Casual Legal: Municipal census considerations
DISCLAIMER: This article is meant to provide information to Alberta Municipalities members only and is not intended to provide legal advice. You should seek the advice of legal counsel to address your specific set of circumstances. Although every effort has been made to provide current and accurate information, changes to the law may cause the information in this article to be outdated. This content is not intended for the general public.
By Zoë Beckett
Reynolds Mirth Richards Farmer LLP
Alberta Municipalities Casual Legal Service Provider
Section 57 of the Municipal Government Act (MGA) permits a municipality council to conduct a census. This allows a municipality to collect important demographic data to assist in planning and allocating resources for providing services to its ratepayers. Further, if a municipality is seeing high levels of population growth, an updated census may allow the municipality to access additional grants or other funding, which are often distributed on a per capita basis.
If a municipality is considering a municipal census, it’s important that the census administrators are familiar with the mandatory requirements of the Municipal Census Regulation as well as the policies and procedures accepted by Municipal Affairs.
For all municipalities, the census date chosen by council must fall between March 1 and July 31 of the census year. Further, on or before February 28 of the census year, a municipality must send a notice to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs advising that the municipality intends to conduct a census and whether the municipality will include the “shadow population” of the municipality in the census.
A shadow population is defined in the regulation as the temporary residents of a municipality who are employed by an industrial or commercial establishment in the municipality and have worked at least 120 hours in the three-month period immediately preceding census day. A municipality may choose to include its shadow population in its census if the shadow population exceeds 10 per cent of the municipality’s population or 1,000 people, as this would allow the municipality to request the ministry count those workers as residents for the purpose of determining its population.
The results of any municipal census must be sent to the ministry prior to September 1 of the census year.
In addition to meeting the mandatory deadlines for holding a municipal census, a municipality must appoint an individual to oversee the census, design a questionnaire, ensure all enumerators complete a statement of census, and generally follow the guidelines of the Municipal Census Manual (published by the ministry). If a municipality plans to conduct a census that varies from the regulations or Municipal Census Manual, the municipality must obtain prior approval from the Minister on or before February 28th of the census year.
If your municipality is considering a municipal census, census administrators need to be familiar with the mandatory requirements of the Municipal Census Regulation as well as the policies and procedures accepted by Municipal Affairs. A municipality beginning the process to hold a municipal census should obtain legal advice prior to the February 28 deadline to ensure its census questions and process will comply with the approved process and procedures.
To access Alberta Municipalities Casual Legal Helpline, Alberta Municipalities members can call toll-free to 1-800-661-7673 or casuallegal [at] abmunis.ca (email) to reach the municipal legal experts at Reynolds Mirth Richards and Farmer LLP. For more information on the Casual Legal Service, please call 310-MUNI (6864) or riskcontrol [at] abmunis.ca (email) to connect with Alberta Municipalities Risk Management staff. Any Regular or Associate member of Alberta Municipalities can access the Casual Legal Service.
