Restoration of the 1971 enumeration area polygons for Canada's largest cities

This product contains 23,887 digitally restored 1971 census enumeration area (EA) boundaries for the 33 census metropolitan areas (CMA) defined by the 2011 census. EAs are the smallest geographical unit for the release of 1971 census statistics. These EA boundaries can be aggregated to the census agglomeration (CA) or the CMA level.

The restored EA boundaries also include 1971 population and dwelling statistics. The areas covered by the restored EA polygons account for 61.8% Canada’s total population in 1971.

The purpose of the data set is to provide a historical geography in a digital format. It is intended to be used for reference, mapping and for spatial and time series analyses.

These boundaries were produced by Statistics Canada, Environment, Energy and Transportation Statistic Division in 2017.

The restored 1971 EA boundaries are provided as a single spatial layer. They are also available in Statistics Canada, 2017, “Restoration of the 1971 enumeration area polygons for Canada's largest cities,” Environmental Statistics: Boundary Files, Catalogue no. 16-510-X.

Data and Resources

Additional Info

Field Value
Last Updated April 17, 2026, 19:56 (UTC)
Created April 17, 2026, 16:53 (UTC)
contact_email francois.soulard@canada.ca
contact_person {"fr": "Gouvernement du Canada; Statistique Canada; Division de la statistique de l'environnement, de l'énergie et des transports,francois.soulard@canada.ca", "en": "Government of Canada; Statistics Canada; Environment, Energy and Transportation Statistics Division,1 (613) 8828603,francois.soulard@canada.ca"}
criticality_level []
data_dictionary ["boundaries", "environment"]
geographic_scope []
open_canada_collection fgp
open_canada_date_published 2017-05-24 00:00:00
open_canada_keywords {"fr": ["Données géographiques", "Développement urbain", "Données du recensement", "Frontière"], "en": ["Geographic data", "Urban development", "Census data", "Boundaries"]}
open_canada_subject ["government_and_politics", "nature_and_environment"]
sensitivity_level unrestricted
title_fr Restauration des polygones des secteurs de dénombrement de 1971 pour les plus grandes villes du Canada
update_frequency as_needed