The Social Vulnerability component of the National Human Settlement Layer (NHSL) includes information about broad spatial patterns of social vulnerability at the neighbourhood scale, and indicators about the capacities for a community to withstand and recover from disaster events based on intrinsic characteristics of housing, family structure, individual autonomy and financial agency.Information in the model provides a means of comparing relative levels of social vulnerability from one region to another across Canada and helps to identify specific dimensions within a community that contributes to their relative levels of social vulnerability. This information is not intended for site-specific study, but instead to understand broad patterns of social characteristics and vulnerability across multiple census dissemination areas.

The Canadian indexes of social resilience and vulnerability were created to provide area-based information on resilience and vulnerability to natural hazards and disasters across Canada. Specifically, the Canadian Index of Social Resilience (CISR) aims to reflect a community’s ability to respond to and recover from natural hazards. In contrast, the Canadian Index of Social Vulnerability (CISV) aims to reflect the social vulnerability of an area based on factors that have the potential to amplify the impact of disasters on populations.Before the CISR and CISV were built, indicator frameworks were developed for social resilience and social vulnerability, respectively. Indicators were selected because of their demonstrated association with social resilience or social vulnerability. The selection was informed by the theoretical and research literature, existing indexes, availability of relevant data and engagement with subject-matter experts.The CISR and the CISV were created using data from Dissemination areas (DAs) across the country. The selected indicators were included in a principal component analysis, which is a statistical technique that allows a large number of indicators to be collapsed into a smaller number of interpretable components. Based on the results of the principal component analysis, DA-level scores were calculated for each index. Higher CISR scores correspond to DAs that are more resilient and higher CISV scores correspond to DAs that are more vulnerable.These indexes can be used to better understand areas which may experience the largest disproportional social impacts from natural hazards.

This layer represents the regional boundaries that the Employment and Labour Market Services Division of the Ministry of Social Development and Social Innovation maintains.

This layer represents the Employment Program Catchment Areas that the Employment and Labour Market Services Division of the Ministry of Social Development and Social Innovation maintains.

The geographic coverage of the 4 regions by which the Department of Opportunities and Social Development administers services to the public.

During a declared emergency event, this dataset will include the facilities that provide Emergency Social Service assistance.

The Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation (CIMD) is an area-based index which used 2021 Census of Population microdata to measure four key dimensions of deprivation at the dissemination area (DA)-level: residential instability, economic dependency, situational vulnerability and ethno-cultural composition.Using factor analysis, DA-level factor scores were calculated for each dimension. Within a dimension, ordered scores were assigned a quintile value, 1 through 5, where 1 represents the least deprived and 5 represents the most deprived.The CIMD allows for an understanding of inequalities in various measures of health and social well-being. While it is a geographically-based index of deprivation and marginalization, it can also be used as a proxy for an individual. The CIMD has the potential to be widely used by researchers on a variety of topics related to socio-economic research. Other uses for the index may include: policy planning and evaluation, or resource allocation.*** Correction October 22, 2024 ***A correction has been made to the variables in the following downloadable 2021 CIMD index datasets : Canada, Atlantic, Quebec, Ontario, Prairies, and British-Columbia. This correction impacts all the data in these datasets.

The spatial representation for a Provincial Forest, which is any forest land that is designated by the Lieutenant Governor in council, to be managed and used for the social and economic benefit of the Province

Boys and Girls Clubs of Nova Scotia provide quality after school and out-of-school programs to children and youth that support their healthy physical, educational and social development.

One meter hillshade generated from bare earth DEM.LiDAR Services International (LSI), a Calgary-based LiDAR company completed an airborne LiDAR survey for the Redberry Lake Biosphere Reserve (RLBR) and Agriculture and Agri-Foods Canada (AAFC) in October 2011. The project involved collection of LiDAR data for a 362.97 km2 block area, 252.77 km2 for Redberry Lake and 110.20 km2 for AAFC northwest of Saskatoon, SK.