LLB population shrinking

The 2011 federal census shows that while the province’s population has increased since 2006, Lac La Biche County’s has dwindled.

The 2011 census results released by Statistics Canada on Feb. 8 show the county’s population is now at 8,402 — down by almost 8 per cent from 2006, when the population was 9,123. Alberta’s population of 3.6 million is up by almost 11 per cent since 2006. Nearby municipalities are also seeing increases in their populations: Athabasca County’s population is up 1.2 per cent, the MD of Bonnyville 9.8 per cent, County of St. Paul 5.2 per cent, City of Cold Lake 15.4 per cent, Smoky Lake County 16.5 per cent, and the Municipality of Wood Buffalo 27.3 per cent.

County mayor Peter Kirylchuk said he is really surprised at these results.

“We always thought we were growing,” Kirylchuk said. “I can’t believe we’ve gone down.”

Kirylchuk doesn’t want to immediately speculate at the reasons for the decrease, and will first be looking closely at the results and how they were collected.

Lac La Biche & District Chamber of Commerce President Mel Kuprowsky is also surprised at the results and wants to look closer at the way the data was collected.

‘Shadow population’

A Stats Can official says the census only counts people living in their usual residence, which would exclude those in work camps, said Margaret Michalowski, an assistant director at Statistics Canada.

“People who live in work camps are not counted in the census,” Michalowski said. “The census is only counting people in their usual residence to make sure people don’t get counted twice.”

If those people were to be included, Michalowski says the numbers may be higher.

This is the case for the Municipality of Wood Buffalo. While the federal census counted 65,565 people living in the municipality in 2011, a count municipal officials did themselves in 2010 found there were more than 100,000 people living in the area, including temporary residents employed by industries or companies for more than 30 days, and who may be using the municipality’s services.

Comparing to others

The most populous province is still Ontario, which is home to more than 12.8 million people. The least populous is Nunavut, with just 31,906 people counted in 2011.

Canada’s population is now 33,476,688, up by 5.9 per cent since 2006.

The recent data also shows that the total amount of private dwellings in Lac La Biche County is 3,888 and the total number of private dwellings occupied by usual residents is 2,989.

The population density is 0.5 people per square kilometre. But when the census was taken, the county still owned the Air Weapons Bombing Range, and the total land area for the county was 16,300 square kilometres. Since the bombing range has now been transferred, those numbers may be different.

This is the first part of the data that Statistics Canada collected last year. More information on residents — including age, sex, marital status and family statistics — will be rolled out in the coming months.