Methodology
This Community Snapshots report is primarily based on a series of Statistics Canada custom tabulations of Census 2001 data obtained through the CSDS. The report focuses on socio-economic characteristics of York Region's recent immigrants, such as age, gender, family type, work activity, education, and source of income.
Statistics Canada defines immigrants as "People who are or who have ever been landed immigrants. Landed immigrants are people who have been permitted by immigration authorities to live in Canada permanently; some will have lived in Canada for a number of years, while others have arrived recently".
Where possible, the report identifies emerging trends based on data from different periods of immigration. This is "point-in-time" data, not trend data, so some degree of caution should be used in identifying trends. This is not data based on a longitudinal study following the same group of immigrants over a period of time.
The report also compares socio-economic characteristics of recent immigrants with non-immigrants and the total population, where data for those target groups is available. Numbers may vary slightly between charts and worksheets due to random rounding (the process by which figures are rounded up or down to protect individuals from being identified within a population). All figures are rounded to a multiple of five or in some cases 10. Percentages, which are calculated on rounded figures, do not necessarily add up to 100%. Terms used in this report are based on the 2001 Census Dictionary prepared by Statistics Canada. For easy reference, definitions are provided in Appendix 3 - Glossary of Terms, for terms that are italicized.
This report is a benchmark and the first in a series of Community Snapshots reports. It is hoped that these reports will be tools to increase the understanding of the socio-economic make-up of diverse communities in York Region, and this knowledge will enhance the region's ability to prevent problems, and preserve or enhance the region's quality of life, and scan future trends.
The scope of the data includes:
Definition of Recent Immigrants
For the purpose of this report, recent immigrants are generally considered to be those who immigrated to Canada during the five-year time period of 1996 to 2001. Not all data is based on the 1996 to 2001 period. In some cases, due to the way the data was collected, recent immigrants are considered to be persons who immigrated to Canada between the 10-year time period of 1991 to 2001. However, unless otherwise specified in this report, data presented regarding recent immigrants refers to immigrants arriving in Canada between 1996 and 2001.
To see a complete listing of definitions used in this report, please see the Glossary of Terms or visit Statistics Canada Census Dictionary.
