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TOWN HALL MEETINGS |
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This page contains the presentation of Garth Staples to the Town Hall Meeting held in Charlottetown. Garth attended the afternoon session of these meetings. CANADIAN CENSUS CONSULTATIONS (ENVIRONICS GROUP) DELTA HOTEL, CHARLOTTETOWN PEI WEDNESDAY, 16 JANUARY, 2002 2:35PM Mr Moderator I am not entirely clear why these consultations are taking place, albeit Environics granted my request to appear! My first impression is we are here because Statistics Canada is labouring under the misapprehension that releasing the 1906 and 1911 censuses to all Canadians would lead to riots in the streets, lawsuits in monumental proportions, and at the same time besmirch its reputation. In an interview on Charlottetown CBC this AM a Stats Can representative stated that SC wants to hear from Canadians who don’t have a vested interest. Does SC have a vested interest? I should think all Canadians have a vested interest in their heritage and in the concept of freedom of information. Democracy thrives on it! If that is the case then I am here to suggest to you that should the census NOT be released Stats Can will be held in disrespect by 100’s of thousands of Canadians, protests will take place and numerous court proceedings will undoubtedly be launched against this Government agency. That is my prediction , not a suggested course of action on my part. Why does Stats Can and the office of the Privacy Commissioner wish to keep Canadians’ heritage in the dark? Do they feel that only they are capable of reading, interpreting and understanding the contents of these censuses? Are they so enamoured by their collective power, authority and intellectual prowess that they are the only offices that can be trusted with the information contained therein? I say, trust the people. This attempt to deny Canadians open access to heritage information confounds all logic and contemporary thought. This is the era of hi-tech and information access. It is the era of immeasurable research activity in the field of genealogy across the WORLD. Today I can access 32million census files in the UK for the year 1901 on the INTERNET! This information was placed there at UK taxpayers’ expense for the citizens of the WORLD. Contrast this with our government’s inaction. No census exists on the Internet at public expense, rather at the expense of individuals, organizations or societies. One of the most extensive websites is presented by the Colchester Historical Society in Nova Scotia. They believe, as I do, that knowledge of our heritage is important to all Canadians. Our Federal government has chosen to let the current hiatus of tug and pull between the citizens of this country and a government agency continue to play itself out. This untenable situation will probably be settled by the citizens’ forum--the Parliament of Canada. One of these days politicians will realize that the situation requires their attention because the people are speaking by the 1000’s across this country, and they will also realize that one of their agencies may not have the best interests of our country at the centre of its mission statement. This prolonged process by Stats Can is to delay the inevitable is masterful and expensive. Basing its position on the notion that confidentiality was given force of law after 1901, it fails to provide evidence of that law and even more important to me is its unwillingness to say--here is the problem --how can we collectively and creatively solve it. I do not think it has taken this approach. It appears to me, and again I do not understand the logic, SC just does not want Canadians to have access to their heritage! What are the benefits to Canadians by this Stats Can action? Would SC care to list them and of course publish them? The fact is there are no benefits for Canadians flowing from Stats Can’s withholding action. None! The fact is there are many disadvantages. Stats Can and the Privacy Commissionaire’s offices are out of step with the world when it comes to disseminating information for a country‘s citizenry. . It is not Johnny who is out of step! A committee of pre-eminent Canadians(Expert Panel) at the request of Government studied the issue and said “release the 1911 census”. Legal experts have said there is no legal obligation on the part of Stats Can to withhold the census information. Thousands of Canadians have signed petitions saying release it . Senators and MP’s are saying release it . Yet a non-elected Government agency , dependant on Canadian taxpayers’ largesse, says no. SC has been asked to produce evidence of the promise it claims was made to the people of Canada nearly 100 years ago. SC has not done so to my understanding . I have not seen it. I have not seen the evidence. The WORLD waits for Canada to bring this troubling issue to a sensible and practical conclusion. The WORLD is not out of step. Just Stats Can. No western democracy has seen fit to take the action proposed by Canada. In fact quite the contrary. The USA operates in a very liberal manner. The UK is even more so. From my home on PEI I can access 32 million names from the UK 1901 census. Meanwhile Canada dithers. We are here today because SC and the Minister see some kind of advantage in delaying a decision . A delay not in the interests of Canadians. How will the participants in the succeeding Focus Groups be chosen? What qualifications will they have, what questions will be asked? Who will write the findings and who will receive them? Who will be allowed to observe the operation of the Focus Groups? I, Mr Moderator I have experience in how Focus Groups are conducted. WILL YOU INVITE ME TO BE AN OBSERVER? Or will Stats Can disallow such a democratic idea? Let me say Mr Moderator there is a lot of scepticism in the research world about why we are here and about this whole process. Before you is an eight hundred page publication written and published by me , printed in Dartmouth NS and beautifully bound in PEI. It is a written account of my Family’s heritage of the last 250 years in Canada. It contains over 11,000 names of family spread from Halifax to Los Angeles to Vancouver to Saudi Arabia. It began in Donegal Ireland, and England in 1730. It has been enhanced generation after generation form Halifax in 1749. It has been a labour of love for me, a world gift to the family and the community where I was born. It is a sociological, and historical record of 11, 000 people and of course many, many more. It is a record of their thriftiness, their religion , their education, their health , their longevity, their contributions in war and in peace , in government , in the professions, in business and just everyday living. Here Mr/Madam Chair is the heart and soul of Canada. This document was made possible from countless hours of research in Archives from Halifax to Ottawa to Charlottetown to Boston -----searching among other documents, the available censuses! Censuses from 1753 to 1901 . These censuses , some beautifully penned, some practically illegible yielded up from their pages a host of information: names, relationships, birthdates, education, marital status, attendance at school, religion, race, country of birth, location of house in the community. But that is not all. I n the 1750-1800’s community inventories--censuses to me-- were taken, and described in detail the communities’ wealth --the financial condition of the householder! Yes how many oxen, horses, fat cattle, sheep, bushels of flax, wheat, oats and how much tax they paid. If these people objected to the collection and release of such financial information I have found no evidence of it. Why does SC and the Government even countenance the possibility of not releasing the1906 and 1911 censuses? Why the singling out of this industry which needs information to survive? Why do they want to put Maritime publishing houses in jeopardy? Where do they think I and 100’s of other Maritimers get our books published? This is a growing industry now being threatened by the mistaken notions of a few in Ottawa. People employed in archives, museums, photogaraphers, printers, book stores, salespeople, tax-gatherers, and tax counters are all part of the industry. Failure by Stats Can to release will give SC a bad reputation. Future respect and trust will be diminished. Canadians, especially politicians, who in the future complain about our youth not being knowledgeable about Canadian history , schools not teaching, Canadians not being patriotic, need only blame themselves. This is their chance to take charge of a situation, which could further erode our national spirit, and do something about it . Yes Minister, take charge of your responsibilities and see that Canadians’ wishes are carried out. Give the order Minister --set the 1906, 1911 censuses free! Thank you Garth E Staples Suffolk, PEI |
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