For Information only. This is an electronic survey example for information purposes only. This is not a working questionnaire.

Getting started

Why are we conducting this survey?

This survey is a census of plants that crush oilseeds into oil and meal. Data collected are part of supply-disposition statistics of major grains and allow the calculation of the domestic disappearance component. They are also required to verify grain production and farm stocks.

The data are used by the provincial governments, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and related industries for market analysis, particularly of supply-disposition of grain.

Your information may also be used by Statistics Canada for other statistical and research purposes.

Your participation in this survey is required under the authority of the Statistics Act.

Other important information

Authorization to collect this information

Data are collected under the authority of the Statistics Act, Revised Statutes of Canada, 1985, Chapter S-19.

Confidentiality

By law, Statistics Canada is prohibited from releasing any information it collects that could identify any person, business, or organization, unless consent has been given by the respondent, or as permitted by the Statistics Act. Statistics Canada will use the information from this survey for statistical purposes only.

Record linkages

To enhance the data from this survey and to reduce the reporting burden, Statistics Canada may combine the acquired data with information from other surveys or from administrative sources.

Data-sharing agreements

To reduce respondent burden, Statistics Canada has entered into data-sharing agreements with provincial and territorial statistical agencies and other government organizations, which have agreed to keep the data confidential and use them only for statistical purposes. Statistics Canada will only share data from this survey with those organizations that have demonstrated a requirement to use the data.

Section 11 of the Statistics Act provides for the sharing of information with provincial and territorial statistical agencies that meet certain conditions. These agencies must have the legislative authority to collect the same information, on a mandatory basis, and the legislation must provide substantially the same provisions for confidentiality and penalties for disclosure of confidential information as the Statistics Act. Because these agencies have the legal authority to compel businesses to provide the same information, consent is not requested and businesses may not object to the sharing of the data.

For this survey, there are Section 11 agreements with the provincial statistical agencies of Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia. The shared data will be limited to information pertaining to business establishments located within the jurisdiction of the respective province.

Business or organization and contact information

Business or organization and contact information - Question identifier: 1
Verify or provide the business or organization's legal and operating name and correct where needed.

Note: Legal name modifications should only be done to correct a spelling error or typo.

  • Legal name
  • Operating name (if applicable)

Business or organization and contact information - Question identifier: 2
Verify or provide the contact information of the designated business or organization contact person for this questionnaire, and correct information if needed.

Note: The designated contact person is the person who should receive this questionnaire. The designated contact person may not always be the one who actually completes the questionnaire.

  • First name
  • Last name
  • Title
  • Preferred language of communication
    • English
    • French
  • Mailing address (number and street)
  • City
  • Province, territory or state
  • Postal code or ZIP code
    • Example: A9A 9A9 or 12345-1234
  • Country
  • Email address
  • Telephone number (including area code)
    • Example: 123-123-1234
  • Extension number (if applicable)
  • Fax number (including area code)
    • Example: 123-123-1234

Business or organization and contact information - Question identifier: 3
Verify or provide the current operational status of the business or organization identified by the legal and operating name above.

  1. Operational - Go to question 4
  2. Not currently operational
    e.g., temporarily or permanently closed, change of ownership

    Why is this business or organization not currently operational?
    • Seasonal operations - Go to question 3a.
    • Ceased operations - Go to question 3b.
    • Sold operations - Go to question 3c.
    • Amalgamated with other businesses or organizations - Go to question 3d.
    • Temporarily inactive but will re-open - Go to question 3e.
    • No longer operating because of other reasons - Go to question 3f.

Business or organization and contact information - Question identifier: 3a
Seasonal operations

  • When did this business or organization close for the season?
    Date - YYYY/MM/DD
  • When does this business or organization expect to resume operations?
    Date - YYYY/MM/DD

Go to question 4

Business or organization and contact information - Question identifier: 3b
Ceased operations

  • When did this business or organization cease operations?
    Date - YYYY/MM/DD
  • Why did this business or organization cease operations?
    • Bankruptcy
    • Liquidation
    • Dissolution
    • Other - Specify the other reasons why the operations ceased

Go to question 4

Business or organization and contact information - Question identifier: 3c
Sold operations

  • When was this business or organization sold?
    Date - YYYY/MM/DD
  • What is the legal name of the buyer?

Go to question 4

Business or organization and contact information - Question identifier: 3d
Amalgamated with other businesses or organizations

  • When did this business or organization amalgamate?
    Date - YYYY/MM/DD
  • What is the legal name of the resulting or continuing business or organization?
  • What are the legal names of the other amalgamated businesses or organizations?

Go to question 4

Business or organization and contact information - Question identifier: 3e
Temporarily inactive but will re-open

  • When did this business or organization become temporarily inactive?
    Date - YYYY/MM/DD
  • When does this business or organization expect to resume operations?
    Date - YYYY/MM/DD
  • Why is this business or organization temporarily inactive?

Go to question 4

Business or organization and contact information - Question identifier: 3f
No longer operating due to other reasons

  • When did this business or organization cease operations?
    Date - YYYY/MM/DD
  • Why did this business or organization cease operations?

Business or organization and contact information - Question identifier: 4
Verify or provide the current main activity of the business or organization identified by the legal and operating name.

Note: The described activity was assigned using the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS).

1 - This is the current main activity. - Go to next section

2 - This is not the current main activity.
Please provide a brief but precise description of this business or organization's main activity.

  • e.g., breakfast cereal manufacturing, shoe store, software development

Business or organization and contact information - Question identifier: 5
Was this business or organization's main activity ever classified as “Oil seed processing”?

  • Yes
  • No – Go to next section

Business or organization and contact information - Question identifier: 6
When did the main activity change?

  • Date - YYYY/MM/DD

Oilseeds — raw material crushed and month-end stocks

Oilseeds — raw material crushed and month-end stocks - Question identifier: 1
For the reference month, what were the quantities of raw material crushed on a cleaned basis (clean net) and the month-end stocks for the following oilseeds?

Include:

  • raw materials crushed at this operation only
  • stocks of oilseed and oilseed products held on Canadian soil only.

Oilseeds

  • Canola
    Quantity of raw material (metric tonnes)
    Stocks of oilseeds (metric tonnes)
  • Soybeans
    Quantity of raw material (metric tonnes)
    Stocks of oilseeds (metric tonnes)
  • All other oilseeds — specify
    Quantity of raw material (metric tonnes)
    Stocks of oilseeds (metric tonnes)

Oilseed products and month-end stocks

Oilseed products and month-end stocks - Question identifier: 2
For the reference month, what were the quantities of oil and meal produced and the month-end stocks for the following oilseed products?

Include: stocks of oilseed and oilseed products held on Canadian soil only.

Oilseed products

  • Canola oil - Quantity produced (metric tonnes)
  • Canola meal - Quantity produced (metric tonnes)
  • Soybean oil - Quantity produced (metric tonnes)
  • Soybean meal - Quantity produced (metric tonnes)
  • All other oilseeds reported at question 1c — oil - Quantity produced (metric tonnes)
  • All other oilseeds reported at question 1c — meal - Quantity produced (metric tonnes)
  • Canola oil - Stocks of oilseed products (metric tonnes)
  • Canola meal - Stocks of oilseed products (metric tonnes)
  • Soybean oil - Stocks of oilseed products (metric tonnes)
  • Soybean meal - Stocks of oilseed products (metric tonnes)
  • All other oilseeds reported at question 1c — oil - Stocks of oilseed products (metric tonnes)
  • All other oilseeds reported at question 1c — meal - Stocks of oilseed products (metric tonnes)

Canola received from Canadian producers

Canola received from Canadian producers - Question identifier: 3
What were the quantities of canola received from Canadian producers for the reference month and for the crop year to date?

Include: canola received directly from Canadian producers from all collection points.

Exclude:

  • canola imported from other countries
  • grain received from Canadian Grain Commission licensed elevators.

Provincial producers

  • Manitoba producers - Quantity received in reference month (metric tonnes)
  • Saskatchewan producers - Quantity received in reference month (metric tonnes)
  • Alberta producers - Quantity received in reference month (metric tonnes)
  • British Columbia producers - Quantity received in reference month (metric tonnes)
  • Total - Quantity received in reference month (metric tonnes)
  • Manitoba producers - Quantity received Crop year to date (metric tonnes)
  • Saskatchewan producers - Quantity received Crop year to date (metric tonnes)
  • Alberta producers - Quantity received Crop year to date (metric tonnes)
  • British Columbia producers - Quantity received Crop year to date (metric tonnes)
  • Total - Quantity received Crop year to date (metric tonnes)

Changes or events

Changes or events - Question identifier: 5
Indicate any changes or events that affected the reported values for this business or organization compared with the last reporting period.

Select all that apply.

  • Strike or lock-out
  • Exchange rate impact
  • Price changes in goods or services sold
  • Contracting out
  • Organizational change
  • Price changes in labour or raw materials
  • Natural disaster
  • Recession
  • Change in product line
  • Sold business or business units
  • Expansion
  • New or lost contract
  • Plant closures
  • Acquisition of business or business units
  • Other changes or events — specify:

OR

  • No changes or events

Contact person

Contact person - Question identifier: 6
Statistics Canada may need to contact the person who completed this questionnaire for further information.

If the contact person is the same as on cover page, Go to the "Feedback" section

Otherwise, who is the best person to contact about this questionnaire?

  • First name
  • Last name
  • Title
  • Email address
  • Telephone number (including area code)
    • Example: 123-123-1234
  • Extension number (if applicable)
  • Fax number (including area code)
    • Example: 123-123-1234

Feedback

Feedback - Question identifier: 7
How long did it take to complete this questionnaire?

Include: the time spent gathering the necessary information.

Hours:
Minutes:

Feedback - Question identifier: 8
Do you have any comments about this questionnaire?

Before submitting the questionnaire

If you do not need to review your information, press the Next button to continue.

Please note that you will not be able to change any information you reported once you have submitted the questionnaire.

You can print this questionnaire once you have completed and submitted it.

Canadian Statistics Advisory Council 2021 Annual Report: General Summary - Strengthening the foundation of our National Statistical System

Release date: December 16, 2021

PDF version (2.15 MB)

Information and data are among Canada's most valuable resources. Data derived from a wide range of sectors and areas of interest are essential to informed decision making for pandemic recovery initiatives, for reconciliation and a renewed relationship with Indigenous peoples, for tackling the climate crisis, and for addressing key issues the country will face for decades to come.

Leading-edge Canadian public and private sector organizations are driving the use of digital information to better understand the issues we face. There is a wealth of public and private data in this country that is not part of the national statistical system. When they are built upon common concepts and definitions and shared standards, these data can be key to meeting the needs of Canadians. To do this effectively, it means building strong relationships that promote the value of data and connection of information.

First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities are each developing a distinctions-based approach to asserting their unique jurisdiction, ownership and control over their data that relates to their identity, their people, language, history, culture and communities. Information, data and capacity development investments are important at the community, regional and national levels to support these efforts.

Adapting governance and data stewardship to a digital society

It is recommended that the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry and the Chief Statistician:

  • 1.1 Take leadership in supporting a national data system that:
    1. delivers collaborative frameworks that include clearly defined roles and accountabilities for Statistics Canada and partners from public, Indigenous, private, and other sectors.
    2. establishes Statistics Canada's role as the national data steward, based on a whole of government approach to defining and prioritizing data needs as an integral part of federal program planning; and
    3. applies legislation and policies to support and incentivise active administration of national data standards and real-time nationwide data flows involving all government jurisdictions.
  • 1.2 Through clearly defined and distinctions-based governance partnerships with Indigenous organizations and communities, support the advancement of First Nations, Inuit and Métis led governance capacities, data priorities and active participation in and contribution to the national data system.

To build truly nation-wide data means that legislation and policy must not only be in place, but also clear on issues of data stewardship and need for data. Working within the national statistical system, Statistics Canada is often constrained in its ability to deliver what Canadians expect and need to create prosperity and well-being in a world marked by a digital future. Even with digital modernization efforts, the statistical system is hampered by fragmentation, unused data and unmet data needs in critical sectors. These are largely a consequence of the inheritance of an outdated governance structure between Statistics Canada and federal departments, provinces and territories. The federal government must be a leader and support new governance models that bring broader perspectives and partnerships.

Adapting statistical legislation to reflect the needs of a modern digital national statistical system

It is recommended that the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry and the Chief Statistician:

  • 2.1 update the Statistics Act to reflect a modern digital society.
  • 2.2 clarify and strengthen in the Statistics Act, Statistics Canada's data stewardship role.
  • 2.3 introduce a new category of accredited users from government, academic and private research institutions, and Indigenous organizations and communities who would be granted access to more disaggregated microdata without having to be deemed employees of Statistics Canada.
  • 2.4 update the Statistics Act to support participation of Statistics Canada and federal departments in reconciliation efforts and a renewed relationship with First Nations, Inuit and Métis with respect to coordination and governance of data and information, to support planning, building capacity and decision making by all stakeholders to address critical data needs.

For Canada to succeed in an increasingly dynamic digital world, Statistics Canada's role is key. The agency is an independent and trusted source of official statistics and provides a solid foundation for government accountability and evidence-based decision making by both the public and the private sectors, which benefits all Canadians.

Strong, clear and unambiguous statistical legislation is important to support the national data system including its national data strategies. Modern digital technology for collecting, transferring and sharing statistical information is not well reflected in the Statistics Act, which affects how the statistical legislation is interpreted. Statistics Canada's role as data steward in the country's statistical systems needs to be clarified and strengthened in the Statistics Act.

Leveraging opportunities for addressing critical data needs

It is recommended that the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry and the Chief Statistician:

  • 3.1 develop and communicate principles for working with multidisciplinary connected datasets as an important component of national data strategies.
  • 3.2 broaden and deepen reciprocal relationships with federal departments and agencies, other levels of government, Indigenous jurisdictions and the private sector to enable sharing of data to build truly national and nationwide data infrastructures
    1. invest in and provide incentives for the effective implementation of advanced real-time software and communications technologies to enable data sharing and connecting of data across jurisdictions and organizations.
    2. invest in innovative data collection and measures that move beyond econocentric environment models to include elements of quality of life and sustainability.

Issues such as the global COVID-19 pandemic, racial injustice, the tragedy of Indigenous residential schools and the climate crisis have heightened a growing recognition among Canadians and decision makers of how important reliable and timely detailed information is to understand many of the issues facing Canadians.

There is a need for nimble, flexible data systems, as pressing problems and critical events are often unexpected. In general, the pace of change today occurs much more quickly than the change captured in quinquennial census information or data collected from annual surveys. There are new untapped sources of information that can provide more real-time data and accurate portraits of Canadians and their communities.

Data sources on their own generally do not provide the breadth, depth or interconnections required to examine more complex issues such as socio-economic inequalities and environmental impacts from and on businesses. To support these analyses, datasets need to be constructed from multiple sources under clearly specified confidentiality and security protocols. Increasingly, researchers need to be able to link and connect relevant variables on demand.

Intermediate Session on Considerations for Displaying Data - A Case Study (19220008)

Data visualizations are a powerful tool to explore and present ideas. In response to feedback from information session participants, this session uses a case study approach to illustrate how to explore your data and decide which visualizations help tell your audience a data story. Designed for a beginner to intermediate audience, the session focuses on one of the hardest parts of designing graphs and charts: knowing where to start.

English Information Sessions

French Information Session

Monthly Survey of Manufacturing: National Weighted Rates by Source and Characteristic - October 2021

National Weighted Rates by Source and Characteristic, October 2021
Table summary
The information is grouped by Sales of goods manufactured, Raw materials and components, Goods / work in process, Finished goods manufactured, Unfilled Orders, Capacity utilization rates (appearing as row headers), and Data source as the first row of column headers, then Response or edited, and Imputed as the second row of column headers, calculated by percentage.
  Data source
Response or edited Imputed
%
Sales of goods manufactured 85.9 14.1
Raw materials and components 76.2 23.8
Goods / work in process 76.7 23.3
Finished goods manufactured 78.6 21.4
Unfilled Orders 84.8 15.2
Capacity utilization rates 72 28.0

Monthly Survey of Manufacturing: National Level CVs by Characteristic – October 2021

National Level CVs by Characteristic
Table summary
This table displays the results of Monthly Survey of Manufacturing: National Level CVs by Characteristic. The information is grouped by Month from September 2020 to September 2021 (appearing as row headers), and Sales of goods manufactured, Raw materials and components inventories, Goods / work in process inventories, Finished goods manufactured inventories and Unfilled Orders, calculated in percentage (appearing as column headers).
Month Sales of goods manufactured Raw materials and components inventories Goods / work in process inventories Finished goods manufactured inventories Unfilled Orders
%
October 2020 0.68 0.99 1.31 1.56 1.11
November 2020 0.68 1.05 1.21 1.48 1.16
December 2020 0.69 1.02 1.20 1.46 1.30
January 2021 0.80 1.00 1.24 1.59 1.42
February 2021 0.75 0.99 1.50 1.67 1.30
March 2021 0.71 1.01 1.45 1.69 1.35
April 2021 0.78 1.04 1.56 1.74 1.53
May 2021 0.79 1.04 1.48 1.58 1.45
June 2021 0.73 1.02 1.44 1.69 1.36
July 2021 0.78 1.05 1.48 1.67 1.37
August 2021 0.73 1.06 1.53 1.84 1.46
September 2021 0.79 1.07 1.56 1.86 1.36
October 2021 0.76 1.04 1.56 1.71 1.40

Implementing MLOps with Azure

By: Jules Kuehn, Shared Services Canada

Machine Learning Operations is a variation of DevOps that addresses concerns specific to Machine learning (ML). Like DevOps, MLOps enables the continuous integration and deployment (CI/CD) of Machine learning (ML) models, but it also automates re-training on new data and tracks the results of different training runs (or experiments).

A common issue with ML models is declining performance over time. This is known as a "drift" (visit The Ultimate Guide to Model Retraining for more information on drift). Imagine an ML model that predicts whether a house in Ottawa will sell above its asking price, when given information about the house and the listing price. When the model was deployed five years ago, it was able to make this prediction with 95% accuracy. However, if the model was never re-trained with updated data, its predictions would not reflect Ottawa's current housing market and would therefore be less accurate. To resolve this issue, an MLOps system can automatically re-train and re-deploy models to incorporate more recent data and track the model's performance over time.

Shared Services Canada's (SSC) Data Science and Artificial Intelligence team has developed several ML models as proof-of-concept solutions for SSC business problems. As a starting point in the MLOps journey, the team collaborated with Microsoft to develop a functional MLOps solution entirely within the Azure ecosystem.

The MLOps system spans several components such as source control, experiment tracking, model registries, CI/CD pipelines, Azure ML APIs, Docker and Kubernetes. Using this system enables the team to continuously deliver REST APIs for the best-performing ML models and make them available on the newly developed Government of Canada API Store.

Model development

To speed up implementation, the team used Azure Software as a Service (SaaS) offerings to accomplish the majority of tasks. This included data loading with Azure Data Factory, model development in Azure Databricks notebooks, experiment tracking and model deployment with Azure ML, and source control and CI/CD with Azure DevOps.

Tracking experiments and models

The Databricks notebooks log run metrics and register models in an Azure ML workspace when a model training run is complete (visit Log & view metrics and log files and Model Class for more information). This is useful when runs are initiated manually during model development and when they're executed as a job within CI/CD pipelines. During model development, it is possible to track improvements to metrics, such as accuracy, while adjusting hyper parameters. When run as a pipeline job, you can monitor changes to metrics as new data is used in re-training.

Source control and continuous integration

The source control repository for this model is made up of three folders:

  1. Notebooks—the Databricks notebooks code
  2. Pipelines—two pipelines to train and deploy models
  3. API—the code to wrap the trained model in a REST API.
Figure 1 – General source control repository structure

Figure 1 – General source control repository structure

Description - Figure 1

Tree diagram of DevOps repository with 3 top level folders. The first folder is Notebooks, which is connected via Databricks Git Sync to model_train.py. The second folder is pipelines, which contains two subfolders, each containing Pipeline YAML and Python scripts. These subfolders are named "ci / train" and "deploy". The third top level folder is "API", which contains score.py and a tests subfolder, which contains PyTest scripts.

Notebook pull request pipeline

Although literate programming with notebooks (e.g. Jupyter) is common practice for data science, cloud notebook environments do not always integrate effectively with source control. If multiple team members are working on a project, notebooks can become disorganized. The team developed a workflow that incorporates best practices for source control management, such as feature branches and integration tests in pull requests.

Figure 2 – Data science notebooks

Figure 2 – Data science notebooks

Description - Figure 2

A disorderly desk with papers labelled "Data Science Notebooks" scattered all over its surface, on the floor and stuffed into a nearby garbage bin.

Within Databricks, all notebooks in a fixed-location main folder are synchronized to follow the main branch in an Azure DevOps git repository. Before changing the model code, a team member creates a copy of this folder in Databricks and a corresponding new branch in DevOps, then sets up the git sync between them. When they're satisfied with the changes, the team member commits the notebooks in Databricks, then creates a pull request (PR) in DevOps.

Any PR that includes changes to notebook code triggers a CI pipeline that ensures changes to the notebooks will not break. It begins by copying the feature branch notebooks to a fixed-location integration test folder referenced by a Databricks job, which is then triggered by the pipeline through the Databricks API.

To speed up the execution of this test, a parameter is passed to the notebook indicating that this is  a test and not a full training job. The model is trained on a 5% sample for one epoch and the resultant model is not registered.

Figure 3 – CI and Train Pipelines with Databricks

Figure 3 – CI and Train Pipelines with Databricks

Description - Figure 3

Diagram of CI and Train Pipelines. Step 1: Copy notebook source to Databricks. Step 2: Start Databricks job to train model. Step 3: Wait for Databricks "success".

The pipeline continues to poll Databricks until the job is complete. If the notebook executes successfully, merging to the main branch may continue.

Model deployment

Since the SSC team plans to deliver most of their models on the GC API Store, they want to move from notebooks to REST API applications as quickly and reliably as possible.

Containerizing the model

For simple applications, the Azure ML API can deploy a registered model as a containerized application using a few lines of code at the end of a notebook. However, this option does not address many operational requirements such as scaling. More importantly, it doesn't allow much flexibility to pre- and post-process model inputs and outputs. Instead, we use the Model.package() from the Azure ML Software Development Kit function from the Azure ML Software Development Kit (SDK) to create a Docker image. Then, the image is deployed to a previously configured Kubernetes cluster and the endpoint is registered with the GC API Store.

By default, the function pulls the latest registered version of the model, but can also use the experiment logs to dynamically select a model based on any metric that was logged from the notebook (e.g. to minimize loss).

Deployment pipeline

Figure 4 – Deployment Pipeline

Figure 4 – Deployment Pipeline

Description - Figure 4

Diagram of deployment pipeline with 3 root stages: Test, Build, and Deploy. The Test stage runs PyTest API tests and local_deploy_test.py, which involves Docker retrieving a model from the Azure ML registry. The Build stage runs build_push_image.py, which also involves Docker retrieving a model from the Azure ML registry, but also pushes the Docker container to the Azure Container Registry. The Deploy stage runs the command line application kubectl, which connects to Azure Kubernetes and retrieves the container from the Azure Container Registry.

As its name implies, Azure DevOps offers more than just source control – it can also define pipelines to automate CI and CD tasks. The pipelines are defined by YAML files and leverage Bash and Python scripts.

Unlike the notebook PR pipeline, the deployment pipeline is triggered by any commit to the main branch. It's comprised of three stages:

  • Testing the code: Using PyTest, unit test the API with correct and incorrect inputs. As an integration test, Model.deploy() the web service locally on the agent pool VM and run similar tests, but over HTTP.
  • Building and registering the Docker container: Build a Docker image with Model.package(), passing in custom API code. Register the container to an Azure Container Registry.
  • Deploying to Kubernetes: Using kubectl apply, connect to the previously-configured Azure Kubernetes Service, connect to the previously-configured Azure Kubernetes Service. Pass a manifest file pointing to the new image in the container registry.

This process retains the same API endpoints through redeployments and does not disrupt delivering the application through the GC API Store.

Model re-training pipeline

The model re-training pipeline is similar to the pull request pipeline but it runs a different Databricks job that points to the main branch notebook. The notebook logs the run metrics and registers the new model in Azure ML, then triggers the deployment pipeline.

Model training can be resource intensive. Running the notebook as a job on Databricks gives us the option of selecting a high performance compute cluster (including GPU). The clusters are automatically deallocated when the training run is complete.

Rather than being triggered by a particular event, pipeline runs can also be scheduled (visit Configure schedules for pipelines for more information). Many of the models rely on data from SSC's Enterprise Data Repository (EDR), so the team can schedule the model re-training pipeline to follow the EDR's refresh cycle. This ensures that the deployed model is always based on the most current data.

Conclusion

To provide a repeatable workflow for deploying ML models to the GC API Store, SSC integrated several Azure SaaS offerings to make a functional MLOps solution

  • Azure DevOps: Source code repository; CI/CD and re-training pipelines
  • Azure Databricks: ML model development in notebooks; synchronized to DevOps git repository
  • Azure ML: Experiment tracking and model registration; building Docker images
  • Azure Kubernetes Service: Container serving; pointed to by the GC API Store.

Finally, it's worth noting that this approach is just one of many possible solutions. The Azure ML APIs that the SDK relies on are under active development and change frequently. The team is continuing to explore open-source and self-hosted options. The MLOps journey is far from over, but it's well under way!

Please email the SSC Data Science and Artificial Intelligence team: ssc.dsai-sdia.spc@canada.ca, if you have any questions about this implementation or if you just want to chat about machine learning.

Date modified:

Registered Apprenticeship Information System (RAIS) Guide, 2020

Concepts used by the Registered Apprenticeship Information System (RAIS)

Designated trades

Apprenticeship training and trade qualifications in Canada are governed by the provincial and territorial jurisdictions. These jurisdictions determine the trades, for which, apprenticeship training is made available as well as the trades, for which, certificates are granted. These are referred to as designated trades. The jurisdictions also determine which of the designated trades require certification in order to work unsupervised in the trade. The list of designated trades varies considerably between the jurisdictions. Data from the Registered Apprenticeship Information System (RAIS) include those trades that are designated in at least one province or territory.

Registered apprentices are people who are in a supervised work training program in a designated trade within their provincial or territorial jurisdiction. The apprentice must be registered with the appropriate governing body (usually a Ministry of Education or Labour or a trade specific industry's governing body) in order to complete the training.

Trade Qualifiers or Trade Challengers are people who have worked in a specific trade for an extended period of time, without necessarily having ever been an apprentice, and who have received certification from a jurisdiction, usually done via a skills assessment examination in the trade.

Registrations

The total registrations in apprenticeship programs is the count of any registrations that occurred during the reporting period (from January to December of the calendar year) within one of the 13 jurisdictions (province or territories).

Total registrations = Already registered + New registrations + Reinstatements

  • Already registered - the number of registrations carried forward from the previous calendar year
  • New registrations - new entrants to any apprenticeship program that occurred during the 12 months reporting period
  • Reinstatements - registrations by people who had left an apprenticeship program in a specific trade in a previous year and had returned to the same apprenticeship program during the reporting period

Red Seal and non-Red Seal Programs

The Red Seal Program sets common standards assessing the skills of tradespersons across Canada in specific trades, referred to as the "Red Seal" trades. Tradespersons who meet the Red Seal standards, through examination, receive a Red Seal endorsement on their provincial/territorial trade certificates. The Red Seal endorsement provides recognition that your certificate meets an interprovincial standard that is recognized in each province and territory.

Non-Red Seal trades do not have interprovincial standards. Many of these trades do not have an examination requirement in order to work in the trade.

Certification

The requirements for granting a certificate varies by jurisdiction in Canada. In most instances, an apprentice is issued a certificate if he or she completes requirements such as supervised on-the-job training, technical training, as well as passing one or more examinations. Most trade qualifiers (Challengers), meanwhile, become certified once they pass an examination.

Certification terminology

There are jurisdictional differences in the names of certificates awarded.

They may include:

  • Certificate of Apprenticeship
  • Diploma of Qualification
  • Certificate of Qualification
  • Journeyperson's Certificate
  • Certificat d'aptitude
  • Certificat de compagnon
  • Certificat de compétence
  • Diplôme d'apprentissage

Federal, provincial and territorial changes pertinent to the interpretation of RAIS data

1. Revisions have been made to the Quebec 1991 to 2005 data, which also changed the previous Canada totals.

2. Prior to 1999, Nunavut was part of the Northwest Territories.

3. Starting in 2003, a change occurred in the reporting of Newfoundland and Labrador's information concerning newly registered apprentices and cancellations/suspensions.

4. The British Columbia data have been revised in 2005. This changed the previous Canada totals for 2005.

5. Starting with the 2005 reporting year, Prince Edward Island changed their information system and this may have affected historical comparisons. At the end of 2006, Prince Edward Island made some adjustments and revisions to their database which accounted for the change in the carry-over of registered apprentices for the beginning of 2007. In 2007, an increase in new registrations is, to some extent, related to a demand for skilled workers outside of the province. In 2008, due to technical difficulties during the redesign of their Registered Apprenticeship Information System, Prince Edward Island was not able to report a number of apprentices.

6. In 2006, minor trade code revisions were made to Manitoba.

7. In 2006 and 2007, differences may occur in Ontario related to the carry-over totals of active apprentices between both years. This is a result of the conversion of client data into Ontario's new database system. As a result, a clean-up of inactive clients occurred and this adjusted the active total of registered apprentices and their carry-over into 2007.

8. As of 2008, the portion of total Quebec trade information coming from Emploi-Quebec (EQ) is no longer being provided in aggregated form. The data from the province includes all trades with the exception of the automotive sector.

9. In 2008, Alberta incorrectly included the Industrial warehousing trade with the Partsperson and Partsperson (material) trades and also excluded the Construction Craft Worker trade.

10. In 2008, a distinct feature of the Rig Technician trade is that although individuals may be registered as apprentices in the trade in Ontario, their certificates are granted as trade qualifiers (challengers).

11. In 2008, Alberta reported a large number of discontinued apprentices, which was a result of them implementing a series of cancellations and suspensions of inactive apprentices.

12. In 2008 and 2009, new Quebec legislation affecting the Emploi-Quebec (EQ) sector trade was introduced. This resulted in some changes in the reporting of registered apprenticeship registrations.

13. An adjustment has been made to the Joiner trade in British Columbia, to include the trade in the Interior finishing major trade group, rather than in the previous Carpenter's major trade group.

14. In 2010, the Emploi-Quebec (EQ) data included revised trade programs where some of the trades have been segmented into several levels. This segmentation created possible multiple registrations and completions by a single individual apprentice, where previously only one registration and completion existed for this individual.

15. In 2011, the Electronics technician (Consumer Products) trade was no longer designated as a Red Seal trade.

16. In 2012, the Gasfitter - Class A and Gasfitter - Class B trades were designated as Red Seal trades.

17. In 2013, changes in provincial regulations governing drinking water related trades reported by Emploi-Quebec (EQ), have resulted in program changes, as well as the transferring of responsibility of some of these trades to the Conseil de la Construction du Québec (CCQ).

18. Begining in 2013, Ontario's data is received from two organizations. The registration data continues to be reported by the Ministry of Advanced Education Skills Development (MASED). They are also responsible for issuing Certificates of Apprenticeships upon the completion of technical training and on-the-job hours. The Ontario College of Trades (OCOT) is responsible for reporting data on Certificates of Qualifications, which are issued to apprentices upon the completion of a certification exam. This administrative practice has affected the RAIS data in a number of different ways.

  1. On April 8, 2013, MASED awarded a Certificate of Apprenticeship to approximately 6,000 apprentices who had completed their technical training and on-the-job hours, and had not yet received a Certificate of Qualification.
  2. There are discrepancies in the number of apprentices in Ontario due to differences in how MASED and OCOT define an apprentice. OCOT considers apprentices to be their members, for whom they have received membership applications with payment of annual membership fees. MASED considers apprentices to be individuals for whom they have received signed training agreements. In the MASED registration data, apprentices can have active and inactive statuses, which can also contribute to discrepancies. Inactive apprentices are apprentices with whom MASED have not received information about their progression in their apprenticeship program for more than a certain period of time. Active and inactive apprentices are included in the RAIS data. As such, the RAIS data may include previously registered apprentices, who have since discontinued their apprenticeship program, but have not yet informed MASED that they have discontinued their program.
  3. Beginning in 2013, apprentices who discontinued from apprenticeship programs in the past, but who remained on the database as already registered apprentices began to be removed from MASED records. These removals appear in the RAIS data files in the following years. The clean-up occurred during odd years (2013, 2015, and 2017). After discussion with the Ontario data partners in 2019, it was indicated that the last of these batch discontinuations were completed in 2017. As a result, there will be less of a spike in discontinuations, and more of a normalized trend from here starting in 2018 and onwards. Normal discontinuation figures for the province will be about 5,000 to 7,000 per year.
  4. In 2014 and 2015, apprentices who did not receive their Certificate of Qualification or Certificate of Apprenticeship in the same year were classified as trade qualifiers (Challengers) rather than apprentices. To align the RAIS data with the standard definition of trade qualifier (Challengers), these records were reclassified as apprentices with the release of the 2016 RAIS data. This revision led to a decrease of about 2,600 trade qualifiers (Challengers) in Ontario in both 2014 and 2015 compared to the previously released data.

19. In 2013, a regulatory change came into effect which affects both Ornamental ironworkers and Structural steel erectors under the jurisdiction of the Conseil de la Construction du Québec (CCQ). Workers in these two trades are now considered Ironworkers. Both the 2014 and 2015 reference years were also impacted by these regulatory changes.

20. In 2013, changes were made to the Automotive Service Technician trades in British Columbia. Apprentices no longer have to complete mandatory work-based training hours at each program level before progressing to the next level of technical training. The 2014 reference year was also impacted by these changes.

21. Certificates in the Steamfitter/Pipefitter trade under the Conseil de la Construction du Québec (CCQ), also include Plumbers.

22. Starting in 2013, Building/Construction Metalworker are coded to Metal Workers (other) instead of being included in the 'Other' category.

23. In 2014, the Heavy Equipment Operator (Dozer), Heavy Equipment Operator (Excavator) and Heavy Equipment Operator (Tractor-Loader-Backhoe) trades were designated as Red Seal trades.

24. Trade qualifiers (Challengers) in trades governed by Emploi-Quebec (EQ) represents certificates granted to individuals who received recognition for previously completed training. Emploi-Quebec (EQ) may, for example, recognize training in the case where an individual has a certificate in other provinces, territories, countries, or if the individual received a Diploma of Vocational Studies (DVS) in Quebec. These trade qualifiers (Challengers) also represent certificates granted as part of the regular re-certification process required in certain trades.

25. In March of 2014, there were changes made to the eligibility for the Apprenticeship Training Tax Credit (ATTC) in Ontario. This may have affected registration counts in some trades including those for information technology.

26. Prior to 2014, three welder programs (level A, level B, and level C) were offered in British Columbia. Starting in 2014, these three programs began to be phased out and replaced by a single apprenticeship program for welders. This change will impact registrations and certifications in this trade for the years following 2014.

27. Starting in 2017, changes are being made to the Automotive Service Technician program in British Columbia. The program is being restructured to align with other Canadian jurisdictions Automotive Service Technician Red Seal programs. These changes impacted reinstatement totals for 2017 and will potentially influence registrations counts for years following 2017.

28. In July 2018, Manitoba announced that it will perform a data clean-up every two years, starting with the 2019 reporting year. This clean-up resulted in lower numbers for both registrations and certifications for the 2019 reporting year.

29. In 2013, the structural steel erector trade and locksmith trade merged to become the ironworker worker trade. Transitional measures were put in place for journeypersons in these trades, which ended in July 2018.

30. British Columbia has some broad categories of trades where it is possible to receive a certificate after each level is completed, while other jurisdictions only certify apprentices after completing the final level.

  1. In 2019, the Industry Training Authority (ITA) made a decision to group some of their trades under one general trade. For example, Automotive Service Technician 1, Automotive Service Technician 2, and Automotive Service Technician 3 were combined into Automotive Service Technician.
  2. All the trades under Welder were not consolidated, but a general version of the Welder trade was created in 2019.
  3. Also, some apprenticeships were deactivated for certain trades and replaced by Challenge Pathway only, which is for trade qualifiers. Rig Technician, Petroleum Equipment Service Technician, and Water Well Driller are examples of these trades.

31. Starting December 1st, 2019, British Columbia will no longer offer technical training for the Rig Technician apprenticeship program. The apprentices continuing in this trade were taking their technical training in Alberta; however, Alberta no longer offers technical training for this trade and is in the process of de-designating this apprenticeship. Individuals can still receive a designation in trade by challenging the exam in British Columbia.

32. During the reference year of 2020, as a result of the pandemic some provinces cancelled or postponed in-class training, exams and apprenticeships throughout 2020. Counts for various indicators might be considered historical lows due to the pandemic in 2020. This created a larger deviation in the data for RAIS 2020 registrations, certifications and discontinuations.

Why are we conducting this survey?

This survey collects data from plants in Western Canada that use grain mainly to produce ethanol or biodiesel. The data will be used by Statistics Canada to calculate grain deliveries and to produce supply and disposition statistics. Information from agricultural surveys is used by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and other federal and provincial departments for economic research, and to develop and administer agricultural policies.

Your information may also be used by Statistics Canada for other statistical and research purposes.

Your participation in this survey is required under the authority of the Statistics Act.

Other important information

Authorization to collect this information

Data are collected under the authority of the Statistics Act, Revised Statutes of Canada, 1985, Chapter S-19.

Confidentiality

By law, Statistics Canada is prohibited from releasing any information it collects that could identify any person, business, or organization, unless consent has been given by the respondent, or as permitted by the Statistics Act. Statistics Canada will use the information from this survey for statistical purposes only.

Record linkages

To enhance the data from this survey and to reduce the reporting burden, Statistics Canada may combine the acquired data with information from other surveys or from administrative sources.

Data-sharing agreements

To reduce respondent burden, Statistics Canada has entered into data-sharing agreements with provincial and territorial statistical agencies and other government organizations, which have agreed to keep the data confidential and use them only for statistical purposes. Statistics Canada will only share data from this survey with those organizations that have demonstrated a requirement to use the data.

Section 11 of the Statistics Act provides for the sharing of information with provincial and territorial statistical agencies that meet certain conditions. These agencies must have the legislative authority to collect the same information, on a mandatory basis, and the legislation must provide substantially the same provisions for confidentiality and penalties for disclosure of confidential information as the Statistics Act. Because these agencies have the legal authority to compel businesses to provide the same information, consent is not requested and businesses may not object to the sharing of the data.

For this survey, there are Section 11 agreements with the provincial statistical agencies of Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia. The shared data will be limited to information pertaining to business establishments located within the jurisdiction of the respective province.

Business or organization and contact information

1. Verify or provide the business or organization's legal and operating name and correct information if needed.

Note: Legal name modifications should only be done to correct a spelling error or typo.

Note: Press the help button (?) for additional information.

Legal Name
The legal name is one recognized by law, thus it is the name liable for pursuit or for debts incurred by the business or organization. In the case of a corporation, it is the legal name as fixed by its charter or the statute by which the corporation was created.

Modifications to the legal name should only be done to correct a spelling error or typo.

To indicate a legal name of another legal entity you should instead indicate it in question 3 by selecting 'Not currently operational' and then choosing the applicable reason and providing the legal name of this other entity along with any other requested information.

Operating Name
The operating name is a name the business or organization is commonly known as if different from its legal name. The operating name is synonymous with trade name.

Legal name

Operating name (if applicable)

2. Verify or provide the contact information for the designated contact person for the business or organization, and correct information if needed.

Note: The designated contact person is the person who should receive this questionnaire. The designated contact person may not always be the one who actually completes the questionnaire.

First name

Last name

Title

Preferred language of communication

  • English
  • French

Mailing address (number and street)

City

Province, territory or state

Postal code or ZIP code

Country

  • Canada
  • United States

Email address

Telephone number (including area code)

Extension number (if applicable)
The maximum number of characters is 5.

Fax number (including area code)

3. Verify or provide the current operational status of the business or organization identified by the legal and operating name above.

  • Operational
  • Not currently operational
    e.g., temporarily or permanently closed, change of ownership
    Why is this business or organization not currently operational?
    • Seasonal operations
      • When did this business or organization close for the season?
        • Date
      • When does this business or organization expect to resume operations?
        • Date
    • Ceased operations
      • When did this business or organization cease operations?
        • Date
      • Why did this business or organization cease operations?
        • Bankruptcy
        • Liquidation
        • Dissolution
        • Other - Specify the other reasons why operations ceased
    • Sold operations
      • When was this business or organization sold?
        • Date
      • What is the legal name of the buyer?
    • Amalgamated with other businesses or organizations
      • When did this business or organization amalgamate?
        • Date
      • What is the legal name of the resulting or continuing business or organization?
      • What are the legal names of the other amalgamated businesses or organizations?
    • Temporarily inactive but will re-open
      • When did this business or organization become temporarily inactive?
        • Date
      • When does this business or organization expect to resume operations?
        • Date
      • Why is this business or organization temporarily inactive?
    • No longer operating because of other reasons
      • When did this business or organization cease operations?
        • Date
      • Why did this business or organization cease operations?

4. Verify or provide the current main activity of the business or organization identified by the legal and operating name above.

Note: The described activity was assigned using the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS).

Note: Press the help button (?) for additional information, including a detailed description of this activity complete with example activities and any applicable exclusions.

This question verifies the business or organization's current main activity as classified by the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) is an industry classification system developed by the statistical agencies of Canada, Mexico and the United States. Created against the background of the North American Free Trade Agreement, it is designed to provide common definitions of the industrial structure of the three countries and a common statistical framework to facilitate the analysis of the three economies. NAICS is based on supply-side or production-oriented principles, to ensure that industrial data, classified to NAICS , are suitable for the analysis of production-related issues such as industrial performance.

The target entity for which NAICS is designed are businesses and other organizations engaged in the production of goods and services. They include farms, incorporated and unincorporated businesses and government business enterprises. They also include government institutions and agencies engaged in the production of marketed and non-marketed services, as well as organizations such as professional associations and unions and charitable or non-profit organizations and the employees of households.

The associated NAICS should reflect those activities conducted by the business or organizational units targeted by this questionnaire only, as identified in the 'Answering this questionnaire' section and which can be identified by the specified legal and operating name. The main activity is the activity which most defines the targeted business or organization's main purpose or reason for existence. For a business or organization that is for-profit, it is normally the activity that generates the majority of the revenue for the entity.

The NAICS classification contains a limited number of activity classifications; the associated classification might be applicable for this business or organization even if it is not exactly how you would describe this business or organization's main activity.

Please note that any modifications to the main activity through your response to this question might not necessarily be reflected prior to the transmitting of subsequent questionnaires and as a result they may not contain this updated information.

The following is the detailed description including any applicable examples or exclusions for the classification currently associated with this business or organization.

Description and examples

  • This is the current main activity
  • This is not the current main activity
    Provide a brief but precise description of this business or organization's main activity
    e.g., breakfast cereal manufacturing, shoe store, software development

Main activity

5. You indicated that is not the current main activity.

Was this business or organization's main activity ever classified as: ?

  • Yes
  • No

When did the main activity change?
Date

6. Search and select the industry classification code that best corresponds to this business or organization's main activity.

How to search:

  • if desired, you can filter the search results by first selecting this business or organization's activity sector
  • enter keywords or a brief description that best describes this business or organization main activity
  • press the Search button to search the database for an activity that best matches the keywords or description you provided
  • then select an activity from the list.

Select this business or organization's activity sector (optional)

  • Farming or logging operation
  • Construction company or general contractor
  • Manufacturer
  • Wholesaler
  • Retailer
  • Provider of passenger or freight transportation
  • Provider of investment, savings or insurance products
  • Real estate agency, real estate brokerage or leasing company
  • Provider of professional, scientific or technical services
  • Provider of health care or social services
  • Restaurant, bar, hotel, motel or other lodging establishment
  • Other sector

Enter keywords or a brief description, then press the Search button

7. You have indicated that the current main activity of this business or organization is:

Main activity

Are there any other activities that contribute significantly (at least 10%) to this business or organization's revenue?

  • Yes, there are other activities
    Provide a brief but precise description of this business or organization's secondary activity
    e.g., breakfast cereal manufacturing, shoe store, software development
  • No, that is the only significant activity

8. Approximately what percentage of this business or organization's revenue is generated by each of the following activities?

When precise figures are not available, provide your best estimates.

Approximately what percentage of this business or organization's revenue is generated by each of the following activities?
  Percentage of revenue
Main activity  
Secondary activity  
All other activities  
Total percentage  

Grains purchased for industrial purposes

1. Which of the following grains did this company purchase for industrial purposes from the beginning of the crop year to the reference date?

Include:

  • purchases from farmers
  • quantities purchased from companies
  • imported grains.

Select all that apply

  • Wheat
    • Excluding durum.
  • Durum wheat
  • Canola
  • Corn
  • Barley
  • Oats
  • Flaxseed
  • Rye
  • Other grain purchased for industrial purposes
    • Specify the other grain purchased for industrial purposes

Quantity of grain purchased for industrial purposes

2. From the beginning of the crop year to the reference date, how much grain was purchased for industrial use from farmers and companies?

Include:

  • purchases from farmers
  • quantities purchased from companies
  • imported grains.

If your unit of measure is kilograms, please convert it to metric tonnes and round to one decimal place.

From the beginning of the crop year to the reference date, how much grain was purchased for industrial use from farmers and companies?
  Quantity purchased from farmers (metric tonnes) Quantity purchased from companies (metric tonnes)
Grain    
Wheat (excluding durum)    
Durum wheat    
Canola    
Corn    
Barely    
Oats    
Flaxseed    
Rye    

Grain stocks

3. On the reference date, what were the stocks in metric tonnes of the following grains held in your company's elevators?

Include imported grains.

If your unit of measure is kilograms, please convert it to metric tonnes and round to one decimal place.

On the reference date, what were the stocks in metric tonnes of the following grains held in your company's elevators?
  Total stocks (metric tonnes)
Grain  
Wheat (excluding durum)  
Canola  
Corn  
Barley  
Oats  
Flaxseed  
Rye  

Changes or events

1. Indicate any changes or events that affected the reported values for this business or organization, compared with the last reporting period.

Select all that apply.

  • Strike or lock-out
  • Exchange rate impact
  • Price changes in goods or services sold
  • Contracting out
  • Organizational change
  • Price changes in labour or raw materials
  • Natural disaster
  • Recession
  • Change in product line
  • Sold business or business units
  • Expansion
  • New or lost contract
  • Plant closures
  • Acquisition of business or business units
  • Other
    Specify the other change or event:
  • No changes or events

Contact person

1. Statistics Canada may need to contact the person who completed this questionnaire for further information.

Is the provided given names and the provided family name the best person to contact?

  • Yes
  • No

Who is the best person to contact about this questionnaire?

First name:

Last name:

Title:

Email address:

Telephone number (including area code):

Extension number (if applicable):
The maximum number of characters is 5.

Fax number (including area code):

Feedback

1. How long did it take to complete this questionnaire?

Include the time spent gathering the necessary information.

Hours:

Minutes:

2. Do you have any comments about this questionnaire?

Residential and Non-residential Property Assessment Values at Current Prices 2020

Investment, Science, and Technology Division

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Key definitions
    1. Price base date
    2. Volume state date
    3. Residential property
    4. Non-residential property
    5. Properties subject to municipal, provincial, territorial and federal payment-in-lieu
  3. Input data
    1. Data sources
    2. Unit reported
  4. Auxiliary Data
    1. Multiple Listing Service data
    2. Building permit and investment in construction data
    3. Census of Population
    4. Census of Agriculture
    5. List of CSDs from the Data Integration Infrastructure Division
  5. Classification
    1. Geography
    2. Type of Property
  6. Imputation for missing data
    1. Imputation of residential values
    2. Imputation of non-residential values
  7. Price adjustments
    1. Choice of Source Data Vintage
    2. Residential Price adjustment
      1. Overview of price adjustment methodology
      2. Calculating weighted monthly average resale price
      3. Residential price index for Nunavut
      4. Price adjustments when the following tax year's values are known
    3. Non-residential price adjustment
  8. Volume adjustments
    1. Residential volume adjustments
    2. Non-residential volume adjustments
  9. Removals and adjustments in accordance with typical property assessment and taxation practices
    1. Removal of CSDs on account of First Nations and other Aboriginal Groups
    2. Exclusion of exempt residential property
    3. Exclusions of schools, churches and hospitals
    4. Removal of properties subject to provincial-territorial and municipal payments-in-lieu of taxes
    5. Adjustments in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut
    6. Removal of machinery and equipment values in Alberta, Northwest Territories and Nunavut
    7. Removal of personal property values in Manitoba
    8. Mixed-use properties
  10. Quality control
    Annex 1. List of CSD types representing First Nations and other Aboriginal Groups
  11. Annex 2. List of Provinces and Territories with Microdata in tax year 2020

1. Introduction

The Property Values Program produces annual estimates of assessment values of properties at current prices across Canada. Finance Canada uses these estimates to determine fiscal capacity with respect to property taxes for the Equalization program and the Territorial Formula Financing (TFF) program. Footnote 1 In order to ensure comparability of the data, a number of adjustments are made, including: coding property categories to a common classification; adjusting to a common price base date and volume state (or stock) date; and imputation of missing property values in some areas. Additionally, other removals and adjustments are carried out in order to produce estimates of assessment values at current price that meet the requirements to determine fiscal capacity.

This document presents these adjustments in more detail.

2. Key definitions

a. Price base date Footnote 2

The price base date (also called the valuation date) corresponds to a fixed point in time as of when a property is valued.

b. Volume state date

The volume state date is the fixed point in time as of when the stock of properties is recorded, which also corresponds to the date where all properties are represented in an assessment roll data file.

c. Residential property

Defined as all types of property categorized as residential for assessment purposes in the majority of provinces and territories. It includes single and multi-unit properties, farm residences, cottages and vacation homes, mobile homes, and vacant lands which are lawfully usable for residential purposes.

d. Non-residential property

Defined as all types of property categorized as non-residential for assessment purposes in the majority of provinces and territories. It includes industrial, commercial and institutional properties, engineering construction and mining properties, and vacant lands which are lawfully usable for non-residential purposes.

Agricultural properties Footnote 3 (not including farm residences, which are part of residential property) as well as machinery and equipment properties are excluded from final estimates.

e. Properties subject to municipal, provincial, territorial and federal payment-in-lieu

Defined as municipal, provincial, territorial and federal government-owned property for which owners remit payment-in-lieu of tax to municipal governments or local taxation authorities for receiving municipal services. A payment-in-lieu of taxes is made to compensate a local government for some or all of the tax revenue that it loses because of the nature of the ownership or use of a particular piece of real property. Usually, no property tax is collected for buildings owned by government.

3. Input data

a. Data sources

Assessment data are collected from provincial, territorial and municipal assessment entities and are based on municipal assessment rolls. Data providers agree to provide the data on a regular basis either through formal agreements or responding per data request.

Starting in January 2018, assessment roll microdata is gradually being received from every jurisdiction, to replace the use of assessment roll aggregate data. See Annex 2.

b. Unit reported

Data are reported either at the municipality level, or at property or sub-property level.

4. Auxiliary Data

a. Multiple Listing Service data

Multiple Listing Service (MLS) data are produced by the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA). The data are obtained via Haver Analytics, a company that is the sole distributer of CREA MLS data. MLS data are for resale homes and are comprised of dollar volume sales and number of units sold by real estate board. Data are available for all provinces and territories with the exception of Québec and Nunavut.

b. Building permit and investment in construction data

Data on the number of residential and non-residential building permits issued, investment in construction completion, by type of work (e.g., new unit, conversion, etc.), is obtained from Statistics Canada's Building and Demolition Permits (BDP) and Investment programs. The data are produced monthly, by jurisdiction.

c. Census of Population

Data from Census of population are available every five years. Between census years, yearly values, referred to as "Intercensal" values, are derived using linear interpolation. Footnote 4 These values are used at various stages of the production cycle such as for the imputation of missing values and for the estimation of farm residences.

d. Census of Agriculture

Similar to the Census of population, data from Census of Agriculture are available every five years. Yearly values ("Intercensal" values) are also derived using linear interpolation and used during the production cycle. Census of Agriculture values are used to estimate the values of farm residences in Ontario, Saskatchewan and British Columbia, provinces where such values are embedded in totals or are missing.

e. List of CSDs from the Data Integration Infrastructure Division

The list of Census Subdivisions (CSD) is produced, maintained and updated annually by the Data Integration Infrastructure Division at Statistics Canada.

5. Classification

a. Geography

The municipalities covered by the collected data are assigned to Census Subdivisions (CSDs) updated annually by Statistics Canada's Data Integration Infrastructure Division, using the Standard Geographical Classification system. The assignment of CSDs is revised yearly to reflect changes (municipal amalgamations, legal status changes, etc.) that occur during the year.

CSDs containing First Nations or other autonomous or self-governing areas are out of scope for Fiscal Arrangements purposes (see Annex 1); consequently, estimates are not produced for these CSDs.

b. Type of Property

The Type of Property Classification was reviewed to improve comparability of the data amongst provinces and territories. The classification of properties is more precise when more details are available in the data.

6. Imputation for missing data

There exist municipalities or regions that are not assessed by provincial or territorial assessment bodies, and therefore no property taxes are levied. As a result, assessment values are missing for some jurisdictions, mostly in unorganized areas. Footnote 5 Additionally, on occasion, some municipalities submit their assessment values to assessment bodies later than when the data are required. Missing property assessment values for these municipalities are imputed.

For taxation year 2020, there were 149 jurisdictions with missing data that were imputed, 139 of which were in Newfoundland-and-Labrador, 8 were in Northwest Territories and 2 were in Saskatchewan.

a. Imputation of residential values

The imputed residential value for a CSD is calculated by multiplying the number of private dwellings by the average value of owner-occupied dwellings for the CSD from the intercensal Census of Population file.

In order to produce an imputed value that best reflects the desired price base and volume state dates:

  • the number of private dwellings value is taken from the yearly intercensal file of the same year as the volume state date of the raw file; and
  • the average value of owner-occupied dwellings is taken from the yearly intercensal file or derived from assessed values of the same year as the price base date of the raw file.

The resulting imputed values are then processed and adjusted Footnote 6 using the same methodology as for raw values.

b. Imputation of non-residential values

Unlike the imputation for residential property values where dwelling values from intercensal files can be used to estimate the value of residential properties, no similar direct indicator is available for non-residential properties. Therefore, non-residential values are imputed using data of CSDs with similar Census population counts within the same province or territory.

Ratios of the total non-residential values over the total population are calculated using data from CSDs for each population class (see table 1 below) for each province and territory. These ratios Footnote 7 are then applied to the population count of the missing CSD to derive the imputed non-residential value. Most of the missing CSDs are from rural areas.

Table 1 – Population class used for imputation on non-residential values Footnote 8
Population Class Description
1 Rural
2 Small Sized Municipalities
3 Medium Sized Municipalities
4 Large Sized Municipalities

7. Price adjustments

Due to differences in assessment practices and frequency of revaluation practices, data received do not always align with the target price base date of July 1 of the year preceding the taxation year.

a. Choice of Source Data Vintage

In order to minimize price adjustments, the data from the file whose price base date most closely aligns with the target price base date is used to produce the estimates of a given taxation year. In the event that two input files have the same time interval between their price base date and the target price base date, the file with the closest volume state date is selected.

b. Residential Price adjustment

Price adjustments for residential properties are derived using monthly sales data for the resale housing market from MLS. Nunavut is the only region for which resale housing data does not exist; therefore, a residential price index is constructed for this territory.

i. Overview of price adjustment methodology

For a given province or territory, the price adjustment calculations are done at two geographic levels:

  • CSDs within a Census Metropolitan Area (CMA)
  • CSDs outside CMAs (or rest of the province)

For Newfoundland and Labrador, Footnote 9 Prince Edward Island, Yukon and Northwest Territories, there are no data available at the CMA level; therefore, the price adjustment calculations are performed on the provincial and territorial totals.

ii. Calculating weighted monthly average resale price

In order to smooth seasonal fluctuations that can exist in monthly data, weighted monthly average prices are used in the calculation of the residential price adjustment. For a given month, twelve consecutive months of data (period beginning six months before and ending five months after the month) are used.

For a given month k, the formula for calculating the weighted monthly average is as follows:

Weighted_Monthly_Averagek=k-6k+5ResDollarVolkk-6k+5ResUnitSoldk

Where ResDollarVol is the total dollar value of the monthly residential sales and ResUnitSold is the monthly total number of residential units sold.

The residential price adjustments are performed at the CSD level. To arrive at the price adjusted assessment value, the ratio of the weighted monthly average for the month of the target price date over the weighted monthly average for the month of the price base date is calculated. The ratio that is applied to the assessment value of a given CSD is dependent on if the CSD is located in a CMA, and is dependent on the province or territory that it is located in.

iii. Residential price index for Nunavut

As resale data do not exist for Nunavut, Statistics Canada uses data for the region of northern Quebec (NQC) Footnote 10 as a proxy for this territory. Footnote 11 The property assessment data are provided by the provincial Government of Quebec.

The Nunavut residential index is calculated using an unweighted average of residential and non-residential property values reported. Footnote 12

An annual series is generated and converted into a monthly series by adding one twelfth of the dollar difference between two observations to each successive month between observed values (linear interpolation), creating a monthly index. Residential price-adjustments are then applied to Nunavut property values using the same algorithm (for ratios) designed for resale data.

iv. Price adjustments when the following tax year's values are known

In certain provinces and territories such as Prince-Edward-Island and New-Brunswick, assessment roll values are received yearly. In both these cases, the price base date is January 1st of the tax year. Recall that the target price base date is 6 month earlier, i.e. July 1st of the year preceding the tax year. Assessment values are therefore known for January 1st of the tax year and January 1st of the year preceding the tax year. In order to make better use of the assessment data available, a price index is developed using true assessment values on their price base date, which excludes the effect due to yearly changes in volume (new construction and demolition). This index is used to price adjust assessment values in Price-Edward-Island and New-Brunswick.

c. Non-residential price adjustment

Unlike residential properties, non-residential properties (more specifically industrial, commercial, and industrial (ICI)) are not often for sale. It is therefore comparatively more difficult to find appropriate market indicators to use for non-residential price adjustment. To overcome this, the correlation between residential and non-residential price changes was analysed.

A regression analysis was performed and a model was constructed using aggregate raw data from four provinces: Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Quebec and British Columbia. The reasons for using these specific four provinces are twofold: (1) these provinces evaluate their property stock on an annual basis, Footnote 13 and (2) they report data for both assessment values and numbers of properties. This level of detail allowed the derivation of the annual non-residential price movements.

Based on the regression analysis using data from the four provinces mentioned above, the conclusion was to use the model coefficient of 0.73336 as a discount factor to the residential series and also to the residential price index in Nunavut. Footnote 14 The resulting series, generated by applying the discount factor to the residential series, is used for the price adjustment of non-residential values for all provinces and territories.

8. Volume adjustments

Volume adjustments ensure that properties reflect a common volume state date of January 1st of the taxation year. For assessment data that reflects a volume state date earlier or later than the target volume state date, the value of all completed construction that occurred in the period between the two dates is estimated using Statistics Canada's monthly Building and Demolition Permits (BDP) Program or from the Investment Program and then added or subtracted, as the case may be, from the total property values. This methodology is used for both residential and non-residential property values.

a. Residential volume adjustments

For residential properties, the volume adjustment is calculated by estimating the construction that was completed in between the volume state date and the target volume state date using the number of permits from the BDP survey and monthly resale values, or from using the investment in construction completion values.

Based on an analysis of residential construction data, the assumption is made that a residential property being newly built can be considered to be a substantially finished (assessable) unit approximately three months after a building permit is issued. Therefore, for a given month, the BDP data used for the volume adjustment is that of the given month minus three (so for example for June we would use the March BDP data).

For each month falling in the period between the volume state date and target volume state date, the number of permits is multiplied by the average monthly resale value from MLS (for all provinces and territories other than Nunavut), to obtain a monthly volume adjustment value. The monthly volume adjustment values are summed for each month to arrive at the total volume adjustment for the period. For Nunavut, the average assessment value for Northern Québec is used.

Similarly, construction completion values represent the total investment in construction available upon completion of construction. Monthly values that fall between the volume state date and the target volume state date are summed for an estimated total volume adjustment for the period.

Although the two methods are comparable, volume adjustments calculated using investment in construction completion values are slightly more accurate than those calculated using building permit values. When investment in construction completion values are available, they are used in the calculations over the use of building permit values. Residential volume adjustments account for approximately 2% of total values.

Volume adjustments calculated using investment in construction completion values were used to produce residential estimates.

b. Non-residential volume adjustments

For non-residential construction, the assumption is that a property undergoing construction can be considered to be a substantially finished (assessable) unit approximately eight months after a building permit is issued. As non-residential construction projects vary significantly in scope, size, and values, using an average value is not recommended; therefore, the volume adjustment methodology for residential properties cannot be applied to the non-residential.

Instead of using the number of permits, the total value of all permits issued, by month, is used. Consequently, "total values of the non-residential permits" that were issued during the period (using an 8-months lag to allow for construction to be completed) is used to obtain the volume adjustment value. This estimate of new property construction value is used to adjust the total estimates.

As for residential volume adjustments, when non-residential investment in construction completion values are available, these used in the calculations of volume adjustments over the use of building permit values. Non-residential volume adjustments account for approximately 2% of total values.

Volume adjustments calculated using investment in construction completion values were used to produce non-residential estimates.

9. Removals and adjustments in accordance with typical property assessment and taxation practices

a. Removal of CSDs on account of First Nations and other Aboriginal Groups

Census subdivisions containing First Nations reserves, and autonomous or self-governing areas are removed as they are deemed out of scope. Such CSDs are identified based on their CSD type. Footnote 15 For taxation year 2020 estimates there were 14 CSDs that were classified as out of scope and removed from final estimates.

b. Exclusion of exempt residential property

In some provinces, certain properties are identified as exempt from property taxes as presented in the input files received from the assessment bodies. Any value associated with these properties are excluded from estimates for the purposes of fiscal arrangements.

c. Exclusions of schools, churches and hospitals

The most important non-residential properties which are generally exempt from property taxes are schools, churches and hospitals (S/C/H).

Some provinces and territories provide detailed breakdowns of S/C/H in their assessment data. For these provinces and territories, the exact proportion of S/C/H is removed from the final estimates.

For provinces and territories where the S/C/H breakdowns are not available, the proportion of the S/C/H assessment values relative to total assessment values for non-residential properties is estimated by calculating and applying the proportion of S/C/H property values from a similar reporting province or territory. It should be noted that values for engineering and mining properties are excluded from the total assessment value for non-residential properties used in the calculation of the S/C/H proportions.

The list of provinces and territories used in the calculation of estimated S/C/H proportion depends on data availability and can change from one year to the next as microdata is received.

d. Removal of properties subject to provincial-territorial and municipal payments-in-lieu of taxes

Instead of regular property taxes, federal, provincial or municipal government usually remit a payment in lieu of taxes (PILT) for their exempt properties. However, only federal PILT property represents fiscal capacity for the consolidated provincial-territorial-municipal-local sector; provincial, territorial and municipal (PTM) PILT properties are excluded.

When breakdowns of values of PILT properties are not available, as is the case for a number of provinces and territories, these values are estimated. The estimation of PM-PILT values takes into account the S/C/H values, some of which are also PTM-PILT properties, which have already been removed. Only the "remaining" PILT values are estimated and removed.

Although the estimation methodology using aggregate assessment roll data is successful in estimating the remaining proportion to remove, the arrival of assessment roll microdata allows for a more precise estimation of remaining PILT proportions to remove.

e. Adjustments in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut

Unlike in provinces and the Yukon, property assessments in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut do not consistently follow market value standards.

Land values within the municipal taxation areas (Iqaluit in Nunavut; Yellowknife, Fort Simpson, Fort Smith, Hay River, Norman Wells and Inuvik in NWT), reflect full market value, while land values in the remainder of the two territories (i.e. in the General Taxation Areas) are, according to the data provider, based on average regional development costs.

Improvements (i.e. buildings) in both territories are assessed based on depreciated Edmonton construction costs, using Alberta's depreciation schedule. The value so determined for Yellowknife is then multiplied by a factor of 1.35, which is set out in regulations. According to the assessment data provider, this was done to reflect Yellowknife's actual construction costs relative to Edmonton's. Yellowknife's assessed building values therefore approximately reflect market value. Footnote 16

Outside of Yellowknife, in the two territories, a discount factor of 0.666 has been applied to building values initially assessed at depreciated Edmonton construction costs. This factor is also set out in regulations and, according to the assessment data provider, was introduced to encourage development. Upon data entry, this embedded 0.666 scaling factor is removed from the building values in the Northwest Territories outside of Yellowknife and Nunavut.

f. Removal of machinery and equipment values in Alberta, Northwest Territories and Nunavut

Property values for machinery and equipment (M&E) components in the non-residential category are deemed to be out of scope.

The data received from Northwest Territories and Nunavut contain a sizeable share of M&E components in the non-residential total. They are mainly embedded in the following three non-residential classes: mineral, transmission and hydrocarbon. The M&E components are removed by multiplying the reported improvement values by a deflationary factor for each of the previously mentioned three non-residential classes. These factors are provided yearly by the respondents. This treatment ensures that only real property values are included in final estimates, and that the M&E components are excluded.

In Alberta, property values for the M&E components are reported separately by the data providers and are excluded from the final estimates.

g. Removal of personal property values in Manitoba

The assessment roll in Manitoba includes personal property such goods and chattels, which are not considered real property. Such property values are excluded from the estimate.

h. Mixed-use properties

Some properties are used for both residential and non-residential purposes. In cases where no further breakdowns are available, the values of mixed-use properties are redistributed between residential and non-residential property types according to the existing distribution of total residential and non-residential property values by CSD. In cases where further breakdowns are available, mostly in jurisdictions where microdata was received, the values are assigned according to the exact breakdown. The mixed-use properties represent 0.015% of the total valuation of properties in Canada.

One of the most common cases of mixed-use type properties are of a building consisting of ground level commercial with one or more floors of residential units above.

10. Quality control

Statistics Canada's quality assurance framework requires an assessment of data relevance, accuracy, timeliness, accessibility, interpretability and coherence. The quality of the raw input data collected from provincial, territorial and municipal assessment departments and agencies cannot be evaluated in this framework. However, confrontational analysis is performed to compare the source data to existing statistical programs and public information such as annual reports obtained from Provincial websites. Any irregularities identified are carefully reviewed and analyzed before the official release of the data.

Total adjusted residential estimates, for both taxable and exempt properties, are compared to Statistics Canada's Census of Population. The coherence of the values is examined by census coverage analysis, which compares the source data to private dwelling counts and values found in Statistics Canada's Census of Population.

Annex 1. List of CSD types representing First Nations and other Aboriginal Groups Footnote 17

The following are the list of CSD types representing First Nations and other Aboriginal groups presented by province and territory.

Annex 1. List of CSD types representing First Nations and other Aboriginal Groups
Province / Territory CSD Type CSD Type description Legal Code Legal Code description Number of CSDs
NS IRI Indian reserve FL Federally legislated 2
NB IRI Indian reserve FL Federally legislated 1
ON IRI Indian reserve FL Federally legislated 1
MB IRI Indian reserve FL Federally legislated 1
SK IRI Indian reserve FL Federally legislated 3
SK S-É Indian settlement U Not legal municipality - aboriginal geography 1
AB IRI Indian reserve FL Federally legislated 1
BC IGD Indian government district PL Provincially legislated - legal municipality 2
BC IRI Indian reserve FL Federally legislated 5
BC NL Nisga'a land FL Federally legislated 1

Annex 2. List of Provinces and Territories with Microdata in tax year 2020

Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Ontario, British Columbia, Yukon.

Eh Sayers Episode 2 - Unravelling: Impacts of COVID-19 on Canadian families

Release date: December 7, 2021

Catalogue number: 45-20-0003
ISSN: 2816-2250

Eh Sayers podcast

The pandemic presented a long list of threats to the mental and physical well-being of children, parents and educators across the nation. To help end the pandemic and return to normalcy, policy makers had to make difficult choices, such as closing schools. With our guest, Dr. Kelley Zwicker, a pediatrician at CHEO, we discussed the potential short- and long-term effects of the school closures on children and their parents.

Host

Tegan Bridge

Guest

Dr. Kelley Zwicker, Pediatrician

Listen to audio

Eh Sayers Episode 2 - Unravelling: Impacts of COVID-19 on Canadian families - Transcript

Zoe: Hi my name is Zoe. I am a kindergarten teacher in Ontario, Canada, and I've been lucky enough to teach kindergarten through a pandemic. There have been many challenges through this school year. A big one was having to try and separate kindergarten students and do physical distancing with them. The handwashing is easy, the distancing, not so much.

Joey: My name is Joey. My province is Ontario, and I'm in grade 3, next year going to be in to grade 4.

Tony: And what did you like most about this year?

Joey: I had amazing teachers, amazing friends, and I got to be at school for a little bit.

Zoe: We were able to create some groups within our classroom. They played with those students in the groups every day. They were allowed to mingle outside a little bit more. But it was quite a challenge trying to separate them in any way, shape, or form. Mask wearing was another difficulty for kids. They're four and five years old, so even if they did wear a mask, it often ended up in their mouths. It was so much easier and cleaner to not wear a mask for them.

Adapting... there was a lot of that this year. We had a to adapt to in-person learning with mask wearing and social distancing. We had to change what toys we put out for the kindergarteners. We had to change how we were teaching. And then we had to adapt again to teach virtually twice.

[Theme]

Tegan: Welcome to Eh Sayers, a podcast from Statistics Canada, where we meet the people behind the data and explore the stories behind the numbers. I'm your host Tegan.

I don't have kids, but I do know a lot of kids, and I know that this year has not been easy for them. It hasn't been easy for lots of us. We may all have felt pretty powerless, doing what small things we can to keep each other safe. But I think there's something unique in the ways kids experienced this past year.

One thing about being a kid is that you don't always have a lot of control, and you don't always get to make your own decisions. You don't drive the car. You sit in the back and ask, "Are we there yet?" But your parents know the rules of the road, and they know how to drive. They know where they're going. But this year, year and a half, none of us knew where we were going. None of us knew how long this trip was going to take. And when the kids inevitably ask, "Are we there yet? How long until we're done?" None of us had the answer. And that's weird for kids. Because the grown-ups always have the answer. Don't they?

So that's what we're going to explore today. What it's been like to sit in the backseat. What it was like to be a kid in the COVID-19 pandemic.

You'll hear a few voices today. You heard from Zoe and Joey at the top of the show, and you'll hear from others, kids and people who work with them or raise them.

First I'd like to introduce you to Dr. Kelley Zwicker, a pediatrician and founder of the Ottawa Community Pediatricians Network. Dr. Kelley, welcome to the show.

Tegan: So what's it been like being a doctor during a pandemic?

Kelley: It's been challenging and enlightening all at the same time. I think there's some really scary and things that were not obvious that emerged from the pandemic, and I think that it also has offered an opportunity for people just to be still and to think about what's really important and hopefully if we can find a way to navigate through both of those things we'll all come out OK. On the other side.

Tegan: Why did you found the Ottawa Community pediatricians network?

Kelley: I think the answer to that is related to the sense of floundering that we felt in the community and as healthcare providers in the beginning of the pandemic. So back in March

Tegan: That's March 2020.

Kelley: More than a year ago now, as individual practitioners that are not always associated with a larger institution or academic center, we felt a little bit alone and we felt like we were trying to figure out processes. So one of the things that we didn't have was PPE, so personal protective equipment, masks, gloves, gowns, and we also didn't know what we were supposed to be wearing and what we were supposed to be doing like in our offices, even if we did have that PPE. So, myself and the division head actually of community pediatrics. She's been the division head for about 25 years. Her name is Kathy Kiely, and she and I decided to bring people together from the division, and then we extended it to pediatricians outside of the division, all of the independent practitioners, so that we can all be on the same page and share information and support each other. And so it really came from a necessity to protect our patients and to protect ourselves. And it evolved into something really lovely and really supportive. And it's now a conduit to share information, but also to help advocate on common topics that we feel strongly about. For example, like school closures in Ontario and some other really key advocacy things. Right now we're working on vaccine hesitancy, and it also provided an opportunity to bring in experts in certain fields to, kind of, learn more and maintain that continuing medical education and to break down barriers to care.

Tegan: In many ways, the biggest threat to kids isn't necessarily the virus. It's often the measures we've had to take to stop the spread of the disease. So could you talk about that a little bit?

Kelley: So this is a really important question and I appreciate that you asked. I refer to the Canadian Paediatric Society, who published a recent statement in May 2021, that notes that children and youth less than 19 years make up 19% of all Canadian cases, so not a large proportion. And of that less than 2% of hospitalizations are children and youth under 19. Mortality rate in kids is less than 1%. It's .04%, and we see milder disease in children. And this could be related to the fact that the virus doesn't have as many receptors to bind to in children's bodies compared to adults. And so fortunately there has been very little medical morbidity of COVID-19 directly in children. If you look at what's happened since we've closed the schools, we see lack of socialization, lack of regular social programming, significant lack in family supports and a huge increase in mental health conditions, like eating disorders, anxiety, depression, self-harm, social malnutrition, physical inactivity, either a decline in body mass index in the form of a disorder or an increase in body mass index from obesity because there is a multitude of screen addiction and sleep dysfunction. And those are the things that pop into my head just from the last week of clinic that I've seen in relation to the effects of the pandemic on kids.

Tegan: Results from the new Canadian Health Survey on Children and Youth indicate that 4% of children and youth aged 1 to 17, as reported by their parents, had fair or poor mental health in 2019, one year prior to the pandemic. The survey also found that poor mental health among children and youth was associated with adverse health and social outcomes, such as lower grades and difficulty making friends.

Crowdsourced data suggest that the perceived mental health of Canadian youth has declined during the pandemic, with over half of participants aged 15 to 17 reporting that their mental health was somewhat worse or much worse than it was prior to the start of physical distancing.

Tegan: Is it hard to balance competing needs in this situation? So on the one hand you have to stop the spread, on the other you have to consider the well-being of kids whose development and education might be suffering in virtual learning situation.

Kelley: So in the beginning I would say yes, and I say that with the caveat that I'm not a public health expert and I have the utmost respect for those that make these decisions, and I think that our guidance and our approach comes from their leadership, and in the beginning when we didn't know how it was going to affect pediatric populations. I mean we have a bit of evidence from China looking at the lower rates in kids and from other European countries, but we didn't want to let our guard down and we also didn't want to assume that there weren't going to be new variants that would emerge that would affect the younger population. So in the beginning, yes, I feel like that balance was trickier, but in the beginning people weren't fatigued, and people had more energy and it was easier to do what was good for others. And then over time people got tired and it became too much for parents and for kids and for youth and for people in general to follow the rules and to be alone cause being alone is really hard, and isolating is really hard.

So as that fatigue set in and the resources became harder to find or the routine became harder to follow and as we, concomitantly saw that the risk in kids was not as drastic as we thought it could be. The answer to your question really is no. I don't think there has been a challenge recently to sort of... like mitigate the direct effects of COVID and control the virus while looking at all of these other secondary effects that are going on. I think that right now pediatricians across Canada have really reacted to some of the local decisions here in our province in Ontario to keep the schools closed, and I think we've started to recognize very significantly how affected kids are, and it's very easy for us to say we should open the schools and we should resume safe socialization and safe sports and safe extracurricular activities. Because we know that the risk of the virus itself is not as significant as it might be in an older age group.

Tegan: What differences have you seen in your patients as a whole before the pandemic versus now?

Kelley: Well, the initial reaction to that question, if you want me to talk off the cuff, is that parents and families are unravelling.

Kelley: And they are tired and they've had enough and it's been really hard for them to be the parents at home, be the employee at work, the homeschooler in front of the screen, or the counselor for their teen, the CEO of the household, to put three meals on the table when otherwise they would be in school. So balancing all those things as a family unit has been challenging.

If I look back throughout the pandemic, I see some positives. The burden in younger kids for respiratory illnesses and viruses has plummeted, so because of all the social isolation, we've seen fewer asthma exacerbations. We've seen fewer admissions and barely no viral load from other typical pediatric viruses like RSV or influenza. And we've seen sort of fewer visits to health care providers for fever and general coughs, colds, and flus. That's in the younger populations. In the older populations we've seen a lot of mental health, as I mentioned. So anxiety and depression, self harm, suicide, and again, the pattern of eating disorders. And we've also seen kids just check out. And I've seen parents check out, particularly with this run of school closures, where they just can't do it anymore. It's a power struggle everyday, and we see that children are just on the screen. So now instead of you having academic virtual care, virtual school screen time, they're using it as recreational screen time. And so there's also a big increase in both ages, both young kids and older kids in sleep dysregulation and sleep dysfunction. And a child's main job really is to play and also to go to school and to learn--

Tegan: To be a kid.

Kelley: Yeah. And part of that routine is like based on play and social navigation. And you just don't get that in the same way at home or on school curriculums that are virtual. So to answer your question, I think that in the beginning, I think people were keen to give it ago and felt fortunate that there was a way to have education brought into their homes and then as time goes by--and again, this is a very biased answer because I live in Ontario and Ontario schools have been closed for 26 weeks, which is longer than anywhere else in Canada and we are seeing the effects of that fatigue in our offices and then some of the medical things that we see in kids have improved to some degree. But now we're seeing over time, some of those viruses have started to pop up as we've become more liberal with our socialization. And we're going out a little bit more. Some of the viruses are starting to re-emerge now.

Tegan: So. This is something that I personally have been worried about since the very beginning of the pandemic, so I have you know friends and family who have very, very young children including babies and toddlers who you know were born some right before, some during the pandemic who have had very little or no contact with people outside of their immediate family. You know kids that I have met once or twice and then have not seen since. Basically everything locked down, so I've been really worried about them in particular, like of course I'm sad that I'm missing the chance to see them grow up during those early early years. But are there any concerns that there could be some more serious consequences developmentally?

Kelley: There are some concerns around that, particularly around socialization and the acquisition of speech and communication skills, so I think for the neurotypical child who isn't at risk for having a speech or communication delay to begin with, I'm finding, and we as a group are finding as pediatricians, that kids are more stranger adverse, and maybe demonstrating a bit more social anxiety. To some degree age appropriate, but to some degree not. And I think that it's important as a health care provider to always mention when they come that as soon as timing permits and the and the numbers permits that we expose them to social situations. So music classes or nursery school or even just family engagements with other kids. So I am concerned about their development of social navigation and that possibility for social anxiety. I do worry a little bit less about that because I do wonder if that's one of the things that's going to bounce back. And I do feel like that's an area where a neurotypical child can be quite resilient and with some exposure and integration back into social settings, I think that they will be OK. I think that kids that are already at risk for having those delays are the ones that I worry the most about.

Tegan: According to the Canadian Health Survey on Children and Youth, in 2019, 8% of children aged 5 to 17 in Canada had been diagnosed with a learning disability.

Crowdsourced data from June 2020 found that a higher proportion of participants whose family included a child with a disability reported being very or extremely concerned about the school year and their child's academic success, 59% versus 42%.

It's such a it's such an irony, but you can't really do speech and language therapy with the screen, like, you also can't do it with a mask on, and there's some evidence that's been published by some of the EMT specialist in pediatrics that go through how you acquire speech and language skills, and a large part of that is watching how a person's mouth moves, and how their facial expressions change and we just don't have that. And I think I'd even be OK with a mask if they could be in person and watch eye expressions and tone of voice and body language. But we don't even have that right now. The other piece of that is older kids. I know you asked me about younger kids, but older kids that are home from school aren't getting the speech and language support or the occupational therapy support that they would in the school if they were, if they were struggling because that's just not available right now. So we do have concerns about development, particularly around the communication piece for younger kids at that, it's that social anxiety, and the natural detachment from their parents and for kids that are already at risk for being delayed, we worry that that's going to be exacerbated.

Tegan: Occupational therapist Amanda echoed those sentiments.

Amanda: My name is Amanda, I live in the Annapolis Valley region of Nova Scotia, and I work as an occupational therapist in a private mental health clinic. I work with clients of all ages, but the majority of my caseload is made up of children and adolescents.

Amanda: As listeners may or may not know, occupational therapy is an activity-focused branch of our healthcare system. OTs assess why clients can't do the activities that they want or need to do, and then work with clients to address those issues so that they can effectively participate in the activities that give them meaning. As an OT that primarily works with children and their families, I focus a lot on challenges that prevent these kids from engaging in family routines as well as challenges that prevent them from participating or learning at school. While some of these barriers are skill-based, there are often environmental factors that contribute. Therefore, it is helpful for me to go into kids' homes and schools so that I can accurately and holistically assess what factors are contributing to their challenges. This year, schools have put in place strict guidelines on who can enter the building. In addition, public health guidelines have heavily discouraged me from entering peoples' homes unless it is absolutely essential. Therefore, I have needed to do most of my assessment and intervention in the clinic, relying heavily on verbal reports from parents and teachers to attempt to identify if there are any environmental factors contributing to my client's challenges. As I'm sure you can imagine, getting a verbal report about what an environment is like does not provide nearly as much information as being in the environment myself and watching how a child engages with their surroundings.

Thankfully, I live in a province that has continued to allow me to provide in-person services at our clinic. However, I need to evaluate each case to determine if virtual services would be effective and provide virtual services whenever possible. For the clients and families who have been willing to try virtual services, it has been much more difficult to maintain the child's engagement, especially during lockdowns when they are also attending online schooling. In most cases, the clients and families that I work with haven't been interested in virtual services, with many saying that they would rather not get services at all than do virtual services. That's tough – I want these kids and families to get the help they need, but also do my utmost to protect the health of myself and my clients by minimizing contact whenever possible. Even once I have decided that in-person services are required and I have a child in front of me, I need to adapt some of my therapy methods. For example, I work with some kids on noticing and interpreting emotions and social cues. Learning to read facial expressions is a big part of this learning, but the requirement to wear a mask prevents me from demonstrating facial expressions to them (unless I am distanced with a plexiglass shield, which is not usually possible in my clinic space). Therefore, we have to focus on individual parts of the face such as the eyes and eyebrows without being able to integrate the expression OR we need to rely on workarounds like pictures. Also, some of the recommendations that I would normally make for kids are just not possible given the public health guidelines. For example, movement and deep pressure helps to regulate many of the kids I work with. Therefore, I would normally recommend freedom of movement within the classroom and/or equipment that allows kids to get that much-needed sensory input while seated such as a ball chair at their desk. However, due to public health guidelines, kids are not allowed to move around the classroom right now. Additionally, schools or school boards have restricted the use of certain pieces of equipment due to concerns around sharing and sanitization. I have needed to adapt by focusing on teaching kids how to use their bodies to get the sensory input they need. For example, teaching them to stretch or stomp their feet when they are losing focus or getting frustrated. This works really well for some older kids who recognize when they are becoming dysregulated, but is much tougher for the younger ones who don't yet have that awareness.

Tegan: What differences do you note between the concerns of your youngest patients versus the oldest?

Kelley: So younger patients didn't really have concerns. Younger patients live in the moment, like their life is like by the hour, maybe by the day, and big changes affect them and younger kids are resilient. Older kids are too, but those foundational years between one and five are really important. And that's when the upstairs brain and the downstairs brain are wiring themselves together. And what goes on around them really affects the formation of those connections. And... I think... Younger children didn't express themselves, sort of what they're seeing, but they came with more behavioral outbursts, they came with more emotional dysregulation. And that wasn't apparent in the beginning, but it is becoming more apparent now. Older populations really have suffered in their mental health and I, it seems like a recurrent theme and I sort of sound like a broken record. At the same time, the whole job of an adolescent is to figure out who they are, and that involves experiences outside of the family unit. So one of my favorite things to say to parents is that between one and seven years of age, a child really identifies with people around them, so they want to make Mom and Dad happy. They really don't want to disappoint. They want to live by the values that you're trying to instill as a family unit. If you know what you're doing as a parent, which is tricky, but the 1 to 7 year old, that cognitive capacity to think abstractly is just not there, and they just really want to be with you and they want to make you happy. Between about 8 and 12, usually that's when kids start identifying with somebody outside of the family unit. So typically it's like a coach or a teacher or a religious person in their life. Somebody outside of that unit. And that has been taken away. I suppose you could try to build a connection with your teacher online, but it's different. And then by 12 and up it's the cohort around them. So they just want to make their friends happy and you just have to hope that what you did in the one to seven years, and then again between 8 and 12, is enough to kind of say to yourself, "As a parent, my child has a good head on their shoulders and they're going to make good choices." But if you can't have those opportunities starting, you know seven or eight years of age 'cause you're home all the time. How are you going to figure out who you are? How are you going to navigate those situations? How are you going to develop that emotional intelligence? The navigation of social relationships, the challenges and ups and downs of friendships, like you just don't have that. Instead, you have a family unit whose home and probably are pretty sick of each other because they're home all the time. And yes, like it's lovely that we see our kids grow up, and I'm a bit biased 'cause I have very young children. But for those families that have older kids, it's really been a profound impact. I have teenagers who told me they haven't been outside in like 2 to 3 weeks. They wake up in the morning, and they probably fell asleep between 2:00 and 3:00. This is no exaggeration, but they fall asleep like I don't even have to ask the question anymore. I know it's going to be the same story almost every time for teenagers, so they go to sleep around 2:00 to 3:00 in the morning. They're on their social media or they're watching Netflix or they're playing games.

And they struggle to wake up. They open their computer for the time that they have to log on to school. They don't open the blinds. They don't go to the bathroom. They don't eat breakfast. They don't get out of bed and they don't get dressed and so then they go to school until their first break where they may wander downstairs and grab a drink and then go about their day.

Tegan: Kids who were already reporting challenges associated with their mental health before the pandemic may be particularly vulnerable. In 2019, 17% of children and youth aged 5 to 17 reported poor or fair mental health and 5% reported having a diagnosed anxiety disorder.

Crowdsourced data from the questionnaire Impacts of COVID-19 on Canadians - Your mental health, found that youth were the most likely to report a negative impact on their mental health since physical distancing began. Almost two-thirds of those aged 15 to 24 reported a negative impact on their mental health.

Members of this age group were also most likely to report symptoms consistent with moderate or severe anxiety.

Sarah: My name is Sarah, and I live in Ontario. I am currently in grade 10, and I am going into grade 11. If I were to rate this year, I would probably give it a five. It went by very fast and, like, it was just rushed because of COVID and lockdowns. And instead of having an entire semester for a class, we only had a month, and I felt like I was always stressed out and I was always worrying about something because of how much stuff we had to do in, like, a shorter period of time and then as soon as that stress went away, I was thrown back in, into a new class where I had a bunch of other things to worry about. So I find this year was boring, but also very stressful. Like, all of the fun things that high school brought were just not there because of this year. If I don't feel prepared moving on, especially other students who I've talk to you, this year was very rushed, and teachers had to cut a lot of things from subjects, and they had to just throw information at us and hope that we understood it. And I just feel like I haven't because I was always worrying and I just couldn't process things and it was just very difficult to get information that I need moving forward on in my education, so I don't feel prepared and I don't think I'm ready to go on into grade 11 because I don't think I understand everything that I'm supposed to understand in a subject.

Tegan: For the oldest kids, how are the consequences of the pandemic different for them versus their younger counterparts? They're missing out on important milestones and rites of passage, so graduation from grade school to high school, high school to post secondary, prom and all of these things that are just... That's part of becoming... the next stage of your life.

Kelley: So I think that the fact that they're missing out on that is lending to the feelings of anxiety and depression and disappointment, and it's contributing to the idea of checking out. For those families who have the means and the foundation to provide other... sort of opportunities that kids look forward to, so a summer job or going away to a camp or university next year. Those teenagers still have some hope, and they've been able to kind of like work through the disappointment and overcome that. But I think that would be the families that are far and few between.

Again, having that closure is an incredibly important opportunity, and adolescents can't think about the future. They don't have the cognitive capacity to kind of think what it might be like if there are 15 to 17 or 18 like what it's going to be like when they're 25 or 30. So you were I could easily say, oh, it's just a high school graduation. There's so much bigger things in life, but that would be like a profound thing to tell a teenager because they don't have the ability to think like that.

I think that it has brought out some really interesting approaches in some of the schools, like they're doing sort of smaller cohorts, and they're finding a way to say goodbye and have that closure. But for those that had trouble being engaged to begin with and have trouble to kind of fit in and identify with their classmates, it's either helpful because they don't have to have that stress, but in general it's a hindrance because the opportunity to say goodbye and to be with their friends is gone.

Tegan: School isn't just where kids go for academics. For kids, it's an entire network and support system of friends, teachers, mentors and other professionals, people they know they can trust. Could you talk about what it means to lose that support system for a kid?

Kelley: So that is a very important question, because schools promote intellectual development, but they also provide a more informal basis for emotional development as well as nutrition and safety. So when you think about lack of access to school, we automatically think about lack of occupied time for our children and lack of academic attainment. And then we have to remember about the informal or less obvious emotional pieces and the safety piece. So a huge worry of mine and my colleagues amongst this pandemic has been the risk of having schools closed and children's risk of being maltreated at home. And so if you look at stats that I actually found from Statistics Canada, there's approximately 5.7 million children and youths who attend primary or secondary in Canada. This is from 2018 and 2019. And of those, not an unsubstantial number, so about 22, 25 thousand live in unsafe environments. So that's a large portion of families that have unstable situations where kids are victimized and maltreated at home and a lot of people will argue that you can't rely on the school system with such a burden, to maintain all of these responsibilities for nutrition and safety and emotional and intellectual development. But in reality, that's what we do, and countries that are developed use school as the way to equalize access to these things, and when school is not there, that disparity and that inequity increases and the risk to those that are not safe at home increases drastically. An we've seen increases in injuries, we've seen increases in calls to the children's help phone, and we've seen admissions related to various types of maltreatment increased throughout the pandemic, and for me as a pediatrician and as a mom and my colleagues as well, that's a significant worry that we're having.

Tegan: With the closure of schools and other activities, children are more or less restricted to the confines of their home. For children who were already at risk of being victims of family violence, school would no longer be available as a safe space.

In 2019, there were 69,691 child and youth victims (aged 17 and younger) of police-reported violence in Canada. Of these victims, 22,299 were victimized by a family member.

Tegan: There are a lot of kids who are growing up in more challenging circumstances. Schools provide many more things for these kids. Regular meals, safety, trusted teachers, and other adults who can intervene in their lives in positive ways. Could you talk about these kids?

Kelley: So these are the kids that I really think about when I was speaking earlier about how they live in the moment, and sometimes all it takes is one positive connection. One quick smile in the hallway, one person to check in to say "Hey are you doing OK?" that gets these kids through the day.

And it's not always obvious that they are struggling, and sometimes that's their coping mechanism. Going to school and getting through the day and going through the routine, which as you recall, is their job as a youth or a child is what gets them through the day. So not having that is significant in their lives and that's a really challenging situation.

Tegan: Virtual learning can exacerbate inequality.

Prior to the pandemic, in 2018, about 60% of 15-year old students had principals that believed their schools had sufficient resources in place to support remote learning. But preparedness among schools and their students was uneven across the country, with gaps between socioeconomically advantaged and disadvantaged Canadian schools. For example, about 88% of students from socioeconomically disadvantaged schools reported having access to a computer at home, compared to 98% of students from socioeconomically advantaged schools.

And while only 1.2% of households with children did not have access to the internet at home in 2018, the figure was somewhat higher for households in the bottom 25% of the income distribution, 4.2%, than for those in the top 25%, where only 0.2% of households didn't have internet access.

Tony: So what didn't you like so most about this year?

Joey: Well, I didn't really like that we went online, like online, it always makes people mad because they didn't get to be with their friends and they didn't get to see like much people all because, you know, COVID so that's why I didn't like this year. It was really hard.

Tegan: For parents whose kids don't learn well on zoom, which I would guess to be a fair share of them, is there a fear of those kids falling behind?

Kelley: Yes, there's the fear. And then there's the reality. And those children are falling behind.

I think that the main focus that I've been trying to impart on families of any age really is numeracy and literacy, and those are really the skills that you need to have a basis for learning. You also need to have a really good basis in emotional intelligence, and so for those families that are seeing a power struggle to have their child sit in front of a screen and just cannot cope and are at their wits end. It's more important to maintain that emotional intelligence and avoid that power struggle as much as possible because the academics will come.

I strongly feel like it's easier in a way to catch up, and I don't mean to say that lightly. I do think that there is power in everybody being in the same boat. And yes, several families have said to me the online model just works much better for my child. It's not a common comment, and often the families that say that have children who are socially anxious and don't like to be in large groups, and so the caveat to that is they may be thriving academically and then when things open up again, I gently encourage them to be involved in something extracurricular that does not involve a screen that involves face to face interaction so they can maintain exposure to those uncomfortable situations that they tend to be anxious about. So overall I worry less about the academic piece because I think that it will come. And it's a very large problem that lots of people are going to want to solve, and so I don't think it's going to be lost by the wayside.

Kindergarten teacher, Zoe.

Zoe: While virtual we had to learn how to keep our students engaged, which is a whole other challenge within itself. Kindergarteners are not meant to be spending three hours online. We did four forty five minute sessions with the kindergarteners. I played a lot of games with them--that's how we learned French. We watched a lot of videos, we sang a lot of songs. We managed to play hide and go seek on Zoom. But they're done. I think after the second week, they were pretty tapped out. It was no longer a novelty, it was no longer fun, and they asked me all the time, like "Are we going back to the class, madame? Do we get to go back to school? I miss school." So, it's really hard when we're not where we are all meant to be.

Tegan: The number of internet-enabled devices available within the household could also affect learning opportunities, given increased internet demand from siblings and parents who may be working from home. Overall, 58% of households that had internet access had less than one device per household member – not enough devices to support all household members learning and working from home at the same time. Among households in the lowest income quartile, 63% had less than one device for each household member compared to 56% of households in the highest income quartile.

Nearly one-quarter of households in the lowest income quartile reported using only mobile devices for accessing the internet, three times higher than the share among households in the highest income quartile.

Tegan: Can you share any advice to parents dealing with the negative effects of increased screen time?

Kelley: That is a loaded question, and the reason I say that is because there's increased screen time and then there's screen addiction. And sometimes the grey area is not easy to navigate. And increased screen time is a product of this pandemic, and I'll tell you something that we had used as a guideline prior to the pandemic and this is from the Canadian Paediatric Society. And it cites that kids less than two shouldn't have any screen time whatsoever. And between two and five years of age, it should be less than an hour a day. For those that are five and younger, they should not have sedentary screen time on a regular basis. So if they're using the screen, it should be to move their body or to interact. And screens should also be avoided an hour before you go to bed.

So, those were guidance principles that were used before the pandemic, and those were evidence based and now we don't know if those are evidence based anymore because this online learning piece has exacerbated screen use and we don't know how effective online learning is, especially for the younger populations.

So for those that are screen addicted and they're not as uncommon as you may think, you just have to take it away. And we have seen have seen, I've admitted teenagers actually, who all they can think about is going downstairs and playing their game, and that's all they focus on and it causes strife in the family and it causes power struggles and they become upset and violent and emotionally unstable when they can't have their screen and that's a screen addiction. So that is a by-product of this pandemic.

Tegan: You brought up eating disorders. That was actually one of the things that really stuck out to me. That trend in kids developing suddenly pandemic, I guess, related eating disorders. Can you talk a little bit about that? Why could that be?

Kelley: So initially we started seeing this in the beginning and then over time you think about the typical patient demographic that an eating disorder may evolve in and those are people who tend to be perfectionist, Type A personalities. Really high achievers, involved in lots of structure in their day and when you take away everything that causes them to sort of be motivated every day, it's like pulling the rug out from underneath them. So they no longer have those sports to excel in, they no longer have school to excel in, they no longer have that structure of physical activity. And so they started doing it at home. So for example, I had one girl who in my practice recently I met this week and she didn't have any trouble with body dysmorphism. She didn't have any trouble with how she looked at herself when she looked in the mirror, she was bored at home and so she installed an app that she didn't realize probably wasn't healthy and it taught her how to have only 800 to 1,000 calories a day and she started working out to replace the high level of basketball that she was typically enrolled in, and overtime it occupied her spare time and then it became a habit and then it became something that evolved into a pattern of disordered eating and now full blown anorexia. So I think eating disorders are representative of a way to control things, and when somebody doesn't feel like they're in control, it's one of the few things that they can control. And so not all children that we're seeing, or children and youth that were seeing that have eating disorders are fitting this sort of demographic picture, with the type A personality and the high achieving piece. Some of it using as a coping mechanism in situations at home, where they're not faring well from a mental health point of view and it's turned into a way they control their surroundings. But it's definitely been a surprise across Canada, and it's not just been in our local area in Ontario, but it has been Canada-wide that we've seen this.

Tegan: Are parents always aware of the state of their child's mental health? Is there ever a disconnect in terms of the perception of the parent versus the lived experience of the child?

Kelley: That is an excellent question, and there has been a study done on that recently and it showed that between 12 and 17 years of age a lot of self-reported results demonstrated that kids highlight that their mental health is very low and their parents don't see it. And their parents reporting of how their child's mental health is unremarkable or stable, and in actual fact their child is struggling. So there is a disparity and I can see why. Because if you are a parent and you are expected to work from home as well as be a parent and spouse and a person in society, it's difficult to do all of that. So, whereas before the pandemic it may have been challenging for parents to truly stay on top of what's going on in their child's life. The pandemic has exacerbated that because of the pressures and responsibilities that have fallen on parents shoulders now.

Tegan: Comparing the answers given by parents and those given by youth aged 12 to 17 on the 2019 Canadian Health Survey on Children and Youth showed that youth often do not share the same opinion as their parents regarding their own mental health.

In almost half of the cases, parents and youth did report the same mental health status. For the remaining half , there was a discrepancy between the parent's and the youth's perception of the youth's mental health. When a difference occurred, almost two-thirds of youth rated their mental health less positively than their parents did.

These results suggest that parents may not always be aware of the mental health struggles experienced by their children.

Tony: Hi, my name is Tony. I live in Ottawa, Ontario and I am the father to three boys: 11, nine, and four years old. As a parent the most challenging thing about this past year, if I had to pick one, would be you know... constantly having to break bad news to our sons about schools being closed especially at the tail end of this year where they were sure that, you know, they would be going back to see their friends and that's ultimately all they ever wanted to do they just wanted to be with her friends in person and and play with them and be with their teachers and learn in a classroom setting versus virtual learning which wasn't bad but it wasn't ideal for my boys. So that was a constant struggle. In addition to that of course, you know, having to deal with the demands of work and making sure your family is OK and dealing with the day-to-day sort of stuff was particularly tough on my wife and I.

Sarah: I'm glad that I have my parents who were the biggest help during this year. They were always encouraging me and my sibling, and they were always just really supportive and always telling us to keep going and to not stop. And even when we wanted to give up and just stop doing our school stuff, they just encouraged us and said, "No, it's important that you get this done. Don't let this year ruin your education, you gotta keep going." And I did keep going, and I'm glad that I did.

Tegan: I read that one of your colleagues reported alarming signs of poor mental health in very young children like anxiety and clinical depression, and five year olds. For parents, what are some of the signs that they and we can all be on the lookout for when we're looking for mental well being in kids of any age?

Kelley: So, in younger kids, you'll see more emotional dysregulation, so like behavior outbursts. What we would name like a tantrum or negative behavior. Things that we often have to remind people that are a symptom. So behavior is a symptom. Kids just don't choose to behave badly. They behave because something's up. It's a reaction to something going on, and so for younger populations, signs of challenges are frequent. Crying for no reason, sleep disturbance, short fuse and that emotional dysregulation. And then in older kids, it's being despondent, it's checking out, it's not eating, it's not answering, it's not being engaged. Again a common term that I like to use is flipping your lid, so we just have a really short fuse. So that's probably a summary that applies to both young and older age groups that could be an indication that there's something more going on and that their child is not as resilient as we initially sort of said that they were or thought that they would be at the beginning of all of this.

Tegan: In an opinion piece that you wrote, you brought up the term toxic stress. Could you explain for listeners what you mean by that term and what its effects are on kids?

Kelley: So toxic stress is... Sort of a more obvious term for something called an adverse childhood event. So an adverse childhood event is a way to explain something that could be stressful for a child, perhaps in a toxic way. So toxic stress can include abuse and neglect, it can include like how kids are experiencing their environment and it is costly to the body and the brain. So when we are stressed we have lots of different physiologic mechanisms such as higher heart rate, and release of hormones like adrenaline and cortisol. And this is where if you think about the upstairs brain and the downstairs brain, the downstairs brain is your limbic system and that fight or flight response, and so when that's activated in toxically stressful situations for a long time, you have this feeling of being on edge and you physically feel like your heart is racing and your adrenaline is surging. And that can be harmful long term and specially if it's recurring and it can affect brain architecture. So if you live in an unstable environment at home where you're not safe, that's going to affect your mental health and your development long term. Or if you are stressed because there's disharmony in your home and your parents are burnt out or they're just not getting along, even if there is no maltreatment, that toxic stress is going to affect you and how your brain develops long term. And if you think about the ages between one and five, where those formative years are really important in brain development, and you add in that risk of toxic stress, it really highlights how the mental health long term of a child who is exposed to that between one and five can really be affected.

Tegan: The effects of poor mental health can touch upon many aspects of a child's life, and can have lasting impacts on their developmental skills, school performance and capacity to build social relationships.

In 2019, children and youth with fair or poor mental health had lower overall grades than children with very good or excellent mental health. Specifically, almost one-third of children and youth aged 3 to 17 with fair or poor mental health had average grades of C or lower. In comparison, 9% of children and youth with very good or excellent mental health had average grades of C or lower.

Children and youth with fair or poor parent-perceived mental health were also more likely to have difficulty making friends than those with very good or excellent mental health. In 2019, approximately one-quarter of children and youth aged 5 to 17 with fair or poor mental health had difficulty making friends, compared with 1% of children and youth with very good or excellent mental health.

Tegan: What do you think of the idea that kids are just, they're going to be fine! They're going to bounce back on their own.

Kelley: So I think that that was the hopeful comment that we can fall back on in the early parts of the pandemic, but I don't necessarily think that that is true now because of the fatigue and the sort of restrictions that we've been under, at least in Ontario, for a long period of time.

So there's a report actually from an organization called Children's First Canada. It's a not-for-profit organization, and they've written reports in the past prior to the pandemic called Raising Canada, and they highlighted a lot of the disparities and their reports are based in his foundation of the UN rights of the child.

And their recent report on the pandemic really highlights how in many different ways kids are not as resilient as we thought that they were, and it characterizes very accurately the reasons why that resilience is not there, specifically around things that we've talked about before, so lack of access to safety in the school system, lack of access to regular interactions, lack of access to goal setting, lack of the necessities of life and the the UN rights of the child in that way. So I think that the idea that kids are resilient is probably not relevant at this point in the pandemic, because people are tired.

Tegan: How can we help kids recover from the lingering effects of the pandemic in your opinion?

Kelley: I think awareness and insight to the challenges that they've gone through is the first step to that, and I think a recognition of what they have been asked to give up is part of that first step. And I think in some ways they've been back burnered, if I could use that as a verb. And I think that we need to start prioritizing their needs as important and if you think about it, these are the future generations of our country.

Tony: You know, obviously the teachers were incredibly important. They were so instrumental in keeping us apprised of what was happening at school, making sure we had all the resources that we needed for our kids. Messaging us, making sure that we were OK, they were OK. So the educators were incredibly important, family sort of goes without saying. The daily check-in's, the face-timing, everything to make sure that we were OK and you and vice versa.

Amanda: My hopes for the kids are that they experience love and firm support in the midst of all this turmoil. I hope that they have people who care about them – be it professionals, teachers, family members, peers, or (hopefully) a combination of all of that – and that they know these people are trying to help them. I also hope that serious thought will go into determining how to address the gaps and multi-faceted challenges that have emerged for kids during this pandemic. I hope that well-thought-out programs and policies will be put in place now and at the end of all this to support children and families – to strengthen them and build them up. Ultimately, I hope that we can come together as a country to listen to the challenges that children and families have had to face due to this pandemic, and that we will commit to overcoming these challenges together.

Tegan: What do you hope we can learn from this pandemic?

Kelley: I hope that we can learn that we don't need as much as we thought that we did. And I hope that we can learn that, that when we're all in something together, we need to help each other. And those people that can teach us the most, who are our elders and those who have lived their lives, as well as our children, are very valuable.

Tegan: You've been listening to Eh Sayers. A special thank you to Dr. Kelley for taking the time to answer all of our questions, and thank you to Amanda, Joey, Sarah, Tony, and Zoe for sharing their experiences.

You can subscribe to this show wherever you get your podcasts. There you can also find the French version of our show, called Eh-coutez bien. Thanks for listening!