Statistics Canada is known for publishing important data about the country’s population, economy, and more, but sometimes, the government agency can also create some pretty hilarious social media content.
It appears whoever runs StatCan’s social media accounts is a big fan of Nickelback. A recent post on its Instagram page pays homage to the legendary Canadian band and its hit song “Photograph” in the most statistical way possible.
“As Canada’s statistical agency, and as Canadian music fans, we simply couldn’t resist this trend,” reads the post’s caption.
The agency also dropped interesting facts about the band and their Alberta hometown with some population data to boot.
“Formed in 1995 in Hanna, Alberta, Nickelback has sold more than 50 million albums worldwide and was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 2023,” adds the post.
“In 2021, the enumerated population of the town of Hanna was 2,394, which represents a decrease of 6.4% from 2016. This compares to the average provincial increase of 4.8% and the average national rise of 5.2%.”
The post was filled with many comments from folks saying they enjoyed Statistics Canada’s Nickelback humour.
“Your social media team deserves a promo, increase in salary, a bigger team and more social media budget. Bravo!” said one person.
“DAMN when I didn’t think you all could get any funnier you guys KILL IT😂,” said another.
“Never thought StatCan could be funny,” wrote one commenter.
“Your posts always slap, thanks for reminding us that stats are fun,” reads one comment.
Others felt that Stats Canada deserves the title of the “coolest government agency.”
“Statistics Canada [is the] #1 government agency,” another Instagram user chimed in.
Canadian government agencies trying to crack jokes on social media haven’t always gone over so well, however.
In July, the CRA was put on blast for an X post that featured a minion from the animated film Despicable Me along with a line of minion speak and the hashtags #CdnTax and #DespicableMe.
Looks like the CRA deleted their mental tweet👇🏻 https://t.co/06wbqJrO7B pic.twitter.com/7SSRuswAlu
— Hon. BGirl🍎STILL not a Bot🚨#TrudeauMustGo🍎 (@bgirl3_0) July 4, 2024
A follow-up post explained, “Oops, the minions were at it again! What they meant was: The kids wearing you out? At least applying for the #CanadaChildBenefit is easy — AND you can do it one-handed on your phone.”
While the strategy was admittedly a clever way to introduce a discussion about the benefit mentioned, frustrated Canadians accustomed to having to wait on hold for hours to contact the CRA were left unimpressed.
With files from BlogTO’s Becky Robertson.