Template talk:Canada census

Access dates
I am working on adding parameters to specify the access dates in the references but have run into a technical issue with the MediaWiki software. I will add the parameters to the template when/if I get the problem resolved. RedWolf (talk) 17:20, 5 September 2010 (UTC)
 * Okay, the parameters have now been added after getting some expert help on template parameter substitution when extension tags are used. RedWolf (talk) 08:02, 6 September 2010 (UTC)

2011 census
Can this be easily changed, to incorporate data from the 2011 census?

Mean Household Income 2011
Anyone know if Canada Census figures still account for Mean Household Income as of 2011? If not, then is it worth keeping it in the template? Thanks! Gordalmighty (talk) 23:35, 4 May 2013 (UTC)


 * It is worth keeping. Income stats from the controversial 2011 National Household Survey will be released in August. Hwy43 (talk) 04:41, 5 May 2013 (UTC)


 * Excellent! Thanks for the reply. Gordalmighty (talk) 18:46, 5 May 2013 (UTC)

Symbols within Template
Can symbols be included in the template? (See Saint-André-de-Restigouche, Quebec for example).

Thanks! Gordalmighty (talk) 01:20, 10 May 2013 (UTC)

Parameter required for 2011 National Household Survey
Can someone prepare a new |2011NHS_access_date parameter, and also update Template:Canada census/reference to produce the following when the new parameter is populated with a date?
 * "NHS Profile, 2011". Canada 2011 National Household Survey. Statistics Canada. September 11, 2013.

This is necessary as the 2011 household income data is not available from the mandatory census anymore. Cheers, Hwy43 (talk) 04:44, 17 October 2013 (UTC)
 * This does not seem to have been done. There will be the same problem when income data comes out Sept 2017. StarryGrandma (talk) 02:05, 18 March 2017 (UTC)

Fixing the reference errors caused by recent changes
These templates Canada census and Canada census/reference were designed so that new years could be added, but the old ones wouldn't go away. That is because changes here affect the 1221 article that use this template. This is one of the subtle templates that exports named references to be used in the article. Not all articles use this, but of the 19 counties in Category:Counties in Ontario, 8 now have error messages saying "The named reference  was invoked but never defined". However, reaching the 4th census year, 2001, 2006, 2011, 2016, the tables are getting wide. And in 5 years wider still.

I am going to solve the reference problem by letting the template generate only the named reference for 2001, not the rest of the data. It will appear at the bottom of the table next to the word "earlier". In 2021, the 2006 data can come out and be replaced by adding the 2006 named reference next to that of 2001.

Templates that generate named references have been giving me headaches in reference repair for years. I've created a small category at Category:Templates that generate named references, and I am sure there are more. StarryGrandma (talk) 02:17, 18 March 2017 (UTC)
 * Thanks for the note. I was wondering what happened to 2001 data after putting them into the table. OhanaUnitedTalk page 05:14, 23 June 2017 (UTC)
 * Another error caused by recent changes is: La Tuque, Quebec... the  Cite error: The named reference "cp2021" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page)  seems to be caused by census data being copied in from another page, but I am stuck trying to find out where. It is probably because the reference in the copied information for for one of the two tables was recently changed. Quebec99 (talk) 11:05, 31 October 2023 (UTC)

2001 Community Profiles
Why does this template autogenerate a reference for the 2001 Community Profiles yet there are no parameters available for the 2001 census? This should be removed unless a set of parameters for the 2001 census are created. Otherwise, we are creating a reference to support data that is not presented. Cheers, Hwy43 (talk) 08:24, 8 January 2018 (UTC)
 * , read the section immediately above this. The template seems to have gotten too wide and someone took the older data out. We still need to generate the reference, since articles use the reference in the body of the article. That is the purpose of having a named reference that can be used anywhere in the article. Removing the reference caused reference errors. The data doesn't have to be in this template to be referenced in an article. The reference provides the link to the data. StarryGrandma (talk) 15:26, 8 January 2018 (UTC)

Recent edit causing referencing errors site-wide
, looks like you made this change wihch removed the "cp2006" reference from dozens of articles and causes them to have visible referencing errors. What is your plan for fixing these articles? Why was the removal made without first building concensus and formulating a plan to accomodate the fallout? -- Mikeblas (talk) 17:14, 13 February 2022 (UTC)


 * @User:P199, I've reverted the changes. The template was designed so that old years would never completely go away because the named references are used in the article text as well as in the template. The last time you did this I just came in and did a fix. This time it is much easier to start over. I will create minimal references for the old years - you removed the ones I did before with your changes causing the reference errors. StarryGrandma (talk) 18:38, 13 February 2022 (UTC)
 * @Mikeblas,, I've put back the 2001 and 2006 references while restoring the changes for the 2021 census. Next I will check Canada census/reference to see that the proper references are generated. StarryGrandma (talk) 19:11, 13 February 2022 (UTC)
 * Templates that generate named references to be used elsewhere in articles are a pain in the neck! StarryGrandma (talk) 19:13, 13 February 2022 (UTC)
 * They can be annoying, but just require some care before being removed -- just like any other content, really. Thanks for your fix. I'm not sure I understand what the motivation was to remove the older reference definitions, though. Is that still being considered? -- Mikeblas (talk) 22:10, 13 February 2022 (UTC)
 * The problem is when named references are removed from templates it is very difficult to discover that the original reference was in a template. I created Category:Templates that generate named references to help me with this.
 * The tables got too wide for all the census listings from 2001 on, so the older years' columns started being removed. I noticed that because I was working on repairing broken references at the time. Editors who update this template don't realize the references had been named in the beginning so they could be used in the article text, avoiding duplicate references in the table and text. So they think if they remove the years they should remove the references. No one wants to check the 1000 or so articles that use this template to update the text references too. I keep this and a couple of other similar templates on my watchlist.
 * I've updated the /reference template to produce the 2021 reference and updated the dead links in the earlier references. StarryGrandma (talk) 00:43, 14 February 2022 (UTC)

Keeping old census params
I've again reverted your edit that takes away in-use reference definitions from many articles using them. I guess I can understand your desire for removing old information, but what is your plan for finding and cleaning up the consumers of the feature? I don't think you should unilaterally make changes like this. Multiple people have reached out to you multiple times, but you continue to act without consensus and I'd like to understand why that is. -- Mikeblas (talk) 19:35, 27 September 2023 (UTC)
 * There are no articles that actually show the earlier census info in the template (because those parameters have been removed from the template). Therefore if the 2006 and earlier census data is never present in the template, we just don't need a reference to it. Leaving it would be no different than providing a reference in a paragraph for something the paragraph doesn't mention. If I missed something, then please point me to any article where 2006 or earlier data is actually still used and for which this reference would be necessary. Thanks. --  P 1 9 9   ✉ 13:40, 28 September 2023 (UTC)
 * If there are a few articles were this named reference is used in a paragraph, it would be better to just replace that reference. --  P 1 9 9  ✉ 13:51, 28 September 2023 (UTC)
 * I'm glad you've decided to join the conversation! What is your plan for finding affected articles and fixing up their references? -- Mikeblas (talk) 17:35, 28 September 2023 (UTC)
 * That is the question! I am not aware of any articles that use this named reference... --  P 1 9 9  ✉ 17:58, 28 September 2023 (UTC)