Canadian census information comes packaged in a variety of different formats.  SFU Libraries has a helpful guide to help you determine the source that best suits your research needs. 

While many of Statistics Canada's products can be accessed easily and without charge, some data files, CD-ROMs, Census titles, and serial publications are not freely available to the public.  However, the Data Liberation Initiative (DLI) enables Canadian post-secondary institutions to obtain access to these materials at no cost. Please contact the Data Librarian for further information.

Check the Stats Can map of geography hierarchy to find out how census divisions, sub-divisions, tracts, etc work together.