Moosomin preparing now for 2026 census

Mayor Murray Gray says it’s crucial the count is accurate and everyone is included

February 16, 2026, 4:54 pm
by Kara Kinna

Statistics Canada will be conducting the next census in May of this year, but the town of Moosomin is preparing now in order to ensure the count for Moosomin is more accurate than it was during the last census in 2021.

After the 2021 census, the town of Moosomin asked Statistics Canada to review its census numbers for Moosomin, and Statistics Canada responded by adjusting Moosomin’s census numbers. Statistics Canada initially reported that Moosomin had a population of 2,675 in the 2021 census. The World-Spectator investigated and found that the number of households reported in the census were lower than the number of utility bills going out to households. The town asked Statistics Canada to review those numbers and Statistics Canada responded with a revised census number that is 4.3 per cent higher for Moosomin than the initial 2021 number.

“Statistics Canada has undertaken a detailed investigation and has confirmed that the population and private dwelling counts were incorrect,” Lise Rivais of Statistics Canada wrote at the time.

The count of total private dwellings was increased from 1,207 to 1,281 and the official census population was increased from 2,657 to 2,774. The new numbers resulted in approximately $100,000 in revenue sharing for Moosomin before the 2026 census.

Moosomin Mayor Murray Gray says this time, the town wants to ensure that Statistics Canada get it right, and that the town and its residents do whatever is required in order to make that happen.

“The value of getting a proper count, not only does it affect our funding on several different levels, but it also shows the growth that we’ve been talking about, which then affects our ability for grants and gives us more recognition with both levels of government,” says Gray.

“So we want to make sure that we have an accurate count that shows the growth that we know we’ve had over the past 10 years.

“We appealed the last census because we found it to be very, very inaccurate, and we want to get ahead of things and not have to do that. After this census, we’re hoping that we get the right number to start with, just because we know there were places that weren’t counted last time. We know the town was under counted by a large amount, and in the appeal process, they didn’t recount, they just did a nominal correction. So we want to have the number right to start with this time.”

Gray says he’s not sure why that happened in 2021.

“I don’t think that the gravity of it was fully felt, whether it was the people who were in charge of making sure everybody was counted, or even our local people making sure that they stand up and say, ‘I need to be counted. I want to be counted.’ So I think we need to make sure that message is out there to everybody, and everybody knows the importance of it.”

He says census numbers are used not only by governments to determine funding, by they are crucial for things like economic development as well.

“It’s important for so many things. It affects our funding from the municipal revenue sharing. It also comes into play when you’re talking to businesses about coming here. When you’re in economic development, if you can show the growth that we’ve had in census numbers, I think it makes it more attractive to do business, no matter what business you talk to.

“So I think it’s far greater reaching than just how it effects grants with the provincial and federal government. Whether you’re attracting doctors or whether you’re attracting a new business to come to town, you want to show the growth that we know we’ve had.”

He says the improper count last time had a negative effect on the town.
“It probably cost us a couple hundred thousand in funding that we could have used to put into our infrastructure to continue to grow. Ironically, if you think about being shorted on the census, and then you have all of this infrastructure pressure because of growth, and then they under count you, you’re actually getting slammed from both sides. You’re growing but they’re not acknowledging that in the census.

“It certainly hurts you in some respects, because then the numbers don’t back the messaging. Because the messaging has been that we’re growing, that we’re a progressive, growing community. We’ve got all these things going, and then the number comes out with a decrease in population and our hard work is discredited in some ways because of that.”

So what can the town do to help the process go smoother this year?

“Once we find out who’s hired, who’s in charge of it for this area, we’ll get some contact numbers at that point in time to make sure that we will have that ahead of time, to make sure that we know who they can reach out to,” says Gray.” The residents need to contact the people who are doing the work, so we will stay on that and find out who’s in charge of it, and we’ll get their contact information.”

He says education is also key.

“Some people will have the long census. Some will have the short census, and you’re able to do it either in paper form or online. So maybe we need to do some education on that side of it, if people have some trouble with it. We’ll just need to make sure that we’re diligent about learning those processes in order to be able to help people as much as we can. I’m sure any member of council would help somebody who needs help with that, because it’s important to all of us that we make sure everybody’s counted.

“For governments to function properly, we need to know the exact number of people, and in order to be able to look after the residents, it’s important in order to have the census filled out, because it’s directly correlated to the funding model. There’s lots of positives that come out of you filling this census in, far greater than negatives. Truthfully, it just helps. It helps you and it helps your neighbor, and it helps your community by filling it out.”

Gray says it’s not just an accurate count of how many people reside in Moosomin that’s important, but also numbers that show the town’s demographics.

“Those demographics are used in economic development lots when we are doing things like talking to a housing developer or talking to minor hockey in order to plan for the future, when we talk about things like a second rink. Age statistics, especially, are important to do things like plan for maybe a second Cobblestone House. It is important not only know how many people live here, but what age of people are living here, to plan for things like schools.

“Just about anything and anybody who’s going to come and invest in our community wants to know the age of the people that are here. So it’s not just about population counts. They want to know what age of people there are. And that’s part of the planning process for a lot of different aspects.”

Gray says people need to insist on being counted this year.
“If you haven’t been contacted, or you haven’t got the forms in order to do the census, please let us all know so we can help, because it’s important to lots of people in the community. So speak up, we’ll help you get counted.

“I think they’re starting to look at hiring staff now for the census. If there’s somebody in town who realizes the importance of this that would like to apply for that job, that would be awesome if we had somebody local that could take on that role. That would be fantastic, because that would also help ensure it goes smoothly.”