POST 1901 CENSUS PROJECT
Open the door to Canada's Historic Census
TOWN HALL MEETINGS |
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This page contains the presentation of Doris Bourrie to the Town Hall Meeting held in Toronto. Doris attended the afternoon session of these meetings. From: "Doris Bourrie" To: "Gordon A. Watts" Sent: Thursday, January 10, 2002 9:47 AM Subject: Town Hall Meetings Good morning, Gordon; I attended the afternoon Town Hall meeting yesterday in Toronto, and was one of 3 scheduled speakers. I spoke as representative of the Societe franco-ontarienne d'histoire et de genealogie. Also speaking was William Terry on behalf of the UEL Association, and Kent Howarth (or Hawarth) who indicated he was a professional Archivist, previously with the Archives of B.C. and N.S., University of Toronto Archives, and currently with York University Archives, Toronto. As the agenda was not filled with speakers, anyone from the floor who wished to speak could do so. One of the attendees was Senator Lorna Milne, who spoke fluently on support of the release of the census records. I got the impression from remarks of Chris Baker, chairman, that Stats Canada is now modifying their claim of a "promise of secrecy made to the Canadian people" and is now trying to imply that the enumerators for the census were instructed that if anyone objected to answering census questions the enumerator was to assure the individual that any information collected would remain secret. It appears that they are now intimating that this assurance made by the enumerator to any concerned individuals is what they refer to as the "promise of secrecy" which they do not wish to break. Of course no-one knows if enumerators did have to ensure confidentiality to any responders, or if so, to how many. Certainly not to the entire population! I only attended the afternoon session, but was disappointed at the attendance. Only half the chairs provided were filled. Don't know how the evening session went. I'm forwarding in today's mail the latest petition sheets collected from the Archives of Ontario. Keep up the good work. Doris Bourrie, CGRS Presentation - Town Hall Meeting January 9, 2002 Crown Plaza Hotel, Toronto Good afternoon, everyone. I have been asked to speak to you today on behalf of the Société franco-ontarienne d’histoire et de généalogie, or roughly translated The French Ontario Society of history and genealogy. In my opinion, release of the post-1901 census records is important to all Canadians, not only to genealogists. The history of Canada is the combined history of all Canadians, and whether one is researching the history of one family (in other words, that family’s genealogy) or the history of one community or one ethnic group of people within Canada, or the growth of one Canadian industry, that research is all part of the history of Canada, and as such belongs to the people of Canada. The information contained in the census records provides the initial “jumping off” point to begin all types of research, because it is the only record which will provide information on an entire family group at one specific place and time, and for that reason the release of the post-1901 census records is so important to all Canadians. Perhaps a look at some statistics might help us to put this question in perspective. The 1901 census for Canada indicated a population of 5 million, 371 thousand people. The 1911 census indicated a population of 7 million, 207 thousand people, or a growth of just under 2 million people. If the 1911 Canadian census is not released, then the collective history of those 2 million Canadians will be lost. Canadians in the western provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta are anxiously waiting for the release of the special census taken in 1906 when those areas became separate provinces. I was unable to locate specific numbers for the 1906 census, but the population in Saskatchewan grew from 91,000 in 1901 to 492,000 in 1911, while Alberta grew from 73,000 to 374,000, roughly 5 times as many people! Clearly a very large portion of the early history for these provinces are covered by these two census periods, and a clear understanding of the development of this area of Canada will be clouded if these records are not available for research. Statistics Canada keeps repeating that they cannot release the post-1901 census records because of “a promise of confidentiality made to the Canadian people”. This promise they keep talking about is an integral part of their proposed “compromise solution”. Many hours have been spent by researchers seeking any hard evidence of this “promise of secrecy”, to no avail. It is my understanding that no documentary evidence has ever been produced by Statistics Canada to substantiate this claim, even though a request for such proof has been made under the Access to Information Act. Various legal opinions have been sought over the last 20 years on this matter. According to Senator Lorna Milne’s press release of October 29, 2001, and I quote “The latest legal opinion unequivocally states that the better legal view is that post 1901 census records should be released. Furthermore, the current Chief Statistician was told as long ago as 1981 that, in order to comply with both the spirit and the letter of privacy and access to information legislation, Statistics Canada would have to release post 1901 census information”. In spite of the absence of any proof of a promise of confidentiality, and in spite of legal rulings that the post-1901 census information must be released, Statistics Canada has so far refused to comply. Instead an Expert Panel on Access to Historical Census Records was established in 1999 to examine this issue. This panel concluded that no perpetual guarantee of confidentiality was ever intended to attach to census records, and recommended that the historic census records be released to the National Archives after the normal waiting period of 92 years. This conclusion evidently did not satisfy the concerns of StatsCan, so they are now holding these Town Hall Meetings (at great expense to the Canadian taxpayer!) - so that concerned Canadians might voice their feelings on the release of these census records. So far, more than 40,000 signatures in support of the release of these records have already been forwarded to Ottawa, which in my opinion provides a better consensus of the Canadian public’s wishes than the views of a relatively small number of Canadians who will be heard at these Town Hall meetings across the country. The Chief Statistician has expressed some concern that the release of historic census records might make some Canadians hesitant to complete future census records, and so hinder the operations of Statistics Canada in the future. In my humble opinion, Canadians would be more concerned about a government that would “hide” historic facts from the public after a 92-year privacy period. I know of no objections to the release of census records in the past, even the release of Newfoundland census records which include those taken as recently as 1945, which are currently available to the public. On the contrary, people are more likely to object to the destruction of historic records than they are to object to a normal release of information after a reasonable period of privacy has passed. I believe that most Canadians agree on a certain period of privacy for records containing personal information. However, if records are not released to the public after that period of privacy, -- in the case of census records the time is legislated as 92 years --, then the individual begins to wonder what the government is trying to hide from the public -- why the need for secrecy?? Various countries in the past have lost or destroyed historic records, either through deliberate destruction by misguided bureaucrats, or through Acts of War, or Acts of God. All of these countries have come to regret the loss of these valuable records. Genealogical research in Ireland, for instance, is very difficult due to the many historic records which were lost in 1922 during “The Troubles” when the Public Record Office in Dublin, which held many of the early parish records was burned and the records lost. However, in the past few years Ireland is one of the very few countries who have acknowledged just how many tourist dollars are brought into the country by visitors searching for their family roots. In response, Ireland has spent a great amount of effort in the past few years to track down records that might fill this gap and to provide County Records offices across the Country to assist visitors and make their research more productive, and hopefully encourage them to come again, bringing their tourist dollars with them! I doubt very much that the government of Canada realises that genealogy is fast becoming a growth industry! I think if you mention the subject of genealogy to most members of Parliament, they immediately think of a harmless hobby carried out by some grey-haired grandmother -- something to keep her occupied and out of mischief! Well, let me assure you, that is definitely not the case! Genealogy is fast becoming “big business”, especially since the advent of home computers and the internet. I have heard it said that genealogy is the second most popular subject on the internet. I don’t have any hard facts to back up this claim, but judging by the number of new genealogical websites coming on line daily, I tend to feel this may be true. One commercial company in the US -- “Ancestry.com” -- is even advertising their website on nation-wide TV. These ads don’t come cheap, so this company certainly feels that genealogy is “Big Business”. If the Canadian government wishes to check on this, they should compare the number of visits and requests received 10 years ago at the various Provincial Archives across Canada with the number received last year. I think they will be amazed at the size of the increase. You may be aware that the British 1901 census has just been released to the public, available online. In Britain the period for privacy for census records is 100 years. On the CBC News Sunday Report of January 6th this information was mentioned, and the comment was made that the internet site is so busy it cannot yet handle all the requests. The numbers given by the webmaster indicated that the site was receiving 1.2 million hits an hour, and 30 million hits a day -- many of these from Canadians searching for family information. This gives you some indication of just how large this business is becoming. Every year many people plan their holidays to visit their place of family origin -- whether they come from outside the country, or whether they travel inside the country. All these tourist dollars are generated because it is a natural inclination to visit the place of ancestry. Many of my clients request their research done by a specific date because they are planning a trip to Ontario and want to have as much family information available so that they can visit the family location, and the appropriate cemetery, and possibly do some local research themselves. If historic records are not made available, these tourist dollars will not materialise. I would also like to comment on the proposed “Compromise Solution”. Besides the fact that this seems to be based on an erroneous statement regarding a promise of secrecy, the changes suggested would require a change in the Statistics Act. It was never intended that Stats Canada should maintain control over census records indefinitely. My understanding of the law is that after a 92 year period of privacy the census records would be turned over to the National Archives for preservation. Under the “compromise solution” Statistics Canada seeks to maintain indefinite control of this information and to severely limit public access. The section that gives me the most concern is the restrictions placed on historical research. If Stats Canada has their way, anyone wishing to do historical research must submit their proposed historical research subject to a Council for prior approval before the researcher will be granted access to the records. I believe this is a serious restriction on a Canadian’s rights to free thought and free speech. Who will sit on this council and decide what research may be approved, and what denied? And by what right do they make this decision? The last time I looked Canada was a democracy, believing in free speech and the intellectual freedom of citizens. When did we become a dictatorship? In closing, I would like to leave you with this thought. A journey around the world is composed of many small individual steps -- the history of Canada is composed of the stories of all individual citizens of Canada. Let us ensure that none of these stories are lost. Thank you. |
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