UNIT 1 – FAMILY LIFE IN CANADA
• “continuity and change”
• Changes in:
• Social,
• Cultural,
• Economic, and
• Technological environment
• Question: how to understand the continuing importance and centrality
of family in a constantly changing world?
• One of most universal aspects of human experience.
• One way of demonstrating how individuals accept responsibility for each
other.
• “What families do” for one another is important
• Most recent Federal Census was conducted in 2016
• https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/prof/details/p
age.cfm?Lang=E&Geo1=PR&Code1=01&Geo2=PR&Code2=01&SearchText
=Canada&SearchType=Begins&SearchPR=01&B1=Families,%20households
%20and%20marital%20status&TABID=1&type=0
(Source: Statistics Canada. 2017. Canada [Country] and Canada
[Country] (table). Census Profile. 2016 Census. Statistics Canada
Catalogue no. 98-316-X2016001. Ottawa. Released November 29, 2017.
https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/prof/index.cfm
?Lang=E
(accessed November 2, 2020).
• Factors relating to the change in Canadian families:
• Aging population
• Changing family structure
• Declining fertility rate
• Conjugal status over life course
• Declining rate of marriage
• Increase in common-law unions
• Increased rate of divorce
• Definition of “Census Family”
• “Census family is defined as a married couple and the children, if any, of either and/or
both spouses; a couple living common law and the children, if any, of either and/or both
partners; or a lone parent of any marital status with at least one child living in the same
dwelling and that child or those children. All members of a particular census family live in
the same dwelling. A couple may be of opposite or same sex. Children may be children by
birth, marriage, common-law union or adoption regardless of their age or marital status as
long as they live in the dwelling and do not have their own married spouse, common-law
partner or child living in the dwelling. Grandchildren living with their grandparent(s) but
with no parents present also constitute a census family.”
• (source: https://www23.statcan.gc.ca/imdb/p3Var.pl?Function=Unit&Id=32746)
• In 2016, the number of one-census family households was 65.5%
• 32.5% lived in non-census family households
• 28.2% lived in one-person households
• Changing Family Structure (According to 2016 Census):
• 14.07 million private households in Canada
• 9.84 million census families in private households
• 8.23 million couple families (83.6%)
• 6.47 million married couples (65.8%)
• 1.75 million common-law couples (17.8%)
• 1.61 million lone parent families (16.4%)
• 1.26 million lone female parent (12.8%)
• 350 thousand lone male parent (3.6%)
• Birth rate
• Total Fertility Rate (TFR) in 2019 was 1.47 births per woman
• Compared to 3.94 in 1959
• Average age of first time mothers was 29.4 in 2019
• Compared to 23.2 in 1959
(Source: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/200929/dq200929e-eng.htm)
• Because of low fertility rate, immigration likely to drive population growth in the near future (see
for example,
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/mendicino-immigration-pandemic-refugees-1.5782642)
• Note: impact of Covid-19 Pandemic on these numbers is unknown (see, for example,
https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/experts-say-baby-bust-from-pandemic-won-t-hit-canada-as-hard
-as-u-s-1.4998746
)
• Aging Population
• According to the 2016 census:
• 16.9 % of the Canadian population was 65 or older
• 66.5% of the Canadian population was 15-64
• 16.6% of the Canadian population was 0-14
• Conjugal Status Over the Life Course (According to the 2016 Census):
• 25 to 29 years:
• Married or common law – 1.00 million
• Married – 478 thousand
• Common-law – 526 thousand
• Never married and not living common law – 1.28 million
• 30 to 34 years:
• Population – 1.52 million
• Married – 1.01 million
• Common-law – 501 thousand
• Not married and not living common law – 810 thousand
Source: https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/dt-td/Rp-eng.cfm?
TABID=2&Lang=E&APATH=3&DETAIL=0&DIM=0&FL=A&FREE=0&GC=0&GID=1227463&GK=0&GRP=1&PID=109650&PRID=10&PTYPE=10
9445&S=0&SHOWALL=0&SUB=0&Temporal=2016&THEME=117&VID=0&VNAMEE=&VNAMEF=&D1=0&D2=0&D3=0&D4=0&D5=0&D6=0
• Declining Rates of Marriage
• In 1981, approximately 65% of men and women could expect to marry at least once by the age of
50
• By 2004, only 46% of women and 44% of men could be expected to marry by age 50
• As of 2017, there were 19.9 million people between the ages of 25 and 64 in Canada. Of these:
• 56% were married
• 15% were in a common law relationship
• 13% had never been married or in a common law relationship
• 6% were separated or divorced from a marriage
• 8% were separated from a common law relationship
• 1% were widowed
Source: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/190501/dq190501b-eng.htm
• Increase in the number of common law unions (According to 2016
Census)
• 21.3% of all couples in Canada were in a common law relationship
• In 1981, only 6.3% of all couples in Canada were common law
(Source:
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/190501/dq190501b-eng.htm)
• Increase in Rate of Divorce
• Statistics Canada stopped tracking divorce rates in 2008 (e.g. see
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/statistics-canada-to-stop-tracking
-marriage-and-divorce-rates/article4192704/
)
• However, in 2008, 43.1% of marriages entered into were expected to end in
divorce prior to the 50th year of of marriage (source:
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/91-209-x/2013001/article/11788-eng.htm)
• Again, the impact of Covid-19 on this rate remains to be seen (e.g. see
https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/canada-expected-to-see-spike-in-d
ivorces-as-courts-reopen-lawyers-say-1.4989965
)
