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POST 1901 CENSUS PROJECT
Open the door to Canada's Historic Census

TOWN HALL MEETINGS
Edmonton -- 28 January 2002

This page contains the presentation of Frank Easton, Past President of the AGS, to the Edmonton Town Hall Meeting. Frank attended both sessions of these meetings.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank the Government of Canada for allowing us the opportunity to make yet another presentation in favour of the immediate release of the 1906 census and the impending release of the 1911 census.

When you add our voice to the voice of the expert panel which came out indeed very strong in favour of releasing the censuses in question as well as the overwhelming support for their release all across this great nation we know it will happen shortly.

We do appreciate your concern.

Having said that however, we are somewhat confused as to why the discussion has reached this point. The Minister in charge at the time, Mr. Manley struck an expert panel to review whether the census should be released and they said, yes release the 1906 census and the 1911 when it is due. What has happened that this has not occurred. Quite frankly we are very dismayed, bewildered, and yes, distressed that what should have properly taken place has not. We sincerely hope that the backward thinking that has occurred will not continue for very much longer.

Please, do not put up false “fire walls” to prevent individuals, groups , Societies, historians in gathering information and documenting stories of bravery, of hardship, of courage that our forefathers faced in shaping the landscape of this great country. These cannot be classified as “Living Room Gossip” as one individual put it. We should be proud to be Canadians and proud to “put the meat on the bones” so to speak, as opposed to hiding behind a false assumption that everyone is afraid of their heritage and that everyone has secrets that must be hidden.

Secrecy:

Let us take a moment to discuss that particular issue. We recognize that the individuals who go door to door and take the census, or who are responsible for picking up returns that may not have come in, have to be sworn to an oath of secrecy. We recognize that the staff who compile the results for Statistics Canada must be sworn to an oath of secrecy. We have no argument to either of those procedures taking place, in fact, we would be very disappointed if they did not. We also recognize that the oath of secrecy stays with them for life, and should. Having said that however, the argument that the census results after 97 years cannot be released because of those particular oaths of secrecy leans to the ridiculous. Lets take a look at those individuals entrusted with taking and analyzing the censuses. They would be at least 21 years of age at the time. 21 plus plus 92 ( the current “embargo period”) would mean that those individuals would be at least 113 years of age when the census is released. We would seriously question that there are many around who would care if the results were released. Lets look at the 1906 and the 1911 census. The 1906 census should have been released in 1998. The individuals who took that census would have been at least 113 in 1998 (116 now), and 113 in 2003 when the 1911 census is supposed to be released. Furthermore most of the census takers would have been older than 21 at the time.

Let us then turn to the individuals who provided the information. The confidentiality promise by the census taker would have been given to the head of the household or alternatively to the spouse of the head of household. Let us assume to the extreme, that the head of the household was the tender age of 16 years. That person who was 16 years of age in 1906 is now 112 years of age. We seriously question how many of those individuals - ie the head of the household that was 16 years of age in 1906 - would be around to protest. As well the average age for the head of the household would more likely be in the range of 28 as opposed to 16. They would now be 124 years of age.

As a further example lets for a minute look at a six year old child in that same household. What can be in the 1906 census about that 6 year old that he or she can protest about being released to the public. Furthermore how many people in Canada are going to be going through the 1906 census to find out what kind of "Living Room Gossip" they can root out about this 6 year old. The arguments put forward on secrecy really have no validity what so ever in the real world. There may or may not have been some theoretical arguments that would hold some validity but we are not living in a world of theory. We are living in the real world

After 92 years the oaths of the Statistics Canada staff are still applicable but not the confidentiality promise to the heads of households. None of these individuals are around any more. Furthermore the statement by the Privacy Commissioner that the confidentiality of the information collected remains a secret forever does not stand up to any test of reasonability.

“Compromise Solution”. The “compromise solution in our opinion carries no validity what so ever. It is an absolute cop out to the position of common sense on the release of the census or for that matter, any census after the period of 92 years.

    a) The steps are quite clear

      1. The census is taken for the purpose of gathering information from the people of Canada. The necessary oaths of secrecy and promises of confidentiality are taken.

      2. The information that is gathered is processed, analyzed and what ever decisions result are suggested to the Government. This may take as long as up to the time of preparation of the next census.

      3. The usefulness of that particular census to Stats Canada is surely completed with the preparation of the next census. At that point in time it should be sealed and sent to the National Archives as their responsibility and retained for release to the public after the 92 year waiting period.

    b) To make the information available only on direct ancestors of an individual prevents a complete picture from being developed of the particular family being investigated and thus a full portrayal of the historical events that have taken place. There are many and varied circumstances of how the entire family make up can assist in getting a clear picture of where to go for further information.

    A further example is that this information could be very valuable in the elimination of racial intolerance towards other individuals. As an example, a person of English ancestry who discovers a French relative is going to have a more healthy interest in that culture which otherwise might not have existed prior to discovering this in studying a census record.

    Time is too short in this presentation to list the situations that can come into play by the investigation of a complete census as opposed to one person only.

    c) And finally and perhaps the most important argument against the “compromise solution”would be how would the search engines be developed that would confine the research available without revealing information on other members of a particular family.

      i) We would respectfully point out that a census record by itself is a list of names in a family contained on a microfilm. No particular order exists and without an index by last name the census would certainly be a challenge to read.. The census would in all probability list a group of individuals in a household commencing with the head of household, spouse, children in order of birth, employees etc. The next home listed in all likelihood would have a different last name. How does the person who is looking for a particular great grandparent find them without going through hundreds or thousands of names. That would in itself destroy the integrity that the “compromise solution” that would be intended. Once the individual found the family group, how would they be kept from looking at the other individuals in the family group. Surely the National Archives would not be expected to do the research for them and provide them only with the information of the direct ancestors. In our opinion the “compromise solution” would be an unworkable and very expensive operation.

      ii) The Alberta Genealogical Society undertook to index the 1901 census for several areas. This is now available to the public and allows people to review the index as well as the location of the names they are researching. The location appears on the index so they can look at the micro film with little or no difficulty. This project was completed with utilization of volunteers over a period of 6 years. Every entry was checked and rechecked for accuracy. The list was then produced and made available and was and is being purchased by libraries and individuals world wide. We have a very busy volunteer research staff who meet weekly at our library to answer queries that come in world wide. The census records are very valuable in assisting both the people doing the research and the people making the inquiry. We expect these inquiries to increase enormously as we will discuss in a moment.

      As an organization we are dedicated to assisting individuals in researching their family history and we would be proud to undertake a similar project for future census records that are released.

      iii)The time period between 1901 and 1906 was one of the most important periods in the history of opening up Western Canada. It would almost hinge on criminality not to make this information available to historians and genealogists. Do not forget that genealogists are “family historians” bent on preserving the history of their particular family which also brings to life the way it was over a period of years and what it meant to the mosaic of their community, their province their country and yes to the world. To say it is idle “living room gossip”just does not apply.

Summary

1 What is happening in other countries: How is it other countries can make their information available to the public without concern for any of the issues presented by certain individuals within the civil service of our country.

    a) The United States of America makes their censuses available after 72 years, - yes 20 years sooner than Canada has done up to this point.

    b) The United Kingdom makes their censuses available after 100 years, albeit 8 years after ours has been, however, still without question.

    c) Australia has destroyed their census records in view of their original immigration pertaining to penal colony situation. They now recognize that such destruction was a very serious mistake and are looking at ways to make records available to the public. It is now a mark of distinction to have ancestry bearing a criminal record. That stealing a loaf of bread in order to feed ones starving family may not have necessarily been the terrible crime that it was once considered to be. After all “let them eat cake” may not have been appropriate.

2. Some Miscellaneous information

    a) An article clipped from The Times Of London notes in referring to genealogy that “only gardening is a more popular hobby worldwide”. I suppose one could legitimately state, one is good for the health of the body and the other is good for the health of the sole. The article appeared January 6th 2002 and it further noted “Last week the British Public Record Office put the entire 1901 census for England and Wales on the internet and within three hours the web site crashed as more than 1.2 million people logged on.” Does that tell us anything, is there a lesson to be learned from that statement.

    b) The June 20, 2001 The Globe And Mail ran an article headed up “ Don’t Muzzle Our Past”. The article in reference to the request for release of the census by Ian Wilson the Chief Archivist stated in part , “This request has not been honoured and THE LAW HAS NOT BEEN RESPECTED”

    3. In 1901 the population within the area that now makes up the province of Alberta was approximately seventy thousand people. By 1906 that number increased to 373 950 people. Individuals came to Alberta from almost every country in Europe if not every country , the United States of America, the provinces of Ontario, Quebec, and Maritimes. These people were interested in making a home for their family and feeding their children. Times were tough and they were tough to survive , it was not a “piece of cake”. Probably the last thing on their minds was preserving the details of their hardships, living in sod huts, plowing the ground with a team of oxen, burning buffalo dung as their own source of fuel, going miles for a load of logs to construct a building. (my grandparents had to do all of those).The list goes on and on and on. The responsibility for preserving those hardships and times on their behalf rests on our shoulders. These people, if they were still living, would be certainly more proud of their accomplishments than, with whatever “living room gossip ” might be gleaned from the review of a census.

To destroy the records or make the information unavailable to the public is akin to cast those pioneers off as so much chaff thrown to the wind. It would be completely unacceptable and irresponsible.

Thank you.



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