Alberta is still a stronghold for people who marry and have children, but the modern face of the province also includes less-conventional households including singles, same-sex couples, common-law couples and lone-parent families headed by men.

According to Statistics Canada's Wednesday release of 2006 census data on families and households, Calgary has one of the fastest growth rates of households with children in the country.

The province is also seeing the rapid gains in the number of common-law pairs and people who live alone.

"In Alberta and Calgary, there's really substantial demographic gains, so we're seeing all family structures and all household structures growing rapidly compared to other parts of the country," said Anne Milan, a senior analyst for Statistics Canada.

Even with its redneck reputation, Calgary is downright average when it comes to Canada's rates of same-sex coupledom -- with 0.6 per cent of city couples in married or common-law relationships.

That figure -- measured in a Canadian census for the first-time since same-sex marriages became legal across the country in 2005 -- is the same as the national average.

Whether attitudes toward same-sex marriage here are the same as in other parts of the country is still a question to some.

"When you see the look on people's faces when you tell them, they look like they don't believe it's a real marriage," said Lynda Bruce, 57, who moved to Alberta from Toronto last year after her spouse, Lori Light, 53, a software consultant, got work here.

The women said when they first arrived, one real estate agent told them same-sex marriage isn't legal in the province. A Calgary landlord refused to rent to them when he learned they were married. The couple said they miss the diversity in Toronto, and the acceptance of their marriage they found there.

But financially it has worked out well -- Bruce works as a supervisor in the manufacturing sector and the pair has bought a townhouse in Airdrie. Light said the influx of newcomers to Calgary makes it an exciting place to be.

"I can see Calgary growing and changing," she said.

Besides examining the new legal institution of same-sex marriage, the 2006 census found that Canada has 8.9 million families and households, with married couples the largest -- but shrinking -- group.

The country is seeing an increase in the percentage of common-law couples, small households and lone-parent families headed by men. For the first time since Statistics Canada began keeping track, there are more families comprised of couples without children (42.7 per cent) than with children (41.4 per cent). This is influenced by the aging of the population and more couples having grown children who have already left home, as well as lower fertility rates in younger generations.

Also for the first time in 2006, there were fewer legally married people aged 15 and older in Canada than unmarried people -- be they divorced, separated, widowed or never-wed. About eight per cent of the Canadian population aged 15 and older said they are divorced and 35 per cent had never legally married. This is in line with other jurisdictions, illustrated by a much-publicized New York Times story earlier this year reporting that more American women are now living without a husband than with one.

As for Alberta, the province bucks or leads several national trends.

Between 2001 and 2006, the number of married couples grew by almost 10 per cent, the fastest growth in that demographic group in the country.

Alberta has a relatively standard proportion of common-law-couple families (12.8 per cent compared to the national average of 15.5 per cent, which is heavily influenced by high percentages in Quebec). But the province had Canada's highest growth rate for common-law couples at 23.4 per cent in the five-year period.

Across Canada, the percentage of people living alone is rapidly increasing -- but nowhere faster than Alberta, when that group grew by 21 per cent in the period between the two censuses.

Reginald Bibby, a sociology professor at the University of Lethbridge, said it's important to understand that many people move to having a family and marriage after a period living alone or common-law. While young people are more likely to postpone it, marriage is still the end goal and the ideal for most, he said.

"The diversity is misunderstood," Bibby said. The census, "is like taking a picture at one point in time."

He said Alberta likely has increasing numbers of people living alone because of the influx of young adults coming to the province solo to look for work.

Over the past two decades, more young adults are living with their parents or returning home after a stint on their own. This trend continued in 2006, although Alberta centres such as Calgary, Edmonton, Red Deer and Brooks have some of the lowest numbers of adults still living with their parents compared to figures from other Canadian cities.

"The economic boom in this province could have contributed to more people being able to afford accommodations and a lifestyle independent from their parents," the Statistics Canada census report said.

Across the country, the number of same-sex couples grew almost 33 per cent between 2001 and 2006, more than five times the growth of opposite-sex couples (5.9 per cent). In 2006, there were 45,300 Canadian couples who identified themselves as same-sex. About 7,50o are married.

Kevin Alderson, a University of Calgary professor who studies same-sex marriage, said many same-sex couples may be reluctant to report their status, even if Statistics Canada is supposed to keep the information anonymous. But he said people are embracing their newly won right to wed.

kcryderman@theherald.canwest.com

 

© The Calgary Herald 2007