Canada Census 1931 Image Browse

The 1931 Census includes several pieces of information for each member of each household found in this important historical record.

• Name, for each person in the family, household, or institution
• Place of abode; their current location of residence. Note this is not necessarily where they are on census night, but the place of their usual residence.
• Description of the home: owned or rented; if owned, the monetary value or if rented, the amount of rent paid per month; class of home; materials of construction; rooms occupied by this family; and whether or not the family has a radio.
• Personal description: relationship to head of household, sex, marital status (single, married, widowed, divorced), and age at last birthday.
• Place of birth, which includes the country of birth for the individuals father, mother and themselves. If they were born in Canada, then a province is to be named.
• Immigration information: the year of immigration to Canada and the year of naturalization.
• Nationality and Racial origin: the country to which they owe allegiance and their racial origin, which today might also be referred to as their heritage or ethnicity.
• Language: whether or not they can speak English or whether or not they can speak French, other languages are to be listed as their “Mother tongue.”
• Religious denomination
• Education: can this person read and write and months spent at school since Sept 1, 1930.
• Occupation and Industry questions include: the trade or profession, the industry or business in which engaged, the class of worker, and total earnings in the past twelve months.

Unemployment

• If an employer, were you at work on June 1, 1931?
• If the answer to the previous question is no, why where you not at work that day?
• Total number of weeks unemployed in the last twelve months.
• Of the total number of weeks reported as out of work, was it due to... no job? Illness? Accident? Strike or lock-out? Temporary lay-off? Other causes?

For the process of conducting this census, each province is separated, and within each province are a number of districts and sub-districts. These districts and sub-districts can be identified by using the same structure found in the 1921 Census of Canada

The districts and sub-districts can be found here. For rural areas, it is likely sufficient and efficient to browse the full sub-district page by page looking for particular families. For areas with a larger population, any researcher will want to firmly identify the sub-district as precisely as possible before browsing. Utilize previous census records, city directories, and other historical materials to do so.

Taken during the Great Depression, this census offers a historical narrative of a country with massive unemployment rates, a lack of goods, failing businesses, and financial desperation. As one of the most profoundly affected countries, Canada would see an unemployment rate of 30% by 1930, which gives insight as to why the government was seeking such detail on job status in 1931.

Also impacted by the financial crises was the question of immigration. From 1930-1931, the active government applied severe restrictions to entry into the country. New rules limited British and American subjects with money, certain classes of workers, and immediate families of the Canadian residents. A large number of unemployed immigrants were also deported. If you suspect your ancestor was migrating between Great Britain and Canada during this period, it is essential that you confer with records in both countries, as they could have been moving quite rapidly and even frequently. In this instances, any individual found in the 1931 Census as an immigrant to Canada within the past twenty years, from anywhere in the British Isles, should also be sought in the 1921 Census of England and Wales and the 1921 Census of Scotland, along with passenger lists, electoral rolls, and newspapers.

The Prairie Provinces (Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba) and Western Canada (British Columbia) were hit the hardest, with 2/3 of the population in rural areas relying on relief programs. Population in these areas fell below a natural replacement level and there was higher migration from the southern prairies as a direct result of the Dust Bowl conditions later in the decade.

Understanding the social context surrounding the census is important, as it allows us to understand why our ancestors may be in a new location, compared to previous censuses, or why they report being out of work for 7 out of 12 months. The questions asked in this census, specifically around employment, can offer an advantageous starting point for research around how our ancestors lived their day-to-day lives throughout the inter-war period.

On the 10th of June, 1927, the Doric departed Liverpool for Canada. On board were several families identified as part of the “3000 Scheme,” a joint migration plan between the governments of Canada and the United Kingdom, which ultimately facilitated the migration of over 18,000 individuals between 1924 and 1930. The Empire Settlement Act of 1922 required that the adult male members of each family acquire “local farm experience” by accepting employment on farms in the vicinity of where they were assigned land before they were able to claim that land. The females of the family were expected to learn “to look after cows and poultry,” to further benefit their own eventual farms. The final location of settlement was determined by the government of Canada, but some consideration was taken for the type of farming each family wanted to pursue and their aptitude for the same.

The average cost to the settling family was anywhere from $4000 – $5000 Canadian dollars, equivalent to approximately £800 to £1000 at the time. If they did not have the cash readily available, loans were an option, to be repaid over a period of 25 years, with 5% interest.

One such family to take advantage of this program was Raymond and Margaret Hartley, and their children, Effie and Muriel. Traveling on the Doric, they had left their home at 105 Shelley Road in Preston, headed for new opportunity.

Clearly their life in England had not been easy. Just six years earlier, they were living in the home of Samuel Hodson and his family, at 111 Shelley Road, as boarders. Raymond was employed as an iron dresser for J Dewhurst & Sons Moor Brook Foundry, but Margaret was an out of work winder. They home they lived in had only 4 rooms, but a total of 7 individuals living there, in two families.

By the time the 1931 Census of Canada was taken, Raymond could boast owning his own home, valued at $500. While they didn’t have a radio, they had added to their family with another daughter, Myra Agnes. They were members of the Church of England and Raymond is classified as a general farmer. They were assigned land near Marquette, Manitoba.