The population in the Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako has dropped by 3.3 per cent in the 2016 Statistics Canada census when compared to 2011.
Houston lost 154 residents with an updated 2016 population of 2993. Meanwhile, Burns Lake lost 250 since 2011 with a 2016 population of 1779 – New Hazelton lost 86 people with a 2016 population of 580.
Dr. Stacey Hallman with Statistics Canada says growth rates in populations under 5 thousand are hard to interpret.
“The census numbers we give don’t provide reasons, but the general trend is the population usually follows industry. So if natural resource industries go down, the population tends to follow,” says Hallman.
She remains confident in the numbers saying Stats Can had a response rate of over 98 per cent for the census.
The population in Smithers remained relatively unchanged at 5,401 residents for 2016.
In Hazelton there was a slight boost of 13 people edging the population up to 313. Telkwa, meanwhile, saw a slight drop of 23 people.
The entire population of BC grew from 4,400,057 in 2011 to 4,648,055 in 2016.