Towards Possible Changes to the Census Recommendations on Families and Households Pierre Turcotte and Viviane Renaud Statistics Canada Presented at the Joint ECE-Eurostat Work Session on Population Censuses Geneva, November 2004

Concepts under Review Reconstituted families Same-sex partnerships Private versus Institutional dwellings Homelessness

Format of Presentation Brief presentation of recommendations for the 2000 round of censuses Discussion of some issues Potential options

Reconstituted Family 2000 Recommendation  195. A reconstituted family is a family consisting of a married or cohabiting couple with one or more children, where at least one child is a non-common child i.e. either the natural or adopted child of only one member of the couple. If the child (natural or adopted) of one partner is adopted by the other partner, the resulting family is still a reconstituted family. Issues  Minority of ECE countries collected and disseminated data  Quality of measurement “Relationship to Reference Person” approach versus “Full Matrix” approach  Need to find more about experience of countries that used full matrix  Key question: Do we need the full matrix?  “Step” versus “Blended” families

Potential Options Relationships to a Reference Person Full matrix Introducing key relationships between selected household members

Relationship to Reference Person Question, 2003 Test, Canada

Same-sex partnerships 2000 Recommendations  No specific recommendation  Definition of couple not exclusive 193. The term "couple" should include married couples and couples who report that they are living in consensual unions, and where feasible, a separate count of consensual unions and of legally married couples should be given. Two persons are understood as partners in a consensual union when they have usual residence in the same household, are not married to each other, and report to have a marriage-like relationship to each other. Issues  Sensitivity of the concept Raises confidentiality and privacy concerns  Several ways of collecting information “ Indirect” method “Explicit” method  Same-sex marriages

Selected Demographic Questions, 2001 Census of Canada

Private versus Institutional Households 2000 Recommendations  187. An institutional household comprises persons whose need for shelter and subsistence are being provided by an institution. An institution is understood as a legal body for the purpose of long-term inhabitation and provision of institutionalized care given to a group of persons. Issue  Distinction between private and institutional not straightforward Households with attributes of both private and institutional Multi-purpose households (health institutions)

Recommendations Review definitions to facilitate distinction between private and institutional households Review recent initiatives to improve collection procedures and classification of (institutional) households

Homelessness No consensus on how to define and measure homelessness Definition often comprised of two components and levels :  Absolute homeless  Relative homeless Issues  Enumerating people with no permanent place of residence  Identifying homeless population People in shelters versus people in other private/institutional households People living on the streets

Recommendations Review definitions of absolute and relative homeless Try to formulate guidelines on how the homeless population can be enumerated Pay special attention to work done in Australia

Other Issues of Interest “Skip-generation” households  Should household members form a family nucleus? Legal marital status versus de facto marital status