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Fort Smith mayor celebrates more funding Paul Bickford Northern News Services Published Monday, March 19, 2012
Instead of a decline as originally reported by Statistics Canada, a review by the federal agency has found the town's population actually increased by 132 people - 5.5 per cent - to 2,496 between the censuses of 2006 and 2011. In February, Statistics Canada released initial results of the 2011 census, including the erroneous finding that the population of Fort Smith had fallen to 2,093 from 2,364 between the two censuses, a decline of 271 people or 11.4 per cent. Mayor Janie Hobart, who immediately objected to those findings and launched a formal appeal with Statistics Canada, is pleased with the results of the review. "It's important for us," Hobart said, noting the lower population count would have had a major impact on population-based funding for the town. "For Fort Smith, it would have meant a minimum of a quarter-million dollars annually," she noted. The mayor added that, if the figure of 271 fewer people in Fort Smith had gone unchallenged, it would have also meant a loss in transfer payments for the GNWT. The adjustment in Fort Smith has increased the population count for the NWT. According to the initial census report in February, the population of the NWT fell by two people to 41,462 from 41,464 between the censuses. Finance Minister Michael Miltenberger e-mailed Hobart to congratulate Fort Smith on the successful challenge to the census numbers. In the e-mail, Miltenberger noted the new Fort Smith population count will mean about $3.5 million in extra funding for the GNWT. The review also found there were more private dwellings in Fort Smith than originally reported by Statistics Canada. The new number is 1,065 private dwellings, an increase of 42 compared to 2006. "We're very pleased because we felt that that was the case," Hobart said. "In the original count, we lost 115 private dwellings. Well, for a community the size of Fort Smith to lose 115, we would notice that. "In a big city like Edmonton, maybe you wouldn't, but to lose 115 dwellings in a community the size of Fort Smith, Hay River or even Yellowknife would be very noticeable. "We knew from the demand for housing that this couldn't possibly be the case." On March 12, the Town of Fort Smith received a letter concerning the review from Lise Rivais, the Statistics Canada director for the West Region and the NWT. "The investigation involved a detailed analysis of the documents and procedures used by the census enumerators during the 2006 and 2011 census," she wrote. "The census enumeration forms from 2006 and 2011 were compared, block by block and street by street, for each area in the town." Marc Hamel, the national manager for the census with Statistics Canada in Ottawa, explained that for some reason the census in Fort Smith didn't account for the people in 157 occupied dwellings. "We've now made that correction," he said. Hamel said it is unclear why the mistake happened, but added it probably occurred in processing and could have been a situation unique to Fort Smith. "This is an unusual one, I would say," Hamel noted. "Mistakes can happen on a census and an operation of this size, but they're usually very rare." The situation in Fort Smith is still being looked at to determine exactly what happened. Hamel said it is perfectly normal for municipalities, provinces or territories to express concerns about the census, noting there were a little more than 250 reviews across Canada in 2006. Hobart said other communities in the NWT should "definitely" look at their census numbers in light of what happened in Fort Smith.
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