Documentation - Geography products
- Geography Catalogue, Census year 2021
- Hierarchy of standard geographic areas for dissemination, 2021 Census
- Guide to the Census of Population, 2021: Chapter 11 - Census geography
- Illustrated Glossary of Terms (Statistics Canada)
- Changes to municipal boundaries, names, and scales:
- Geographic areas not released, 2021 Census of Population
- Reference Maps and Thematic Maps, Reference Guide (Statistics Canada)
- Census metropolitan area (CMA) and census agglomeration (CA) delineation (Statistics Canada)
- Geography Working Paper Series
Geospatial data
Currently, census boundary files are only available on the Statistics Canada website. These files will be accessible via Scholars GeoPortal at a later date.
Statistics Canada website:
- Boundary files (digital and cartographic)
- Road network file
What kind of boundary file do I need?
Cartographic boundary files portray the major land mass of Canada and its coastal island (i.e., the boundaries hug the coastlines). Digital boundary files portray the full extent of the geographic areas, including the coastal water area.
Maps
All Statistics Canada digital maps for 2021 are available on the Statistics Canada website.
- Reference Maps and Thematic Maps, Reference Guide
- Census divisions and subdivisions (national and by province): Standard Geographical Classification (SGC) reference maps (Statistics Canada)
- Census metropolitan area (CMA) and census agglomerations (CA) (national maps): Standard Geographical Classification (SGC) reference maps (Statistics Canada)
- Census tracts (by CMA/CA): Census tract reference maps (Statistics Canada).
- Federal Electoral Districts: Federal Electoral District Reference Map (Statistics Canada).
- Forward Sortation Areas: No maps available, but see Boundary files and their Reference guide (Statistics Canada website)
- Dissemination Area Reference Maps have not been released for the 2021 Census.
- Thematic maps, various geographies
Geographic reference products
Geographic Attribute File
The Geographic Attribute File contains geographic data at the dissemination block level. The file includes population and dwelling counts, land area, geographic codes, names, unique identifiers and , where applicable, types. Download the file from the Statistics Canada website.
GeoSuite
GeoSuite is a web-based tool for data retrieval, query, and tabular output. GeoSuite allows users to explore the links between all standard levels of geography and to determine geographic codes, names and population and dwelling counts.
Correspondence files
The correspondence files contain unique identifiers for the current census geographic area and the corresponding unique identifier for the previous census geographic area. In addition, a relationship flag is included which indicates the degree of correspondence between the geographic areas, facilitating the comparison between census years.
- Dissemination areas (DA), 2016-2021
- Dissemination areas (DA) and land area, 2016-2021
- Dissemination blocks (DB), 2016-2021
Land Area File
- Dissemination areas (DA) and land area, 2016-2021
- Forward Sortation Area Boundary File, 2016 2021
Postal Code Files
See the Postal Code Conversion File section of our website.
Please contact us if you find any broken links on this page. We also have copies of these files archived at the Map & Data Library.