Yellowknife (May 12/06) - Following a major census oversight in 2001, in which more than eight per cent of the territories population growth was missed, Statistics Canada is aiming to get things right this time around.

Caroline Skrypetz, Statistics Canada field operations supervisor for the Northern region, points to Old Town, the last area census takers are working to cover in the 2006 census. - Jason Unrau/NNSL photo Population counts of Canada's population are done every five years by the federal government. It is a criminal offense not to complete and return the survey. On May 26, Ottawa will report to regional census takers as to which surveys they have not yet received and Stats Canada will contact these respondents. For the first time ever, four out of five households will receive new "short" questionnaires which ask: name, age, sex, marital status and language spoken in the household. The long form is an extended census study that contains questions about ethnicity, education attainment and personal income. While information collected by Statistics Canada is protected under the Privacy Act, there is a question about whether respondents would agree to release the information to historians and genealogists in the year 2092. This is totally voluntary.DIV>

"Certainly we didn't do a very good job. In many communities, out along the Ingraham Trail and remote roads, we did not enumerate everyone," admits Jerry Page, StatsCan director for Western Canada of the 2001 numbers, which were found to have left out 4,000 people.

"But for the past three years we've worked very closely with the (NWT) Bureau of Statistics and actually done a physical count of all the dwellings in the territory."

This working together began in 2002 after the territorial government initiated its own population survey, the results of which convinced StatsCan to review its numbers.

"It was $250,000 that we shouldn't have had to spend," said Handley of the GNWT's study. "But it was a good investment as it moved our numbers up considerably."

Without the review, the GNWT stood to lose $163 million over five years, but in the end that funding was adjusted. This time around, the government is taking a proactive approach.

"We've sent a lot of information out to people saying, 'please fill this (census) out' because it means a lot to us in terms of financing," said the premier.

It's a sentiment backed up by Page, who believes the 2006 census for the NWT will be as accurate as possible.

"For every man, woman and child not counted, the territory stands to lose $17,951 per person per year, so you could stand to lose a significant amount if the numbers aren't right," he said.

According to Page, in addition to doing an actual dwelling count, interpreters and guides have been hired in the communities to, among other things, confirm which dwellings are vacant from those that are occupied.

One reason for the incorrect enumeration in 2001 was attributed to StatsCan classifying a residence as vacant ,when in fact the occupants were working in the mines.

In Yellowknife, field operations supervisor for StatsCan Caroline Skrypetz was preparing to head to Old Town to dispense the last of the census surveys for the NWT's capital city.

"We've almost got it licked," she said of giving out the questionnaires, which respondents are asked to fill out and drop in the mail.

"The (NWT) Bureau (of Statistics) counts 6,973 dwellings in Yellowknife and already we are over that, said Skrypetz."

In the 2001 census, StatsCan reported that the capital's population fell by nearly 700 from the 1996 count. At the time, Mayor Gord Van Tighem called the numbers "understated," pointing to the zero per cent vacancy rate in the town.