Saanich, British Columbia (1921 census)
Saanich was a census subdivision in British Columbia, recorded in the 1921 Census of Canada with a population of 14,693. The community is grounded to Wikidata Q179553. The administrative centroid was at approximately 48.510°N, 123.410°W.
Population
In 1921, Saanich had a population of 14,693: 7,563 male and 7,130 female residents.
Population trajectory across census years
| Year | Population |
|---|---|
| 1911 | 6,026 |
| 1921 | 14,693 |
Cross-year identity established by spatial polygon overlap (SAME_AS chains across the Canadian Census Subdivision boundary files).
Boundary continuity (non-identical overlaps)
Spatial polygon overlaps with adjacent census years where the boundary shifted enough that the SAME_AS chain didn't merge them. These show where the territory came from and went to even when it isn't tracked as the same persistent place.
Earlier boundary forms
- In an earlier year, this CSD was contained in Saanich, 1911 (79.8% share).
Neighbouring Census Subdivisions in 1921
In the 1921 census, Saanich shared boundaries with:
Full census record, 1921
The 1921 census recorded 50 measurements for this Census Subdivision across 3 categories.
Population & families (1921). This community's record includes 14,693 total population, 7,563 males in the population, 7,130 females in the population, 3,451 males born in the British Empire (excluding Canada), 3,347 females born in the British Empire (excluding Canada), 3,343 females born in Canada, 3,300 males born in Canada, 812 males born outside the British Empire, 440 females born outside the British Empire. (Source: 1921 Census of Canada, V1T16.)
Ethnic origin (1921). This community's record includes 9,198 persons of British origin (English), 2,767 persons of British origin (Scotch / Scottish), 1,169 persons of British origin (Irish), 474 persons of Chinese or Japanese origin, 280 persons of British origin (other), 213 persons of Scandinavian origin, 158 persons of French origin, 115 persons of German origin, 47 persons of Italian origin, 42 persons of Dutch origin, 40 persons of other European origin, 40 persons of Russian origin, 16 persons of Finnish origin, 16 persons of other Asian origin, 12 persons of Belgian origin, 12 persons of Polish origin, 8 persons of Austrian origin, 5 persons of Ukrainian origin, 2 persons of Greek origin. 34 persons recorded under the 1911/1921 official census category "Negro"; refers to people of African descent. Term is now considered offensive and is preserved here only as the historical source label. 15 persons recorded under the 1921 official census category "Hebrew" (origin/ethnicity); now described as Jewish origin. 5 persons recorded under the official census category "Indian"; corresponds to what is now described as Indigenous (First Nations; in northern enumerations also Inuit) origin. "Indian" was simultaneously a census category and the legal/administrative term under the Indian Act (1876). (Source: 1921 Census of Canada, V1T27.)
Religion (1921). This community's record includes 7,574 Anglicans (Church of England), 2,591 Presbyterians, 1,383 Methodists, 792 adherents of other sects (residual category in 1921), 659 Roman Catholics, 537 Baptists, 403 adherents of Eastern religions, 187 Protestants (general / no denomination specified), 156 Congregationalists, 145 Lutherans, 82 Brethren, 68 Salvation Army adherents, 34 Greek (Orthodox) Church adherents, 25 persons whose religion or origin is unspecified, 23 Christians (general / no denomination specified), 14 Jews, 13 Adventists, 6 Mormons (Latter-day Saints), 5 members of the Evangelical Association. (Source: 1921 Census of Canada, V1T27; V1T38.)
People with Dictionary of Canadian Biography entries
The Dictionary of Canadian Biography includes biographies of 1 person connected to this place who were alive in 1921, listed below by birth year. Each name links to that person's DCB entry.
| Name | Lifespan | Connection |
|---|---|---|
| Helen Letitia Mooney | 1873–1951 | died here |
Identifiers
- TCP UID:
BC212004— year-scoped identifier from the Canadian Census Subdivision boundary file - Persistent place ID:
PLACE_BC212004— computed from spatial-overlap chains across census years - Wikidata: Q179553
- Wikipedia (EN): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saanich,_British_Columbia
- Wikipédia (FR): https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saanich
Sources
Census tabulations from the 1921 Census of Canada, transcribed and georeferenced by the Canadian Peoples / TCP project, hosted at the HGIS Lab, University of Saskatchewan. Persistent place identity computed from spatial-overlap chains across all available census years (1851–1921). Identity grounding to Wikidata performed via the HGIS Canada Knowledge Graph project's MCP-assisted disambiguation pipeline. See the About / Methodology page for the full data pipeline.
Cite this page
Clifford, J. (2026). "Saanich, British Columbia (1921 census)" in HGIS Canada Knowledge Graph. Retrieved from https://jimclifford.ca/hgiscanada/places/bc/saanich-bc212004-1921/.