| Name: | Mr. John Duncan |
| Political Party: | Conservative |
| Constituency: | Vancouver Island North |
| Province: | British Columbia |
| Telephone: | (613) 992-2503 |
| Fax: | (613) 996-3306 |
| Email: | Duncan.J@parl.gc.ca |
| Address: | House of Commons, Ottawa K1A OA6 |
| Constituency Address: | 590B - 11th Avenue Campbell River, British Columbia V9W 4G4 |
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09/17/2004 -- letter sent from MP John Duncan to Gordon A. Watts. Sept. 17th, 2004 Gordon A. Watts Dear Mr. Watts; I am responding to your letter of August 29th regarding access to Historic Census records. I am in support of public access for release of census records after 92 years. I do not support continued attempts by the federal government to block this access. Sincerely, John Duncan, M.P. 08/29/2004 - letter sent to MP John Duncan from Gordon A. Watts 29 August 2004 Mr. John Duncan Dear Mr. Duncan Congratulations on your recent election as a Member of Parliament. To have the trust and respect of those who voted for you is a great honour. Members who have been re-elected will be aware of an issue affecting a great many Canadians that seek their personal ancestry through research of Historic Census records. Newly elected Members may not yet be aware of this issue. It has been estimated that in excess of 7.5 million Canadians have an interest in genealogy and family history. These individuals seek to regain the same public access, with no added conditions or restrictions, to 92-year-old records of Census after 1906 that is currently available for 240 years of Census records up to that time. Access to Census records after 1906 is prevented at this time because of the (believed illegal) policy of a federal civil servant - Dr. Ivan P. Fellegi - Chief Statistician of Canada. The Library and Archives of Canada Act (and it's predecessor) has designated to the Librarian and Archivist the authority to determine what records of government are of archival or historical value and that shall be deposited in the National Library and Archives. Librarian and Archivist Ian E. Wilson determined that schedules of Census have archival and historical value. He declared them to be a National Treasure. He requested the Chief Statistician to return care and control of the records in question to his authority. Dr. Fellegi denied that request. The Access to Information and Privacy Acts, and Privacy Regulations, make specific provision for personal information collected through Census or Survey to be made available to any person or body for purposes of research, 92 years following collection. The legislation assumes these records to be under the care and control of the National Archivist. By refusing to return care and control of the records in question to the Librarian and Archivist for subsequent public access the Chief Statistician has acted in deliberate contravention of the Library and Archives of Canada Act, the Access to Information Act, and the Privacy Act. He has usurped the authority of the Librarian and Archivist to determine what governmental records are of archival or historical value and that shall be deposited in the Library and Archives of Canada. In dictating policy instead of following policy determined through legislation passed by Parliament he has usurped the authority of that body. Do you believe that any Federal bureaucrat, regardless of how highly placed or regarded, is above the Laws of Canada? Do you believe that a civil servant has the power to dictate policy that contravenes legislation passed by the Parliament of Canada? The Access to Information and Privacy Acts are complementary Acts born of the same Bill debated and passed by Parliament. Do you believe the parliamentarians who passed this legislation would knowingly include clauses in one Act, the effect of which would be to totally nullify clauses in the other? If your answer to any of these questions is 'NO' we ask that you support our efforts to regain the same public access - with no added restrictions or conditions - to Historic Census records after 1906 that is currently available for 240 years of Census records up to that time. We seek nothing new. We seek only that which current legislation states we are entitled to - access that we have had in the past but is currently (believed illegally) withheld from us by the Chief Statistician of Canada. We ask that you call upon the Government of Canada to immediately direct the Chief Statistician of Canada to obey the Laws of Canada. We ask that he be directed to return care and control of schedules of Historic Census to the Librarian and Archivist of Canada for subsequent public access in accordance with the Access to Information and Privacy Acts. We ask further that you ensure continued public access to Historic Census records by seeking a government Bill that would add to the Statistics Act a single clause, similar to the following: "Original schedules of Census or authentic copies thereof shall, not later than thirty (30) years following collection, be transferred to the care and control of the National Archivist for subsequent public access in accordance with provisions of the Access to Information and Privacy Acts, and Regulations attached thereto." In reading my letter you may not feel any obligation to respond to someone living outside your electoral riding. The votes you cast in Parliament, however, affect all people living in Canada and in that respect your constituency is all of Canada. Considering this, even though I do not reside in your riding I would greatly appreciate your personal response to my letter. Your response, stating your support (or otherwise) of the access we seek, will be posted to your Correspondence Log on the Post 1901 Census Project website. It will be available for viewing by your constituents on the MPs Scoreboard at www.globalgenealogy.com/Census Thank you for taking the time to read my letter, and for your consideration of this very important issue. Respectfully Gordon A. Watts 10/17/2002 - email to MP John Duncan from Phil Riley.
To: "John Duncan, M.P." Sent: Thursday, October 17, 2002 9:27 AM Subject: Re: Post 1901 Census records Dear Mr. John Duncan, M.P. Thank you for your response and your support for our cause. I understand that there will be legislation introduced this session on this subject, however I fear a comprise may be in the works to truncate the full release of future census records. I hope you and your Party will SUPPORT any future bills, debates, discussions, whatever it takes to make FULL RELEASE of the 1906 and 1911 census records and be accessible to all -- in the same manner previous census have been released. Respectfully Yours; E. Philip Riley Member, Canadian Census Committee Email: philanni@mars.ark.com Courtenay, BC; V9N 7H4 ----- Original Message ----- From: "John Duncan, M.P." To: Phil Riley Sent: Wednesday, October 16, 2002 2:40 PM Subject: Post 1901 Census records To: Phil Riley I cannot believe that the government has not sorted out the census record mess by now. Of course, the post-1901 census records should be released on an agreed schedule and I support the initiative. Sincerely, John Duncan, M.P. Vancouver Island North 06/03/2001 - email to MP John Duncan from Muriel M. Davidson.
To: John Duncan, MP Sent: Sunday, June 03, 2001 8:44 PM Subject: Your Message Board Shows 2000 -- It is 2001 To Mr. John Duncan, MP:- I have been checking all the message boards -- hoping to have all with 2001 dates -- after the Nov. 27 election. Check http://www.globalgenealogy.com/Census/Score1.htm#BC Click on your name -- underneath is YOUR message board. Are you supporting Murray Calder and his C-312 Bill and Senator Lorna Milne's S-12 -- identical wording. A brief email will be sufficient -- then Gordon Watts will post it for you. Muriel M. Davidson Co-Chair, Canada Census Campaign 09/20/2000 - extract from Hansard. MP John Duncan speaks to MP Jason Kenney's Motion M-160.
As explained by the hon. member for Calgary Southeast, the mover of the original motion, essentially what we have here is a circumstance where it is obvious that the Minister of Industry, who is responsible for the census data and the Statistics Canada operations, does not want to release this information for his own purposes. There is much fuzziness around the issue and it has been exploited to the government's advantage because of that. We are one of the jurisdictions in the western world without clear statutory rules for when census information shall be released. The most critical period of time in terms of mass emigration particularly from Europe to Canada is the period 1910 to 1930. That is very important historical information for us. It is also very important information for the country to the south of us, the United States. Our set-up is diametrically different from the standpoint that the U.S. is getting ready to release its 1930 census data next year. It has a 70 year rule. The motion does not propose a 70 year rule. It proposes that the 1911 census data be released in 2003, which is 92 years. We can argue all day about what is an appropriate length of time but we need clear statutory rules as to when Canada will do that. The current situation is open to political manipulation. The minister asked Statistics Canada to produce a report on what it thought about the whole situation. The Statistics Canada report essentially stated that there was an everlasting promise to keep the material secret. It has been able to make that statement without any documentation. A review of all the statutes, proclamations, the Canada Gazette and newspaper clippings of the day would indicate quite the contrary. The more one thinks about why Statistics Canada would take such a position, the more one is led to the conclusion that Statistics Canada is actually in a conflict of interest situation on this matter. Very pervasive, invasive questions have been asked recently by Statistics Canada. There are members of the public, including myself, who do not believe that the level of inquiry is appropriate for census material. By using coercion, the threat of penalty and other measures, we are told that we have to respond to the questions. That accumulated data becomes a saleable commodity by Statistics Canada. It is in business with this data. It does not want to threaten its ability to coerce the public into responding to those questions. Therefore it has to hold out this guarantee, or at least favour that end of the spectrum. I do not believe we should be giving any plausible credibility to its report. The motion is clear in stating that nationally we have a vested interest in actually releasing our census data. We will lose too much of our history if we do not do so. We will be out of step with other parts of the western world. We will leave an unsatisfactory circumstance to be cleaned up later. There is no better time than this year to clarify what the rules of census data collection are because we are going into a census year next year. Let us deal with more than the 1911 census. Let us deal with the 1911 census and subsequent ones, as well as the 2001 census. This motion deals with the most immediate priority, the 1911 census. I urge everyone to reject the amendment and to vote for the motion.
To: 'Carl Olsen' Date: August 4, 2000 10:48 AM Subject: RE: Old Census data Dear Mr. Olsen; Thank you for your note regarding post-1901 census data availability. I have written to many people on this subject and I agree that 90 years-plus is long enough time to protect privacy concerns. The Minister currently has a study group on this issue and I anticipate they will recommend release after a specified time frame. I expect to support their recommendation legislatively. Sincerely, John Duncan, M.P. Vancouver Island North
Sent: Monday, July 31, 2000 11:15 AM To: Duncan.J@parl.gc.ca Cc: duncan@canadianalliance.ca Subject: Old Census data Hon. John Duncan, MP Vancouver Island North Dear Sir: I wish to bring to your attention that there was a shortsighted law passed during the Borden administration regarding the secrecy of all census records from 1911 on. In my retirement, I have become interested in genealogical research and have found census data to be one of the most important research tools for researching ancestry in the US, UK, Norway and in Canada. In the past, Canadian census data has been opened for public research 92 years after the year of the census. At present, the latest available census is 1901. If it wasn't for the existing laws, we genealogists could look forward to the release of 1911 census records in 2003. I must point out that many Canadians, including myself had immigrant ancestors who arrived in Canada after 1901. My grandparents arrived from Norway, England and Ireland between 1902 and 1905 and I would like to be able to see their entries in the census records taken after their arrival in Canada. Not only that, my parents were born in 1906 and 1907 so that they would also appear in the 1911 census. In this paranoid era of secrecy, people do not seem to realize that there can be no negative consequences from census records made public that are over 90 years old. Very few people in those census records are still alive. I can fully agree that there should be secrecy in more recent records that could have negative consequences for people alive today. At present, the most recent census data available in other countries are: 1911 in Ireland, 1891 in the UK, 1900 in Norway and 1920 in the USA. I could even agree with an adjustment in the number of years of secrecy (eg. 100 years) in post 1901 census records if it will end the eternal secrecy stated in the old law. The important thing is that future generations of genealogists will have access to such data to help them find their ancestors. I urge you to support any measure brought forth to repeal or amend the existing legislation regarding Canadian Census secrecy. Carl F. Olsen
Mr. & Mrs. Robert Turner Campbell River, B.C. Dear Mr. & Mrs. Turner: Thank you for your letter regarding the Post 1901 Census. The current situation is that under old legislation, an unintended consequence is that Post 1901 Census information is not to be publicly released. This was a guarantee, given decades ago, to assure people about privacy concerns so that they would be less likely to dodge the census. The census information, which people are requesting, is specifically the old census only that has become unavailable for the first time because of this old promise. The Minister has set up a task force to look into the issue, which will report soon. I believe that privacy concerns are not an issue for the census records more than 90+/- years old. I will support any legislative initiative to release this old census information as it becomes available with the march of time. Sincerely, John Duncan, M.P. Vancouver Island North 04/10/2000 - Extract from Hansard showing speech of MP John Duncan on Motion M-160.
I recently heard a lecture given by Steve Dotto. I believe he has a regular program on CBC where he talks about the Internet, computers and so on. He said that there has been a tremendous growth in the interest in genealogy in the country and one reason is that the Internet is such a good tool. He said if we want to learn all of the various activities, the best training device and lesson plan we could come up with particularly if we had a natural interest in the subject would be to pursue the genealogy of our own families. All the lessons we need in order to learn how to effectively use the Internet would come through that field of endeavour and study. It is interesting that at the very time there is this burgeoning field in society current day families are looking more and more at their roots and their past. We are looking at our institutions with renewed enthusiasm. Whether it is the military, the RCMP, the church or other important institutions in society, there is a renewed interest in all of them. We see it on November 11 with the increasing turnout of people at Remembrance Day ceremonies. At the very time when all this renewed interest is happening we have run into a brick wall potentially on the release of census data. This data is from the 1911 census. The 1901 census data was available in 1993. The major period of migration to Canada was between the start of the 20th century and the beginning of World War I in 1914. There are millions of Canadians whose first ancestors arrived in Canada during that period. We must take that into account. There was an expectation on the part of virtually everyone that the data was going to be available in 2003. Some minds figured out that is not going to happen. It all changed because of a regulation in 1906. Although it is largely speculative, we know that they were not thinking about what the circumstances would be 90 or 100 years down the road. Logic dictates that the reason the release of census data collected was pre-empted at that time had to do with everyday concerns about conscription, what the military or the taxman might do with the data for people who completed the information. That is the way the regulations read at the time. Looking back on it we know in current terms if we use the natural lifespan of people that a 90 or a 100 year release of census data addresses privacy concerns. What do some other western democracies do with their census data? It is important to make a comparison. The U.S. releases its data after 72 years; Australia, 100; France, 100; Denmark, 65; and in the U.K. efforts are under way to release the information after 100 years. There has been some concern about retroactive alteration of confidentiality requirements and the whole subject of a privacy guarantee that was made when the data was collected. I cannot think of a single way individuals will be negatively impacted by releasing data 90 or 100 years later. Therefore I cannot think of a single way this will negatively impact participation by the population at large in current census collection. It will put us in step with other western democracies. The major point I am trying to make is that the motion is very worthy of our support to ensure that the 1911 census data is released in 2003. For the 1921 census and others in the future there is lots of time to come up with a very structured response to how the data will be released. In the meantime it is important to address the very specific issue on the 1911 census.
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. |
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