POST 1901 CENSUS PROJECT
Open the door to Canada's Historic Census
TOWN HALL MEETINGS |
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This page contains correspondence from Brenda Dougall Merriman, relating to the Town Hall Meeting held in Toronto. Joan attended both sessions of these meetings. From: "Brenda Dougall Merriman, CGRS, CGL" To: Sent: Monday, January 14, 2002 9:28 AM Subject: Toronto Town Hall Dear Gordon: I was an observer at both the Environics sessions in Toronto, and the genealogists who spoke did a terrific job. We have a good "network" among professional genealogists in the Toronto area, which served us well, considering we did not hear about these Town Hall meetings until just before Christmas. Here is the greatly dismaying factor, in my opinion. Of the total 12 alloted presentation spots, only eight were filled. And seven of those were genealogists, whether speaking as private citizens or representing various societies/groups. My point is that the historical and academic communities were not there! It makes us look as if we hijacked the sessions, or "other" people are not interested. We suspect it was all in the last-minute timing and poor communications. Since we did have that spare time, Mr Baker invited unscheduled observers to speak, and they did, extremely articulately for spontaneous comments. The six who did so (including both sessions) were again all genealogists. Each of them raised additional points of interest. Even Senator Milne spoke for a few minutes, although she guessed that Mr Baker certainly knew where she stood! I have a great concern that this may happen in other cities -- that other "users" of the census will be under-represented, or not at all. Do you agree with me that these meetings need a more balanced look? Do you think, because the CHA made a presentation in Ottawa, that other historians and academics think it's been "taken care of"? How can we reach them? Do they have some kind of History-mail-list as so many genealogists do? I have a librarian-contact in Regina and an academic- contact in Moncton, but what else can be done? Or am I over-reacting? Would be pleased to hear from you although I know how busy this keeps you. Best regards, Brenda |
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