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Geographic Units:

Part A – Plain Language Definition

Portion of Canada's land area governed by a political authority. Canada's land area is divided into ten provinces and three territories.

Part B – Detailed Definition

Province and territory refer to the major political units of Canada. From a statistical point of view, province and territory are basic areas for which data are tabulated. Canada is divided into ten provinces and three territories.

Censuses: 2001, 1996, 1991, 1986, 1981, 1976, 1971, 1966, 1961

Remarks:

A new territory called Nunavut came into effect on April 1, 1999. Nunavut includes three census divisions (Baffin Region, Keewatin Region, and Kitikmeot Region) that were formerly the eastern portion of the Northwest Territories.

Statistics Canada uses standard codes and abbreviations to represent provinces and territories. The two-digit code that uniquely identifies each province/territory is based on the Standard Geographical Classification (SGC). The code is assigned from east to west. The first digit represents the region of Canada in which the province/territory is located and the second digit denotes one of the ten provinces and three territories (Table 10).

Table 10. Abbreviations and Codes for Provinces and Territories, 2001 Census

Refer to the related definitions of Census Division (CD) and Standard Geographical Classification (SGC).

Changes Prior to the 2001 Census:

Not applicable