The Village of Bjorkdale received some welcome news from Statistics Canada.
In a letter dated Aug. 25, Lise Rivais, Director of Western and Northern regions from Stats Canada stated, “a detailed review of the 2021 Census data for the Village of Bjorkdale has been undertaken.
“The investigation involved a review of maps, enumeration records and the census data collected for the area in order to verify boundaries and ensure that all population and dwellings were correctly allocated. The information provided by your community was also examined to identify any potentially missed households.
“The review confirmed that 34 dwellings from the records provided by the Village were indeed missed by the Census enumerators. The dwellings missed, estimated to be occupied by 55 people and will be added to your total count.”
The Village of Bjorkdale’s total count is now 202, which is an increase of 1 person, rather that the drastic drop of 54 people to 147 which was a 26 per cent decrease (the largest in the Northeast region as previously reported). These new numbers will now be updated on the Stats Canada website and will also provide the Village of Bjorkdale with increased funding for a variety of grants received though out the year.
The Municipal Revenue Sharing grant that is received through the Saskatchewan Government annually was $47,119 in 2021-22 and due to the population decrease only $33,292 was received because of our population count decrease, a difference of $13,827. With this news, the funding will now be corrected in the next fiscal year. The benefits will be felt with other grants as well for the village.
