Canadian Queer Data Guide

Last updated: December 2024

This guide was compiled by Christina Cutler, Nick Field, Jasmine Lefresne, and Cole White, all from the Map and Data Library, University of Toronto.

The Canadian Queer Data Guide is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

Table of Contents
Introduction
Statistics Canada National Data
Other Data Sources
  International
  National
  Provincial & Territorial
Reports
  National
  British Columbia
  Quebec
Other Resources
  Books
  Online Resources
  Projects

Introduction

This guide compiles data sources about Canadian 2SLGBTQIA+ populations, broadly defined. In some ways, Canada is a leader in creating data about queer populations. For instance, in 2021, Canada became the first nation to collect statistics on people who identify as being other than male or female, such as Two Spirit, non-binary, and genderqueer identities.1 There are few easily accessible resources bringing together existing resources,2 which is a niche this guide aims to fill. However, many gaps exist in the available data. For example, there is a total lack of data on intersex people and people with asexual and aromantic identities. For these reasons, we compiled this guide as both a starting point for researchers seeking a list of high-quality data on queer Canadians, and as a demonstration of the many gaps still present, which we call on statistical agencies, non-profit organisations, and researchers to fill.

This guide includes data on both queer sexual orientations (including, but not limited to, bisexual, lesbian, gay, pansexual, same-sex attraction, men who have sex with men, etc.) and Two-Spirit, trans, and gender diverse identities (e.g., non-binary, genderqueer, etc.).3 Our definitions of “Queer” and 2SLGBTQIA+ are capacious; our aim was to collect and present as much relevant information as possible, since different researchers will have different data needs, and different definitions of what constitutes “queer.” We recognise that these terms have changed in use and connotation, sometimes drastically, over the last hundred years, and we seek to gather resources rather than proscribe language. We also recognise that these terms are not always fully accepted by the groups in question and may be offensive, particularly in older resources, and that most datasets below do not address all, or even many, of the identities listed above.

Scope

As mentioned above, we take a broad view of queer identities, including any data related to diverse gender identities and sexual orientations. Geographically, datasets below include Canada, any province, territory, municipality, or other group within it. We also included a small number of international datasets that included Canadian data. In terms of format, we included both aggregate statistics as well as microdata (data with one entry per individual, household, or another observation) that included at least one question about queer identity.4

In cases where a single site or research project offered many datasets, we link once to that site rather than detailing each dataset, especially since such a list would likely soon be out of date. We additionally omitted research papers where the underlying data was unavailable due to its sensitive nature.

We hope that this guide will benefit all researchers interested in Canadian Queer populations. As such, the resources within the guide are publicly available unless otherwise noted.  

Format

Many of the resources below are spreadsheets, in a variety of formats (CSV, XLSX, or data that can be exported from a dashboard). In some cases, we also include tables of data in PDFs – please note that there are free tools that can extract tables from some PDFs, such as Tabula and Camelot/Excalibur.5

If you have suggestions for something we have missed, please contact us.

Notes

  1. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/220427/dq220427b-eng.htm
  2. Here we note that Kevin Manuel, of Toronto Metropolitan University Libraries, has published an LGBTQ+ Studies Research Guide with a subsection on LGBTQ+ Statistics and Data. We also note that IASSIST's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Data Resources Interest Group, which includes Kevin Manuel, have long been working on an extensive international guide to LGBTQ+ statistics and data, to be added to their published Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Data Resources. We thank the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Data Resources Interest Group for their encouragement and their feedback on this guide.
  3. For guides to LGBTQ2S+ terms, see the Toronto PFLAG glossary and the even more detailed PFLAG National glossary.
  4. Our reasoning here was that since microdata allow you to run your own analyses, including microdata with at least one question on queer identity, broadly defined, allows users to look at questions of intersectionality.
  5. In general, these tools will work if you can drag your mouse cursor and highlight words and numbers. Both Tabula and Excalibur are free point-and-click tools that can convert a table in a PDF into a spreadsheet. For programmers, Camelot allows you to use the same tool as Excalibur but in Python. 

Statistics Canada

National Data

Broad age groups and gender: Canada and census metropolitan areas 

Description: An official table listing cisgender (men, women, and totals), transgender (men, women, and totals), and non-binary persons, age 15 and up, with totals for Canada as a whole and for Census Metropolitan Areas. Drawn from the 2021 Census of Population. 
Creator: Statistics Canada 
Year(s): 2021 
Geography: Canada 
Definition of queer: Specifically compares cisgender, transgender, and non-binary people 
File types: CSV, IVT 
 

Broad age groups and gender: Canada, provinces and territories 

Description: An official table listing cisgender (men, women, and totals), transgender (men, women, and totals), and non-binary persons, age 15 and up, with totals for Canada as a whole and for Provinces and Territories. Drawn from the 2021 Census of Population.
Creator: Statistics Canada 
Year(s): 2021 
Geography: Canada 
Definition of queer: Specifically compares cisgender, transgender, and non-binary people 
File types: CSV, IVT 
 

Canadian Community Health Survey 

Description: From the CCHS Annual Component description: "The CCHS is a cross-sectional survey that collects information related to health status, health care utilization and health determinants for the Canadian population. The survey is offered in both official languages."
Creator: Statistics Canada 
Year(s): 2001–2005; 2007–present (annually), plus occasional topical surveys 
Geography: Canada 
Restrictions on use: Publicly available via Abacus and Odesi 
Definition of queer: Questions vary across years, but the latest microdata (2017–2018) asks if respondents consider themselves heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexual.  
File types: TAB, DTA, SAS, SAV, PDF (documentation) 
Notes: Please see Statistics Canada’s CCHS documentation. Please note that public use microdata has been published up to the 2017-2018 Annual Component, with 2019–2020 forthcoming; newer years (up to 2022) are available in the Research Data Centres.

Police-reported hate crime, by type of motivation, selected regions and Canada  

Description: An official table listing the prevalence of hate crimes by motivation including sexual orientation. 
Creator: Statistics Canada 
Year(s): 2012–2023 
Geography: Canada 
Issues/notes: The sex and gender category does not allow you to look at trans identity, and it cannot be determined when two categories may be relevant. 
Restrictions on use: None 
Definition of queer: None provided 
File types: CSV 
 

Proportion of employees who self-report being harassed or sexually assaulted in the workplace  

Description: An official table listing the prevalence of work harassment and sexual assault by several demographic categories including sexual orientation, age, ethnicity, Indigeneity, and more. It does not provide information for those at the intersection of these categories.
Creator: Statistics Canada 
Year(s): 2020 
Geography: Canada 
Issues/notes: Does not include information on trans and gender diverse people. 
Restrictions on use: None 
Definition of queer: Gay, lesbian, or bisexual. They acquired insufficient identities for other identities such as pansexuals or asexuals. 
File types: CSV 
 

Sex, Gender and Sexual Orientation Statistics 

Description: A hub of Statistics Canada reports, data tables, and links related to sex, gender, and sexual orientation in Canada. It links to the list of Statistics Canada Data Tables relating to Sex, Gender, Sexual Orientation and the LGBTQ2+ Population.
Creator: Statistics Canada 
Year(s): ~2008–2021 
Geography: Canada 
Issues/notes: Does not include information on trans and gender diverse people. 
Restrictions on use: None 
Definition of queer: Definition from the Sex, Gender and Sexual Orientation Statistics homepage: "Whereas the Government of Canada adopted and encourages the use of the acronym 2SLGBTQI+ to refer to Two-Spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex people and those who use other terms related to gender or sexual diversity, Statistics Canada uses the acronym 2SLGBTQ+ for data analysis purposes as information is not yet specifically collected about intersex people in surveys." 
File types: CSV, IVT, PDF 
 

Socioeconomic characteristics of the 2SLGBTQ+ population, 2019 to 2021 

Description: An official table listing statistics on the conditions of 2SLGBTQ+ Canadians versus non 2SLGBTQ+ Canadians, including income, health, marital status, and more.
Creator: Statistics Canada 
Year(s): 2019–2021 
Geography: Canada 
Issues/notes: Does not include information on trans and gender diverse people. 
Restrictions on use: None 
Definition of queer: 2SLGBTQ+ includes persons who are Two-Spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer or who use other terms related to gender or sexual diversity. 
File types: CSV 
 

Survey of Safety in Public and Private Spaces  

Description: From the Survey of Safety in Public and Private Spaces (SSPPS) description: "The purpose of this survey is to collect information on Canadians' experiences related to their safety in public and private spaces. Questions are asked about these personal experiences at home, in the workplace, in public spaces and online".
Creator: Statistics Canada 
Year(s): 2018 
Geography: Canada 
Issues/notes: Does not include information on trans and gender diverse people. 
Restrictions on use: Data can be accessed through Statistics Canada Research Data Centres (RDCs). This involves an application process and working with the data in a restricted enclave.  
Definition of queer: The survey question on sexual orientation includes four options: "heterosexual", "homosexual (e.g., lesbian or gay)", "bisexual", and "please specify". 
File types: CSV 
 

Other Data Sources

International

Equaldex API 

Description: From the API enabling users to query laws affecting LGBT+ communities by region.
Creator: Equaldex 
Year(s): Data reflects current legality of various LGBT+ issues 
Geography: Worldwide 
Issues/notes: Does not include information on trans and gender diverse people. 
Restrictions on use: Data can be accessed through Statistics Canada Research Data Centres (RDCs). This involves an application process and working with the data in a restricted enclave.  
Definition of queer: None provided 
File types: HTML, JSON 
 

National

2012 HIV/AIDS Attitudinal Tracking Survey [Canada]  

Description: The purpose of the 2012 HIV/AIDS Attitudinal Tracking Survey is to establish baseline measures of Canadians’ awareness, knowledge, attitudes and behaviours related to HIV/AIDS and build on studies conducted in 2003 and 2006. The survey also explores the attitudes, knowledge and behaviour of Canadians on the issue of hepatitis C to inform the activities of the Hepatitis C Prevention, Support and Research Program
Creator: Public Health Agency of Canada 
Year(s): 2012 
Geography: Canada 
Restrictions on use: Open Government Licence – Canada 
Definition of queer: None provided 
File types: CSV, SAS, SPSS, STATA 
 

Our Stats [“Sex Now” survey] 

Description: "…Our Stats is an online database of findings from Canada’s largest and longest running GBT2Q health survey, Sex Now. The tool allows for basic analysis of the data, making it easier for people who don’t have a research background to explore relationships between different variables, such as geographic location, ethnicity, or HIV status. This means community groups and advocates can leverage Our Stats in many ways, including using the information as evidence to apply for funding or to inform the design of programs or services.”"
Creator: Community-Based Research Centre (CBRC)  
Year(s): Data is currently available from 2015, 2018, 2019, 2020; a 2024 survey is forthcoming; survey ran since 2002 
Geography: Originally British Columbia, now Canada-wide 
Definition of queer: "Gay, bi, trans, Two-Spirit and queer (GBT2Q) men" 
File types: PDF (reports), video (presentations), data visualization dashboard 
Notes: "Our Stats data is made up of information collected for Sex Now, a periodic cross-sectional study of the health and wellbeing of GBT2Q men in Canada. Originally launched in British Columbia by CBRC in 2002, Sex Now went national in 2008. Our Stats currently contains data from four recent versions of Sex Now that were conducted online (2015, 2019, 2020) and in-person at Pride festivals (2018). Future Sex Now data will also be added to the dashboard." 
 

Trans PULSE Canada 

Description: From the Trans PULSE Study Description: "Trans PULSE Canada is a national survey that collected data over the course of ten weeks in the summer of 2019. The survey could be completed in English or French online, on paper, or via telephone (with a language interpreter in another language). Eleven peer Research Associates (PRAs) were hired to promote the survey online and in larger metropolitan areas. PRAs also met participants in-person to collect data on tablets."
Creator: Trans PULSE Canada 
Year(s): 2019–2020 
Geography: Canada 
Restrictions on use: Tables and visualizations of statistics are available in the Trans PULSE results, but accessing the raw data involves joining the research team.  
Definition of queer: According to the Trans PULSE participant inclusion criteria, their datasets are specifically about Two-Spirit, Trans, Non-Binary, and other gender-diverse identities: "To participate, you had to be age 14 or over (no upper limit!), live in Canada and identify as a gender other than what you were assigned at birth. That’s it; you didn’t have to have a particular identity, be on hormones, or live your daily life in your true gender." 
File types: PDF (questionnaires, reports, articles, slides, and infographics); web-based data visualization dashboard 
 

Provincial and Territorial

New Brunswick

New Brunswick Student Wellness Survey - Results for LGBT+ Students  

Description: Survey results from Grade 6–12 LGBT+ students.
Creator: New Brunswick Health Council 
Year(s): 2018–2019 
Geography: New Brunswick 
Definition of queer: Self-identification as LGBTQ+, gay, lesbian, bisexual, asexual, unsure, or other 
File types: PDF 
 

Nova Scotia

NS Same Sex Marriages by Marital Status 

Description: Number of marriages, by marital status, by year, for same sex couples.
Creator: Government of Nova Scotia  
Year(s): 2023–2024 
Geography: Nova Scotia 
File types: CSV, TSV, RSS, XML 
 

Ontario

Hate Crimes Open Data 

Description: Verified hate crime occurrences investigated by Toronto’s Hate Crime Unit since 2018. Bias categories include age, disability, race, ethnicity, language, religion, sexual orientation, and gender. One occurrence may have multi-bias categories used to categorize the hate crime. 
Creator: City of Toronto 
Year(s): 2018–2024 
Geography: Toronto 
Definition of queer: Includes "2SLGBTQ+", "Gay", "Lesbian", and "Transgender Man"/"Transgender Woman" as bias categories 
File types: CSV, JSON, XML 
Note: The neighbourhood in which each crime occurred is included in the data, making it suitable for mapping with GIS software. 
 

Wellbeing Youth - LGBT Resources 

Description: Locations of programs for youth who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, transgendered, queer, questioning or Two-Spirited. Taxonomy-based search of 211 Toronto's database.
Creator: City of Toronto 
Year(s): Updated as available 
Geography: Toronto 
Definition of queer: None provided 
File types: GeoJSON, Shapefile, CSV, GeoPackage 
 

Quebec

Consultation des communautés LGBTQ2+ à Montréal [Consultation of LGBTQ2+ communities in Montreal] 

Description: Data collected through an online survey conducted by the City of Montreal to better understand the needs of LGBTG2+ communities. This dataset includes participants’ demographic data and information about their use of city services (including health, housing, employment, and legal services), experience of public spaces, and civic participation.
Creator: City of Montreal 
Year(s): 2019
Geography: Montreal; Province of Quebec
Definition of queer: This source notes that the acronym LGBTQ2+ refers to sexual and gender diversity including lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, and two-spirited people. The "+" symbol recognizes the diverse identities not reflected in the acronym.
File types: CSV
 

Personnes de minorités sexuelles et de genre [People from sexual and gender minorities]

Description: Data tables based on Statistics Canada’s "Survey on Safety in Public and Private Spaces, 2018" and the 2021 Census. These tables include aggregate data and summary statistics on gender and sexual identity in the Quebec population.
Creator: Institut de la statistique du Québec (adapted from data created by Statistics Canada) 
Year(s): 2018, 2021
Geography: Province of Quebec
Definition of queer: This source defines "sexual minority" as including people who are lesbian or gay, bisexual, pansexual or of another non-heterosexual orientation.
File types: XLSX
 

Yukon

LGBTQ2S+ Inclusion Prioritization Survey

Description: "From November 2018 to March 2019, Yukon government held an LGBTQ2S+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, Two-Spirit, plus) public engagement. The aim was to encourage LGBTQ2S+ Yukoners and allies to share their insights on what is needed for Government of Yukon services to better meet the needs of LGBTQ2S+ Yukoners. An online prioritization survey of items raised during the public engagement was available from the middle of May, 2019 until the end of June, 2019. These are the results of the prioritization survey."
Data files include responses from all respondents as well as just the subset of those who identify as LGBTQ2s+; one file specifically on Trans, Gender Diverse and Two-Spirit respondents; and a file specifically on the prevalence of conversion therapy.
Creator: Yukon Government
Year(s): 2018, 2021
Geography: Yukon
Restrictions on Use: Public, see the Open Government Licence - Yukon
Definition of queer: "LGBTQ2S+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, Two-Spirit, plus)"
File types: CSV
 

Reports

National

Trans Youth CAN Infographics

Description: Infographics related to dietary habits, experiences with parents, neurodivergence, health care, and other issues affecting trans people under the age of 15.
Creator: Trans Youth CAN
Year(s): 2017–2019
Geography: Canada
Definition of queer: Survey participants were youth who had accessed puberty blockers or hormone replacement therapy
File types: PDF
 

British Columbia

British Columbia Adolescent Health Survey

Description: "The BC Adolescent Health Survey (BC AHS) is a province-wide survey administered to youth in Grade 7 to 12 since 1992. The survey gives an evidence base of youth health trends, emerging issues, and risk and protective factors for healthy development."
Creator: McCreary Centre Society
Year(s): 1992
Geography: British Columbia
Definition of queer: Binary genders, same-sex attraction only
File types: PDF
Notes: Questions on same-sex attraction only asked in certain years. See the BC Adolescent Health Survey summary and the summary report.

The Health of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered, Two-spirited and Questioning Youth in British Columbia and the Influence of the School Environment

Description: A report on queer youth in the British Columbian school system, geared towards policymakers and educators. Includes tables (p. 14) on sexual orientation, stages of "coming out", and the "prevalence of mental health problems in BC students, 1992, Grades 7–12" by sexual orientation.
Creator: Dr. Mark Gilbert
Year(s): 2004
Geography: British Columbia
Restrictions on Use: None
Definition of queer: Notes a spectrum of identities, including gender-diverse youths, but discussion and tables exclusively refer to sexual orientation.
File types: PDF
Notes: See also the "BC Adolescent Health Survey" above.

Quebec

Fondation Émergence

Description: Fondation Émergence is a non-profit organization that aims to "educate, inform and raise awareness about the lived experiences of people within a broad range of sexual orientations, gender identities and gender expressions". They conduct Canada-wide surveys about the perception and well-being of the LGBTQ+ community. The results of these surveys are published in an annual report. Topics covered include discrimination, public attitudes and perceptions, health, employment and work environment, family, youth, seniors, allies, and sports.
Creator: Fondation Émergence
Year(s): 2001–2024
Geography: National; Province of Quebec
Definition of queer: Overall, Fondation Émergence’s work focuses on people within a broad range of sexual orientations, gender identities and gender expressions, including but not limited to those who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, intersex and two-spirit (2S). Note that the definitions of queer may vary from report to report as these terms evolved over time.
File types: PDF
Notes: Reports from 2021 on are in English. All earlier reports are in French.

Other Resources

Books

Online Resources

Projects