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Health Information Solutions Centre
Saskatchewan Health
June 30, 2006
Page numbers refer to the page numbers in the Adobe or Office 97 version of the Covered Population.
As in previous years, the 2006 Covered Population is based on eligibility for health insurance benefits in Saskatchewan. All residents of Saskatchewan are included except: (a) members of the Canadian Armed Forces, members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and inmates of federal prisons, all of whom are covered by the federal government; and (b) people not yet meeting the residency requirement (coverage begins on the first day of the third calendar month following their move to Saskatchewan). Saskatchewan residents moving elsewhere remain eligible for coverage for the same period, and anyone whose coverage extends through June (i.e. who left the province April 1st or later) is included in the report. In the case of death, people who had coverage any time in June are included. Age distribution is calculated as of June 30th. People born in the period from July 2005 to June 2006 are recorded in the under one (<1) age group. People born between July 2001 and June 2005 comprise the 1 to 4 age group, and so on.
Prior to 1998, population data were presented in ascending residence code order (please see the following page for a description of residence codes). Reports for 1998 to 2001 grouped residence codes into health districts. In 2002, the covered population report grouped health districts by regional health authority, and summary tables of the total population of both health districts and regional health authorities were provided. (The names of the new regional health authorities were not available at the time of preparation of the report.) This year, the report groups residence codes by regional health authority. To assist readers in looking up residence codes, the report includes alphabetical and numerical listings of reserves, cities, towns, and villages, giving the regional health authority (RHA) and the page number on which the residence code appears. Some rural municipalities (RMs) fall into more than one RHA. When this occurs, the RM is apportioned among RHAs (please see the following page for an explanation of apportioning). In RHA-specific tables, the RHA's share of each split RM is indicated in parentheses. For example, the table for Sun Country Regional Health Authority shows: 012 10 RM Poplar Valley (35%), indicating that thirty five percent of the RM is located in Sun Country. The table for Five Hills Regional Health Authority shows the balance: 012 10 RM Poplar Valley (65%). To assist in comparison with previous reports, total populations of split RMs are provided in Appendix 2. Please note that apportioning results in fractional numbers. Fractional parts are not displayed, and numbers may not add to totals because each is rounded independently.
The 1998 Covered Population book introduced a change in the method of reporting
Registered Indian populations (a "Registered Indian" is a person who is
registered under Section 6 of The Indian Act and who has been assigned a ten digit number
in the Indian Registry). In past reports, all Registered Indian persons were included
under the summary category "Reserves", and the populations reported under the
residence code of each band were based on Registered Indian status and band of origin.
Beginning in 1998, Registered Indian persons have been reported on the basis of place of
residence. The population under "Reserves" reflects our best estimate of the
Registered Indian population living on Saskatchewan reserves, with the population of
individual reserves shown by regional health authority (please see the following page for
an explanation of residence code assignment to Registered Indian persons). To assist in
comparison with previous reports, population by First Nation of origin (regardless of
place of residence) is given in Appendix 1. In the past, distribution of the
non-Registered Indian covered population into residence codes was based on
mailing/correspondence address. Current distribution is based, as much as possible, on
residence address.
Some changes to Saskatchewan Health’s residence codes have been made since June
30, 2005. Several residence codes for villages have been dissolved and their populations
are counted under their respective rural municipality in the 2006 Covered Population report.
The village of Girvin (252 50) has dissolved into the rural municipality of Arm River
(252 10), the village of Sovereign (287 56) has dissolved into the rural municipality of
St. Andrews (287 10), the village of Guernsey (310 52) has dissolved into the rural
municipality of Usborne (310 10), the village of Cando (378 50) has dissolved into the
rural municipality of Rosemount (378 10), and the village of Spruce Lake (499 56) has
dissolved into the rural municipality of Mervin (499 10).
The 2006 Covered Population was run using the Person Registry System (PRS). The design
of the PRS provides flexibility to collect information on multiple addresses and to
distinguish between residence and correspondence addresses. The residence code carried on
the PRS is assigned based on the following hierarchy:
1. land location (e.g. NW ¼ Section 1, Township 8, Range 7, West of 2nd Meridian),
2. residence address (which may or may not also be a correspondence address), and
3. correspondence address.
A residence code is a 5 digit numeric code which uniquely identifies each city, town, village, rural municipality (RM) and First Nation in Saskatchewan. For RMs, cities, towns and villages (except northern villages), the first 3 digits of the code are the community's RM number. RMs are numbered, for the most part sequentially, from east to west and south to north (please see Map of Health Districts and Rural Municipalities, page 4). These numbers range from 001 through 622. The RM itself is always assigned a fourth and fifth digit of 10. Cities are assigned numbers in the 20s, towns in the 30s, and villages in the 50s and 60s. For example, the RM of Orkney (244) is assigned residence code 244 10, the City of Yorkton 244 27, the Town of Springside 244 30, and the Villages of Ebenezer and Willowbrook 244 51 and 244 61 respectively. Outside the RM structure, residence codes beginning with 7 are assigned to First Nations. The fourth and fifth digits of these codes refer to their zone, designated by Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (please see Appendix 1). It is important to note that residence codes are assigned to uniquely identify First Nations, not reserves. Where a First Nation has more than one parcel of land, these cannot be distinguished from each other under the current residence code system. This creates difficulty, especially where a First Nation's land holdings fall into more than one regional health authority. A correction was able to be made in the case of the Montreal Lake Cree Nation (please see below). There is no RM structure in northern Saskatchewan. Northern communities are grouped into five broad geographic areas and assigned residence codes beginning with 801 through 805. Northern villages are assigned fourth and fifth digits in the 70s.
The boundaries of rural municipalities and regional health authorities are not coterminous. In rural areas, the rural municipality is the smallest geographic unit about which information is collected. This means that they can only be apportioned across RHAs instead of being assigned to a specific RHA, as is done with cities, towns and villages. Where an RM crosses regional health authority boundaries, the RM's population is divided among RHAs in proportion to the RM's land area. In the absence of any additional information about the distribution of population within the RM, every five-year age and sex group is apportioned this way. Please see Appendix 2 for a list of split RMs and page 4 for a map showing their locations.
Historically, Registered Indian persons have been assigned to residence codes based on
band affiliation rather than place of residence. For example, all Saskatchewan
beneficiaries whose band of origin is the Cowessess First Nation were assigned to
residence code 733 84. As a result, the population shown for this residence code included
people living elsewhere in the province, but excluded reserve residents not originally
belonging to that band. Many of these residence codes have now been corrected on the PRS,
and this year's methodology retains any residence code indicating residence on reserve.
With the exception of Montreal Lake (please the following page), no further refinement was
done for northern Saskatchewan (Mamawetan Churchill River Regional Health Authority,
Keewatin Yatthé Regional Health Authority, and Athabasca Health Authority), since it is
difficult to distinguish reserves from northern villages. In the southern 10 regions,
further analysis resulted in some reassignment of residence codes for Registered Indian
persons with a PRS residence code below 700 00 or with residence code 799 84 (a code
assigned to Registered Indian persons who are Saskatchewan beneficiaries, but whose band
of origin is outside the province). For each reserve, at least one postal code was
identified as the reserve's primary mailing address. Regardless of band of origin, any
Registered Indian person using this postal code was counted in the population of the
reserve identified with the same code. Records without a postal code default to the
residence code recorded on the Person Registry System. Where a reserve is close to an
urban community, this methodology may overestimate the population of reserves in southern
Saskatchewan. Estimates will improve in the future as better source data are collected.
Beginning with the 2002 Covered Population report, an additional postal code has been
identified as a mailing address for Flying Dust First Nation (740 80) resulting in an
increased, but more accurate on-reserve population estimate than in previous years.
The Montreal Lake Cree Nation has land holdings in both Mamawetan Churchill River and Prince Albert regional health authorities. Although all Montreal Lake on-reserve residents are identified by a single residence code (726 82), people living on the two reserves use different postal codes. In this case, we are able to use postal code information to augment residence information in order to allocate individuals to the correct regional health authority. Montreal Lake on-reserve residents not having a postal code on the Person Registry are assigned to these regional health authorities in the same proportion as residents with postal codes. In 2003, all Montreal Lake on-reserve residents were assigned to a specific regional health authority. Please note that although Montreal Lake appears in the tables in the same way as a split RM, proportions are calculated based on population rather than land area, and vary by five-year age and sex group.
Cases where the correspondence address is different from the residence address, and
only the correspondence address is available can result in inaccuracies in the
distribution of the covered population at the residence code level.
If a person resides in a rural municipality, picks up their mail in a village, town or
city, and only provides Saskatchewan Health with a correspondence address, that person
will be assigned the residence code for the village, town, or city, rather than for the
rural municipality. This is probably the reason that the covered population of 189 10 RM
Lumsden is lower than the 2001 Statistics Canada census count, but the covered populations
of 189 30 Lumsden and 189 31 Regina Beach are higher than the 2001 Statistics Canada
census counts, for example.
If a person resides in a small village, picks up their mail in a larger centre, and only
provides Saskatchewan Health with a correspondence address, that person will be assigned
the residence code for the lager centre rather than the village where they reside. This is
the most likely cause for the covered population of 159 50 Grand Coulee and 312 51 Manitou
Beach being lower than the 2001 Statistics Canada census counts, for example.
In some northern Saskatchewan communities, such as 801 73 Stony Rapids, 802 71 Dillon, 802
73 Turnor Lake, 803 75 Patuanak, 804 30 La Ronge, 804 70 Air Ronge, 804 73 Southend, 804
74 Stanley Mission, 804 75 Timber Bay, 805 70 Cumberland House, and 805 72 Pelican
Narrows, that have surrounding reserves, it is difficult to assign an accurate residence
code with only correspondence address information. At present, no reallocation of
Registered Indian persons in northern Saskatchewan is done because of the difficulty in
distinguishing reserves from northern towns and villages. As a result, the covered
population tends to overestimate the population of these towns and villages and
underestimate the populations of the surrounding reserves.
In all of these cases, the accuracy of the Covered Population report can be improved if
more residence address information is collected and recorded.
Please Note: 2005 was a health card renewal year and this affects the 2006 Covered Populatiion numbers. Through the renewal process, the provincial health
registry was updated and persons who ceased to be eligible for Saskatchewan Health
coverage were removed from the list of beneficiaries. This is the main reason for the
decrease of 17,074 in the Covered Population from 2005 to 2006. Similar decreases have
been observed following previous health card renewal years as is demonstrated by the
information on page 6. The Covered Population figures have been closest to Statistics
Canada population estimates in the years following a health card renewal (i.e. 1997, 2000,
2003, and 2006). The next health card renewal year is 2008.
Please address inquiries to:
Health Information Solutions Centre
Saskatchewan Health
3475 Albert Street
Regina, Saskatchewan
S4S 6X6
(306) 787-3260 telephone
(306) 787-7589 fax
infoprod@health.gov.sk.ca