POST 1901 CENSUS PROJECT
Open the door to Canada's Historic Census
TOWN HALL MEETINGS |
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This page contains correspondence from Chad Gaffield, Professor of History at University of Ottawa, and former member of the Expert Panel on Access to Historic Census Records, relating to the Town Hall Meeting held in Ottawa. Chad attended the evening session of these meetings. From: Chad Gaffield To: Gordon A. Watts Sent: Sunday, December 16, 2001 3:24 PM Subject: Re: Census Town Hall meetings Hi, everyone. The evening Town Hall session in Ottawa was similar to the afternoon session although, rather than repeating our Expert Panel material and rehashing the no-promise stuff, I focussed on the damage that Stats Can is doing to itself and Canada's statistical system by alienating more and more Canadians. I argued that whatever concern StatsCan may have about losing good will among those who agree with Bruce Phillips (if there is anyone), this concern is tiny in comparison to the increasing and substantial concern that historians have about the obvious and considerable loss of good will that is now evident among the tens of thousands who support the 92-year rule (and whose future support of the census - including the budget given for it - is now being undermined). As you can imagine, this argument is a direct response to the continuing StatsCan perspective that assumes that the potential threat to the census grows out of the Phillips era - in fact, it now seems clear that the real threat is from those who are fed up with the refusal to continue the successful 92-year rule. So, I argued that, as a friend of the census and of its importance for historians now and in the future, StatsCan must be stopped from shooting itself in the proverbial foot. Others can better judge the success of this argument but I am convinced that we can get traction on it since politics has clearly taken over from legal and moral issues. One other thing. At the evening session, we were all shocked to hear the final presenter identify himself as a privacy advocate who had been urged to attend by Environics (who told him that they wanted somebody from the "other side of the fence"). The sweet result was that his presentation supported us -- ie. he said that he did not see any privacy problems with the 92-year rule. While it seems clear that the Town Hall meetings are an unjustified waste of our tax money, the fact that Environics is specifically seeking out some of the presenters means that we have to be present and active in them. All the best, Chad. |
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