Statistics Canada is hiring 35,000 people across the country to conduct the 2016 census, the first in a decade that will feature a mandatory long-form questionnaire.

About 3,400 of those temporary positions will be in the national capital region, the agency said Monday.

The Liberal government re-instated the mandatory long-form census in early November, a day after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his cabinet were sworn in.

The Conservative government had scrapped it five years ago, replacing it with the less reliable and more expensive National Household Survey amid much controversy.

The next census will be held starting in May 2016, when StatsCan will send census letters and packages to all Canadian households.

But early enumeration activities in remote areas of the territories and communities in northern Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Quebec and Labrador are starting next month.

Statistics Canada said applications for those early enumeration activities, including guides, translators and drivers, are already being processed.

But overall, the agency is looking to hire 25,000 enumerators, 4,000 crew leaders and crew leader assistants, and 6,000 other positions across the country from mid-March to mid-July.

Of the 3,400 jobs available in the National Capital Region, about 2,000 positions will be field staff who will collect questionnaires.

Another 1,400 positions will be at the all-important census data operations centre, which is responsible for data processing as well as the census help line. Most of those jobs will be at 200 de la Technologie Boulevard in Gatineau. StatsCan says special bus routes will be arranged to and from the building.

A few of the help line jobs will be at the Tunney’s Pasture government complex in Ottawa.

“These jobs are ideal for students, recently retired persons, stay-at-home parents, and those wanting to supplement their income,” StatsCan’s website says.

Statistics Canada is encouraging anyone interested in being a crew leader or an enumerator to submit applications.

Applicants must be at least 18 years old and be eligible to work in Canada.