Statistics Canada produces statistics to help Canadians and anyone interested in Canada to better understand the country. They examine the population, resources, economy, society and culture. By law, the mandate of Statscan is to “collect, compile, analyse, abstract and publish statistical information relating to the commercial, industrial, financial, social, economic and general activities and conditions of the people of Canada”. Within this framework, the objectives of Statscan are to:
provide statistical information and analysis about Canada's economic and social structure;
promote sound statistical standards and practices in general.
These are lofty goals that Statscan is effectively able to achieve. However, this also proves to be the downfall of Statscan – too much information.
As with most web sites, there are two main ways of searching for information: menu driven or a search feature. The menu‐driven search is quite simple to use. From a sidebar, one can simply select one of several options all under a subdivision of Find Statistics. One can search by subject, community profiles, census, maps and geography, CANSIM (the main socio‐economic database which for which there is a charge to download information), Imports/Exports and general publications. All of these lead to introductory pages where a researcher can get basic information on the contents of the particular page. Take a search by summary tables as an example. Summary tables provide an overview of statistical information on Canada's people, economy and government. Within these tables, one can select to view tables by subject province or territory, metropolitan area (e.g. Toronto), an alphabetical list of subjects covered and a What's New feature. Each one of these general categories then takes one to more detailed listings from which one can select further subdivisions or listings. For example, the subject feature further refines the search to such subjects as Aboriginal Peoples, Labour, Languages, Education, etc. The province and territory feature allows one to limit the tables to a specific area, such as Ontario or Nunavut, while the metropolitan feature allows limiting to a specific metropolitan area such as Montreal or Toronto. From the sidebar, one can also access the key indicator tables: consumer price index; labour force survey and gross domestic product.
All of the searching takes the researcher to incredibly detailed information, usually presented in table form. At the end of the table are any notes as well as the source of the information. In most cases, the source document is hyperlinked, which quickly permits any researcher to access the actual document from which the information is taken. A date when the information was last modified gives an indication of the currency of the information Most documents can be printed directly from the chart page, as well as using a highlight to highlight important information. Furthermore, is it usually possible to download the information in a variety of formats – xls, csv and html. The end result is a very user‐friendly service.
However, doing a search by entering a phrase is another thing. I decided to search for the average price of books. This search brings together 124 results (as of January 25, 2008). These can be subdivided into source of the information, such as from The Daily (a daily posting of interesting statistics or results), publications, analytical studies, etc. Without knowing where to limit my search, I am stuck going through all 124 results. Each result is sorted by relevance but the sort could be changed to date. A brief summary gives an indication of the content of the results. Unfortunately in my case, even after going through most of the 124 results, I still did not find the average book price in Canada. Perhaps on becoming more familiar with the site, I would be able to refine my search or at least know where to limit my search.
One wonderful feature is the level of help available. Since I am one to whom statistics mean nothing, having a section on the sidebar where I can find further information on definitions of statistics is useful. A link on the sidebar also leads one to workshops in which Statscan is involved. Since I am involved in the education field, of interest – again from the sidebar – is a wonderful link to the Learning Resources. Statscan realizes that there is great need and importance in getting students to use this site and to use statistics in general. The Learning Resource page links to a teacher's page where one can find lesson plans as well as teaching tools. The student's page can be further subdivided to general students (high school level) and the kids zone for elementary. A postsecondary page links to information for postsecondary students.
Overall this is a wonderful site. It is easy to use and fun to use in most cases. One can simply keep clicking to find fascinating information. Highly recommended for anyone interested in Canada.
