The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Revised census data shows Denare Beachâ??s population is up, not down, bucking the trend of both Flin Flon and Creighton. The village gained 35 residents between 2006 and 2011 rather than losing 116 people as Statistics Canada initially reported. â??It came out favourably for us because every time you go down, it impacts you,â?ù said Mayor Carl Lentowicz. Not only is the revision a boost to civic pride, it also means Denare Beach will gain rather than lose government funding awarded on a per-capita basis. The updated tally brings the population of Denare Beach to 820 people and the combined population of the village, Flin Flon and Creighton to 7,910. StatsCan also revamped the number of private dwellings in Denare Beach, from a loss of 47 to an increase of 17. When the initial 2011 census figures were released in early 2012, Mayor Lentowicz was immediately doubtful of their accuracy. He and council subsequently moved to have the village conduct a revised census on behalf of StatsCan. â??All you want is to have the (right) number,â?ù Mayor Lentowicz said. The follow-up census took place last summer, with a couple of enumerators in place for about two weeks. After StatsCan compared the new data with other information, the revised figures were made official last November. â??A detailed investigation has confirmed that the population count of 669 and total private dwelling count of 385 were incorrect,â?ù wrote Lise Rivais, a StatsCan official, in a letter to the village. Rivais chalked up the initial errors to â??the omission of dwellings which should have been enumeratedâ?ù â?? 64 private dwellings included in the village census were missed by StatsCan enumerators. Mayor Lentowicz believed all along that the population had stayed within 25 people for the five years ended in 2011. The gain of 35 residents surpassed his expectations. Prior to the revision, Laurent Roy, manager of quality assurance for StatsCan, said the agency trusts the information it provides is of â??good qualityâ?ù but added any census can potentially contain â??minor errors.â?ù But the Denare Beach experience suggests the errors may not always be â??minor.â?ù And itâ??s not the only example. See â??Censusâ?? on pg. Continued from pg. The National Post reported last year that the census had declared the tiny Saskatchewan village of Atwater, about two hours outside of Regina, completely abandoned. That came as quite a shock to long-time resident Brenda Rausch and the 33 others she estimates call the town home. Atwater even has a village council consisting of a mayor and two councillors. Neither Flin Flon nor Creighton opted to challenge the 2011 census figures showing them losing 244 and four residents respectively. The census also had Flin Flon â?? the Manitoba and Saskatchewan portions combined â?? gaining 18 private dwellings for a total of 2,739. The percentage of those dwellings occupied by â??usual residentsâ?ù â?? those who normally live there â?? remained relatively stable at 88.9 per cent in 2011 compared to 90.4 per cent in 2006. Meanwhile, Creighton was said to have lost 14 private dwellings during the same time period, going from 625 to 611, according to the census. That was a decline of 2.2 per cent. Usual residents Almost all of the Creighton dwellings â?? 97.5 per cent â?? were occupied by usual residents, up from 93.8 per cent in 2006. In other findings, Snow Lakeâ??s population dropped by 114 people to 723, while Cranberry Portage went down 87 to 572. Pelican Narrows â?? the reserve and village sections combined â?? shot up by 762, to 2,703 people. Deschambault Lake also saw a major spike, rising by 460 to 1,641 residents. Sandy Bay, also with the reserve and village portions combined, rose by 49 to 3,742 people. The Pas lost 76 residents to bring its population to 5,513. Its neighbouring community of Opaskwayak Cree Nation grew by 136, up to 2,714 people. To no oneâ??s surprise, Pukatawagan continued its rapid growth. The northern reserve rose by 348 to 1,826 people, and itâ??s widely believed that number is severely low.
