Though lacking separate municipal government, DPLs otherwise physically resemble incorporated places. They are created by provincial or territorial governments for the purpose of providing data for settled concentrated populations that are identifiable by name but are not legally incorporated under the laws of the province/territory in which they are located.[1] The boundaries of a DPL therefore have no legal status, and not all unincorporated communities are necessarily granted DPL status.
Some designated places may have a quasi-governmental status, such as a local services board in Ontario or an organized hamlet in Saskatchewan. Others may be formerly unincorporated settlements or formerly independent municipalities that have been merged into larger governments, and have retained DPL status in order to ensure statistical continuity with past censuses.
DPLs are similar to the function of census-designated places in the United States, but are defined differently. One significant difference is that Statistics Canada applies the designation to much smaller communities than does the United States Census Bureau.
Statistics Canada indexes designated places numerically, with each designated place referred to by a unique six-digit code, the first two digits of which are the Standard Geographical Classification code for the province or territory in which the place is located, an example being 590066 for Shawnigan Lake in British Columbia.[2]
Criteria
As of the 2016 census, Statistics Canada requires small communities or settlements to meet the following criteria in order to become a designated place:[1]
an area less than or equal to 10 km2 (3.9 sq mi)
"a boundary that respects the block structure from the previous census, where possible."
In 2006, the criteria required for a community to be defined as a designated place included:[3][4]
a minimum population of 100 and a maximum population of 1,000. The maximum population limit may be exceeded provided that the population density is less than 400 persons per square kilometre, which is the population density that defines a population centre.
a population density of 150 persons or more per square kilometre
an area less than or equal to 10 square kilometres
a boundary that respects the block structure from the previous census, where possible
a boundary that respects census subdivision (CSD) limits. If a named area with DPL status crosses the boundary of two or more census subdivisions, then it is enumerated as multiple DPLs, each designated "Part A", "Part B", etc., rather than as a single DPL.
The status of designated place was created for the first time in the Canada 1996 Census.[4] Prior to 1996, such areas were only counted as regular enumeration areas within the applicable census divisions, and no special aggregation of figures was published.[4]