Town of Bonnyville to get fresh population count in municipal census

Federal count last had Bonnyville at 6,404 in 2021. 

The Town of Bonnyville is moving ahead in finding a more accurate population count for the municipality.

In the 2024 operating budget included a total of $45,000 set aside for the Town to conduct a municipal census.

The goal is to get an accurate population count to better plan for community services, while also allowing for potentially increased grant funding if it’s done on a per capita basis. 

At last Tuesday’s regular council meeting, town council agreed to indicate to the Minister of Municipal Affairs their intentions, which was required by Feb. 28, as well as getting the green light to collect data of the “shadow population.”

The shadow population is a term for out-of-town workers who spend significant time working in that community, but have a residence elsewhere. These temporary residents figured into the shadow counts are employed by an industrial or commercial establishment in the municipality and who have worked at least 120 hours for that employer in the three-month period immediately preceding Census Day.

Council notes presented at the last meeting said in talks with local hotels, a total of roughly 260 are staying long-term.

While it doesn’t appear like the shadow population numbers meet muster in the eyes of the province of counting towards the overall number — ten per cent of the last recorded census — the Town believes the information is valuable to collect.

Timelines are slated at the moment for April to June to collect the data.

There has not been a time where the federal census has been less than the municipal census, said Renee Stoyles, general manager of corporate services. 

The federal census in 2021 gave Bonnyville a population count of 6,404, up from 5,905 in 2016.

The Town last did their own in 2017.

When conducting a census, municipalities are free to choose any of these census enumeration methods, or some combination of the four