Access to community-based data is not always easy, or even affordable, for individual community based organizations. Yet, community data are what municipalities and community based organizations need for informing their decision-making and policy development. 

 

The Community Data Program (CDP) provides a gateway for municipalities and community based organizations to access data from Statistics Canada and other small-area data providers. We collaborate with community groups and municipalities across the country to identify data needs and then negotiate special consortia-data licenses with Statistics Canada and other providers. We then disseminate those data back to members via our data catalog. We are also working to acquire tools that help users interpret the data. Access to this type of data enables municipalities and community based organizations to identify and better understand the social and economic trends within their individual communities, helping them in decision-making and policy development.

 

The Community Data Program is led by the Canadian Council on Social Development (CCSD).