| Name: | Ms. Aileen Carroll |
| Political Party: | Liberal Party of Canada |
| Constituency: | Barrie--Simcoe--Bradford |
| Province: | Ontario |
| Telephone: | (613) 992-3394 |
| Fax: | (613) 996-7923 |
| Email: | Carroll.A@parl.gc.ca |
| Website: | http://www.aileencarroll.parl.gc.ca |
| Address: | House of Commons, Ottawa K1A OA6 |
| Constituency Address: | Suite 10 - 7 Anne Street South Barrie, Ontario L4N 2C4 Tel. 705-726-5959 Fax. 705-726-3340 |
04/03/2002 - letter from MP Aileen Carroll to Industry Minister Allan Rock.
Hon. Allan Rock, P.C., M.P., Minister of Industry, Room 441-S, Parliament of Canada, Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6 Dear Minister Rock: I am writing to request a repeal of privacy conventions used to prevent the disclosure of the 1911 census documents. I have received many appeals from constituents to intervene, most recently heard a convincing submission by the Simcoe County Geneological Society. As I understood Statistics Canada was reviewing the issue, I refrained from intruding. I also accept that focus groups were undertaken at one point indicating that the respondent Canadians were reluctant to release data that had been collected with assurances of privacy. Minister, I too am respectful of privacy, but I do not believe that the release of 92 year old data would prejudice living Canadians. You are likely aware of all the argument urging release, and I would add that the recent release of 100 year old census information in the U.K. and 70 year old statistics in the U.S. have brought a new immediacy to this request. You will also be aware that Murray Calder, M.P. and Sen. Lorna Milne have been actively trying to appeal this bureaucratic inflexibility for the past two years. I ask you to please respond favourably to this request, as it would answer the needs of a broad and growing constituency of aging Canadians. Yours truly, M. Aileen Carroll, M.P. Barrie-Simcoe-Bradford 04/03/2002 - email regarding MP Eileen Carroll from Claudia McArthur to Gordon A. Watts.
To: "Gordon A. Watts" Sent: Wednesday, April 03, 2002 6:40 PM Subject: Post-1901 Census Campaign Dear Friends, I am delighted to let you know that Aileen Carroll, the M.P. for Barrie-Simcoe-Bradford is 100% in favour of preserving the 1906 and 1911 census records and equally in favour of releasing them for research purposes as soon as possible. When Jean, Lorne and I met with Mrs. Carroll at her Barrie office this afternoon she said: "Of course they should be released. What is the problem?" She generously gave us almost an hour of her time and promised to send a policy statement to The Hon. Allan Rock, Minister of Industry, officially stating her support. Gordon, she said you can change your records to show she is "FOR" release, not sitting on the fence. To everyone who assisted Simcoe County Branch with the 1861 census project, I want you to know we showed her a book of photocopies you used for transcribing purposes and one of the 20 books you helped produce. She was impressed! Mike, she was really surprised and impressed again when we showed her the CD! We asked about the government's comprehensive review of federal privacy legislation, which was mentioned in the last paragraph of her January letter. She promised to investigate and send us a letter about that asap. If the federal government is preparing to conduct a study, it could be a loooong time before the census issue is settled! I am hoping her staff meant the Ontario government study. We know about that and it is another contentious issue, but we hope it is separate from the census issue. We asked for information about Heritage Canada's first national genealogy conference which is supposed to be held in the fall of 2002. Mrs. Carroll will try to obtain information and send us a letter concerning that matter too. We volunteered to serve as readers on future government issues concerning genealogy and history, and she seemed delighted about that too. Altogether it was a very upbeat meeting and we came away believing Mrs. Carroll is a friend genealogists can count on now and in the future.. Let's remember that in the months ahead if she needs our support. Cheers to all of you who wrote to Aileen Carroll, or your own M.P. Special thanks to Marjorie for inspiring me to set up this meeting with Mrs. Carroll, and to Jean and Lorne for accompanying me today. Claudia McArthur, Chairman & Librarian Simcoe County Branch, Ontario Genealogical Society E-copies to 102 members and friends of SCB, OGS. 11/19/2001 - email to MP Aileen Carroll from Gary Lamb. Short and to the point.
To: Carroll.A@parl.gc.ca Sent: Monday, November 19, 2001 7:32 AM Subject: Post 1901 Census Hi Aileen As an amateur geneologist, I would appreciate your support for the post 1901 census project. Regards, Gary Lamb Bradford Ontario 10/08/2001 - email to MP Aileen Carroll from Gordon A. Watts.
To: Aileen CARROLL - MP Sent: Monday, October 08, 2001 2:27 PM Subject: Your letter to Eileen Hamelin Attention: Mary Ellen Torobin Dear Ms. Torobin. On 1 October 2001 you sent a letter, copied below, to Ms. Eileen Hamelin. Your letter was in response to one written by Ms. Hamelin seeking the support of Ms. Carroll for a Bill that would regain public access to Historical Census Records, 92 years following collection. I would respectfully make a few points regarding your response to Ms. Hamelin. To begin with, Ms. Hamelin sought the position of Ms. Aileen Carroll, MP, not that of yourself as her assistant. Ms. Carroll is the one that is able to vote in the House of Commons. You make reference to the focus group studies undertaken by Statistics Canada on behalf of the Expert Panel on Access to Historical Census Records. It appears obvious to me that you have not read the report of Environics Research Inc., who conducted these surveys, and have relied solely on the propoganda releases of Statistics Canada regarding unsubstantiated 'promises' and 'guarantees', and their distorted interpretation of those studies. Anyone reading the report of those surveys would see that the questions posed by Statistics Canada were skewed to elicit negative responses, particularly in the second survey. Respondents to these surveys did not 'decide' that 'information given to the government officials at the time was given with the assurance that it would remain private' forever. They were told by those conducting the surveys that a promise had been given. Questions that followed emphasized this 'promise' and then asked if it should be broken. I would suggest that on any given subject, if someone without previous knowledge is told a promise was given, whether or not in fact there had been, and is then asked if that promise should be broken, the response would be negative. Statistics Canada has been asked, through Access to Information, to produce documented evidence of the existence of their stated 'promise'. They have been unable to do so. I would urge you, and Ms. Carroll, to read the actual report of Environics Research, and the Report of the Expert Panel on Access to Historical Census Records, both available on the Statistics Canada website, and reach your own conclusions. Having done so, I would welcome a response from Ms. Carroll, hopefully positive, regarding her position on a Bill to regain public access to Historic Census Records, 92 years after collection. As examples of such Bills I would refer you to Murray Calder's Bill C-312 and Senator Lorna Milne's Bill S-12 (currently in Committee). I am aware from other correspondence seen that you feel no responsibility to respond to other than Ms. Carroll's constituents. Ms. Carroll's position on this matter, however, affects more that just those in her constituency. As the response to this letter, or lack thereof, will be posted for her constituents to see on the Post 1901 Census Project website at the URL following my signature, I would greatly appreciate receiving such a response. Thank you. Gordon A. Watts Co-Chair, Canada Census Committee 10/01/2001 - letter from office of MP Aileen Carroll to Eileen Hamelin.
Ms Eileen Hamelin, Statistics Canada undertook a study last year with focus groups of average Canadians to solicit their opinions on the matter of publishing the 1901 census. The respondents decided that the information given to the government officials at the time was given with the assurance that it would remain private. The same provision exists today. The census of May 2001, for example, contained many questions in the Long Census Form that some citizens, indeed some constituents, considered intrusive. But we have assured those people that the data remain completely confidential, and are fed into a data bank, not published separately and discretely. Until a way is found of surmounting that barrier, we seem to have a dilemma. Mary Ellen Torobin Parliamentary Assistant to Aileen Carroll 05/24/2001 - email to MP Aileen Carroll from Muriel M. Davidson. From: "Muriel M. Davidson" To: Aileen Carroll- MP Sent: Thursday, May 24, 2001 10:24 PM Subject: Sept. 19, 2000 was BEFORE the Nov. 27th Election! To Ailene Carroll, MP: Your assistant sent a message Sept. 19, 2000, which appears on http://www.globalgenealogy.com/Census/Score3.htm#ONT Click on your name at left hand side -- your message board is under your name! Will you support Murray Calder's PMB C-312 re census release? Senator Lorna Milne has S-12, with identical wording. I know the Bill may be short but it is a complex one, and like bylaws, the laws of the country need to be discussed periodically. Looking forward to a POSITIVE reply, which would get rid of the YES/NO Fence and give you a Gold tick symbol. Muriel M. Davidson Co-Chair, Canada Census Committee 09/19/2000 - email from office of MP Aileen Carroll to Muriel M. Davidson.
Ms. Davidson, We realize this issue has a Canada-wide interest range, but we are responsible only to Mrs. Carroll's constituents concerning responding to individual questions and requests. This is the way the system works. Please try your own M.P. Mary Ellen Torobin Aide to Aileen Carroll, M.P., Barrie-Simcoe-Bradford
Thank you for your letter on the issue of release of census data. This matter has been a subject of concern for family history researchers for some time. As you know, Statistics Canada is prohibiting from disclosing census returns filed in 1906 and later. A Private Members’ Bill is in the system to amend the privacy legislation, but Statistics Canada has undertaken its own study to ascertain the support among Canadians for incorporating the researchers’ and historians’ request in government legislation. Although the study has not yet been officially released, early indications are that the study found people objected to retroactively changing legislation to allow disclosure of individual answers. There is in fact little support for releasing the historical data. Most participants felt that the government made a promise of confidentiality and that this should be respected. People who answered those censuses believed their answers would be confidential, and thus it would be a breach to release the information. However, there are yet arguments to be studied on both sides, and I will ensure that your request is seen by Mrs. Carroll for her consideration. Sincerely, Mary Ellen Torobin, Aide to Aileen Carroll, M.P. M. Aileen Carroll, M.P., Barrie-Simcoe-Bradford. 04/30/99- e-mail from The Global Gazette to MP
A web site has been posted at http://globalgenealogy.com/census to record MP's responses, so that those who are interested, will know the position that their elected representative has (or has not expressed) on the issue. Also included on the web site, is a correspondence log for each Member of Parliament, which will contain responses to this e-mail plus any other correspondence from the MP. The Question: "Would you, as an elected Member of the House of Commons of the Parliament of Canada, vote FOR or AGAINST a Bill supporting release to the Public, of Post 1901 Census Records, 92 years after they were recorded. ( 1911 census information available in 2003, 1921 in 2013 etc)" If you would like to expand on your position, your entire response will be posted to your individual correspondence log. The Post 1901 Census web site is sponsored by Global Genealogy & History Bookstore. A vast number of e-mails and calls from subscribers and web site visitors, clearly demonstrates that this issue is extremely important to them. Many readers have expressed that their current MP's position on this issue will weigh heavily in their decision process during the next election. |
|
|
