumerators recorded information for 8,788,483 individuals as follows: British Columbia (524,582), Alberta (588,454), Saskatchewan (757,510), Manitoba (610,118), Ontario (2,933,662), Quebec (2,361,199), New Brunswick (387,876), Nova Scotia (523,837), Prince Edward Island (88,615), Northwest Territories (8,473), Yukon (4,157). Newfoundland was a British colony which did not become a province of Canada until 1949, and is, therefore, not included in this census.

Although there were five Schedules, only Schedule 1 dealing with the population was kept and microfilmed.

Column	Question
	Number in the order of visitation (1-2)
1	Dwelling
2	Family, household, or institution
	Name and Residence
3	Name of each person in family, household, or institution
	Place of Abode (4-5) In rural localities, give parish, section, township, range and Meridian. In cities, towns and villages, give street and number of dwelling
4	Parish or township
5	Municipality
	Tenure and Class of House (6-10)
6	House owned or rented "O" if the home is owned; "R" if home is rented
7	If rented, give rent paid per month
8	Class of houses "A" for Apartment House; "T" for Row or Terrace; "S" for single house; "D" for semi-detached house
9	Materials of construction "S" for stone; "B" for brick; "W" for wood; "B.V." for brick veneered; "P.L." for plastered with lime mortar; "P.C." plastered with cement mortar; "Con." For houses constructed of cement blocks or of concrete.
10	Rooms occupied by this family for living purposes
	Personal Description (11-14)
11	Relationship to head of family or household The head of the family (or household or institution) was entered as such (that is, head), with the remaining members and their relation to the head (for example, wife, son, daughter, servant, boarder, lodger, partner). People in an institution were described as officer, inmate, patient, prisoner, pupil, and so on. The chief officer of the institution was designated through his/her proper title (for example, warden, superintendent or principal).
12	Sex Denoted by "m" for male and "f" for female
13	Single, married, widowed, divorced or legally separated Denoted by the letter "s" for single, "m" for married, "w" for widowed (man or woman), "d" for divorced or "l.s." for legally separated
14	Age at last birthday For people one year of age and over, the number of years completed before June 1, 1921. For children under one year of age, fractions were used (for example, for 2 months, "2/12" was indicated).
	Nativity (15-17) Country or place of birth for this person and of parents of this person. If born in Canada, give province. If Foreign born give country.
15	Person
16	Father
17	Mother
	Citizenship (18-20)
18	Year of immigration to Canada The year in which the individual moved to Canada from another country. It should be the year of the first entry into Canada. Also applies to Canadian-born persons who had lived in another country and have returned to Canada.
19	Year of naturalization For persons who were born in a country outside the United Kingdom or any of its dependencies and who had become naturalized
20	Nationality "Canadian" for those who lived in Canada and who had acquired rights of citizenship. For Non-Canadians, the country of their birth, or the country to which they professed allegiance. A married woman is to be reported as of the same nationality as her husband. A foreign-born child under 21 years of age is to be reported as of the same nationality as his parents.
	Race, Language and Religion (21-25)
21	Racial or tribal origin
22	Can speak English
23	Can speak French
24	Languages other than English or French spoken as Mother tongue, written in full
25	Religious body, Denomination, or Community to which this person adheres or belongs The religion to which an individual claimed to belong written in full.
	Education (26-28)
26	Can read Yes or no
27	Can write Yes or no
28	Months in school since Sept 1, 1920 The number of months the child attended school between September 1st, 1920 and June 1st, 1921.
	Profession, Occupation and Employment (29-35)
29	Chief occupation or trade Be specific, give accurate description of the trade for every person of 10 years and over
30	Employer "E", Employee "W", or Working on own account "O.A."
31	"a" if "Employer" state principal product, "b" if "Employee" state where employed as "Farm", "Cotton Mill", "Foundry", "Grocery", etc. "c" if on "Own account" state nature of work
32	Total earnings in past 12 months since June 1, 1920 Total amount earned between June 1st, 1920 and May 31st, 1921.
33	If an employee, were you out of work June 1, 1921 Yes or no
34	Number of weeks unemployed in the past 12 months since June 1st, 1920
35	Number of weeks unemployed since June 1st, 1920 due to sickness

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