Québec 1608-2008: 400 years of censuses

On July 3, 1608, Samuel de Champlain, with a crew of 28 men, arrived on the coast of Québec, and started what would later become the threshold of La Francophonie in America.

In 1665, Intendant Jean Talon had administered New France’s first census which had initially targeted Québec City. Talon counted some 547 persons, thus leading to the recommendation to the King that he should send women overseas to New France.

Fifteen censuses followed under both French and English regimes tracing the evolution of Québec’s population, which grew from 1,345 in 1681 to 14,000 in 1790.

In 1791, George III signed a decree creating Upper and Lower Canada. Québec took its place as the capital of Lower Canada.

In 1825, following Lower Canada’s first census, Québec City had 22,101 residents.

The 19^th century was accompanied by various new census information related to household, dwelling, families and individuals. Those new variables were introduced to provide information on industry, occupation, education, health, place of birth and so forth.

In 1851, censuses, according to royal assent, were now to be conducted every ten years. In 1871, the first census under the Constitution Act of 1867 was conducted and found that Québec City was a growing metropolis of 59,699 people.

Joseph Charles Taché, Deputy Minister of Agriculture, played a defining role in promoting censuses. Taché’s interventions continued the census tradition, which had been established 200 years earlier by Intendant Talon. In this context, the end of the 19^th century also marked an important slowdown in Québec City’s demographic growth, as the population by 1891 was 63,090.

Throughout the 20^th century, Québec City censuses demonstrated a progressive pattern of demographic growth until 1971, when the population reached 186,088. Then the population decreased and stabilized in 2001 to 169,076.

With the 21^st century upon us, and following the municipal mergers in 2002, the 2006 Census indicates that 400 years after its founding, Québec City’s population is about half a million strong.