A population ecumene is the area of inhabited lands or settled areas generally delimited by a minimum population density. Two population data sets from the 2016 Census of Population were used to build two specialized ecumene maps. The census division ecumene was built from dissemination area population density data and the census subdivision ecumene was built from the dissemination block population density data. For information on census divisions, census subdivisions, dissemination areas, and dissemination blocks consult the Statistics Canada’s 2016 Illustrated Glossary (see below under Data Resources).

Areas included in the ecumene (for either the census division or census subdivision) are areas where the population density is greater than or equal to 0.4 persons per square kilometre or about 1 person per square mile. In some areas to capture more population within the ecumene the criteria was extended to 0.2 persons per square kilometre. The ecumene areas were generalized in certain regions either to enhance the size of some isolated ecumene areas or to remove small internal uninhabited areas within the ecumene.

Either of these ecumene resources can be used as an “ecumene” map overlay to differentiate the sparsely populated areas from the ecumene in conjunction with the appropriate census geography or other small-scale and large-scale maps.