Carlyle facing issues, Moosomin hopeful about census

June 1, 2026, 3:03 pm
Donnie Matichuk

Another town in southeast Saskatchewan is experiencing problems with the 2026 census.

“The Town of Carlyle is aware that some residents did not receive a census package at their door before the May deadline,” said Carlyle Mayor Jennifer Sedor in a statement on May 26th.

Some light has been shed on the problems that could have caused this error on the part of StatsCan.

Sedor said, “At our council meeting as of May 20th, we were provided with an update by an enumerator who discussed staffing shortages and potential training issues as two main reasons that residents may not have received their survey in a timely manner.”

Many Carlyle residents attempted to work around these issues by going to fill out their census online at www.census.gc.ca, but still experienced problems there.

“Some residents who did not receive a survey called our office for the online link, and discovered that their address was not recognized online, providing another layer of frustration for residents.

“It was noted at our meeting that potential mapping issues and training of enumerators regarding the mapping of rural communities and RMs appeared to be causing issues for both enumerators and residents trying to enter their addresses into the online form,” said Sedor.

She also mentioned that there are also more and more residents with each census that do not wish to take part and have their private information shared.

“Discussion was also held regarding an uptick in residents who do not want to participate in the census survey, despite potential fines and penalties.”

Sedor says that she is still hopefull that everything will be fine, and that all residents will receive the survey eventually.

“While the initial missing surveys are still being delivered or that an enumerator will visit each household before the survey closes in July.”

Sedor said that making sure each Carlyle resident fills out their census is very important to keeping Carlyle growing.

“In 2021, enumerators has difficulty collecting census data due to COVID protocols at that time. Carlyle, while still seeing an increase in population, came up short compared to then recent population estimates.

“If residents are unable or decide not to complete a census, it raises the possibility of a recorded false decrease in our population count. This would reduce federal grant funding for our community for the next 5 years. Not to mention a domino effect of economic impacts as census data is used broadly to determine viability for community grants, housing, and business investments.”
She said that anyone having issues can get help from the town.

“Council is encouraging residents to call the town office if they haven’t received a survey yet and we will assist them. Local enumerators will also be assisting residents at an upcoming central event, with dates and times to be announced.”

The Town of Moosomin is hopeful that this year’s census will be much smoother than their last.

After the troubles of having a significant undercount in the last census, Moosomin mayor Murray Gray said that they “learned their lesson” and made an effort to drum up awareness for the 2026 census.

“I think our campaign and our awareness discussions throughout the community and with media helped tremendously. I think it grew the amount of attention the census got. It was to the point that I feel like most residents, or even all residents, were counted. I feel like our banging of the drum from a year ago until now was beneficial to that. My fingers are crossed for the results, but I believe we were successful in making it known,” said Gray.

He noted that the most important part of the census is just being counted and recognized, even if you may not agree with some of it’s questions.

“I think the census became a political lightning rod rather than what it was supposed to be. I think people got going down the wrong rabbit hole, saying that the federal government doesn’t need to know these things about me, and it was starting to take the focus off of what those questions were, and making sure people were counted.”

Gray said that there are many different reasons that the census is important to fill out, especially in smaller towns and communities.

“That awareness was beneficial because the census really does effect our day to day life, especially with all the funding grants that come from census data.

“But it does go beyond our funding, our municipal revenue sharing. If you’re going to talk amongst your peers that your town is growing and you’re going in the right direction, and this is a place to do business, you want your census numbers to go up.”

Trending in the right direction has always been important for Gray since he became Mayor in 2024.

“Financially, there are some gains if you have higher census numbers. Along with that there are also some more costs. Policing, library, those costs are based on census as well, so it’s a win and a loss. I think overall when we’re trying to grow the community, then it shows a step in the right direction when the numbers are higher.”

Businesses often look at census data when deciding where to open, and Gray hopes that the 2026 census will show that Moosomin is a growing center.

“I think it makes businesses look economic development wise, they look at your community as a somewhere that’s on an upward trend, and a communitiy that’s more attractive. There’s been a lot of positive news coming out of our town and our area recently, and we are hoping that this census will keep that good momentum going.

“If the census comes back as we predict, it will hopefully show that what we’re doing is working, and keep everybody positive and ready for the future.”

Gray said that three thousand is the population number he is hoping to hit.
“It’s got to start with a three. It would be absolutely amazing if the final population count started with a three.”

As for some of the other communities having problems in the southeast, Gray has sympathy.

“I feel for them, because that’s where we were four years ago. That’s exactly what happened to us the last time. That’s part of the reason we made such an effort of getting the word out and raising awareness this year.

“I do hope that the other towns having problems get everything figured out. We don’t want our gains to be their losses.”

Gray said that he is hoping that the final numbers will show that what he belives is indeed true.

“I hope that I hope that the numbers closer to what the health card count is, and I hope that we can continue to sell ourselves as a progressive growing community.”

The final figures for this year’s census will come out in late 2026 or early 2027.