About Our Data

Download a PDF version of this document.

The issue areas and core indicators presented in this report are part of a set of common indicators that Community Foundations of Canada collects on behalf of communities participating in Vital Signs. Each Vital Signs community foundation supplements the centrally collected data with local research. The central data collection is secondary research, made up primarily of data from Statistics Canada. Geographic units used are, for the most part, Census Metropolitan Areas or Census Agglomerations. Original source documents for data cited in this report are hyperlinked, where possible, in the footnotes of this expanded on-line version of the report.

The Vital Signs core indicators were identified through a priority-setting exercise with community foundations participating in Vital Signs in 2006, which was in turn based on local community consultations that participating foundations conducted.