Canada has a rich ecosystem of open data. Federal, provincial, and municipal governments all publish data that is freely available to the public. Knowing where to look is the first step to using it.
Federal: open.canada.ca
The Government of Canada's open data portal at open.canada.ca is the central hub for federal datasets. It contains thousands of datasets from departments including Statistics Canada, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Natural Resources Canada, Health Canada, and many more.
Topics include: population and demographics, weather and climate, natural resources, health, transportation, agriculture, and government spending.
Statistics Canada
statcan.gc.ca is one of the most valuable data sources in Canada. Statistics Canada publishes census data, economic indicators, labour market statistics, health surveys, and much more. Much of this data is freely available.
Provincial Portals
Every province has its own open data portal:
- Ontario — data.ontario.ca
- British Columbia — catalogue.data.gov.bc.ca
- Alberta — open.alberta.ca
- Quebec — donneesquebec.ca
- Manitoba — opendata.gov.mb.ca
- Saskatchewan — opendata.saskatchewan.ca
- Nova Scotia — data.novascotia.ca
- New Brunswick — open.nb.ca
Municipal Portals
Major Canadian cities publish open data on local services, infrastructure, and community information. Toronto, Vancouver, Ottawa, Calgary, Edmonton, and Montreal all have active open data programs.
When searching for data, start with the most specific level of government. If you need neighbourhood-level data, check the municipal portal first. If you need national statistics, go to Statistics Canada or open.canada.ca.
Dive deeper into Municipal Open Data.