"Do you have any data on queer barbershops and hair salons?"

Every day, we receive questions from students and researchers, asking for all kinds of data. We noticed, however, that we had a hard time finding high-quality data on 2SLGBTQIA+ Canadians. At the same time, Statistics Canada has moved in recent years to provide more data on queer Canadians: in 2021, we became the first country to allow respondents to select a gender other than male or female on the census, and the 2026 longform census asked about sexuality. From these combined gaps and opportunities, we decided to create our Canadian Queer Data Guide.

Our guide focuses on publicly available data about Canadian queer people at multiple levels: international, national, provincial/territorial, and municipal, with data from some research groups and NGOs too. If you're looking for data on queer Canadians, please check our the Canadian Queer Data Guide.

And if you are thinking of making your own guide, or are interested in how we made ours, consider reading our blog post on how we made it or attending an upcoming IFLA webinar, Making a Queer Data Guide - Learnings from Canada (October 7th, at 11am Eastern Time).

Header image is a detail from Light Penetration Spectrum in Water 01 by Tomemorris

Sharing the Canadian Queer Data Guide