POST 1901 CENSUS PROJECT
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TOWN HALL MEETINGS |
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This page contains correspondence from Gordon D. Taylor, British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa, relating to the Town Hall Meeting held in Ottawa. A copy of his presentation to the meeting follows. From: Gordon Taylor To: Gordon A. Watts Sent: Saturday, December 15, 2001 1:36 PM Subject: Town Hall Meetings: Gordon: By now you will have heard from other people about the two town hall meetings held in Ottawa yesterday. The people attending and presenting were all favourable to the release of the historical census records. The "third option" was discussed at the afternoon session with each presented. The option was uniformly condemned as being completely unworkable. I would hate to have to administer it and to try to work under it as a family historian. A copy of my presentation is attached. The moderator, Chris Baker, did a good job of being a moderator. Regards: Gordon Taylor. TOWN HALL MEETING ON THE RELEASE OF CANADIAN CENSUS DATA Ottawa, Ontario December 14, 2001. Presented by: Gordon D. Taylor, British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa. Thank you for the opportunity to appear at this town hall meeting and to be able to present to you the views of the British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa on the release to the public domain of the records of the Census of Canada. The Census of a country is one of the great treasure chests of information for the study of the history of that country, of its people and its communities. Our society is based upon the family and there are literally thousands of family historians who are willing and eager to extract, analyze, and prepare reports on a multitude of Canadian families. Where did they come from, when did they come, why did they come, where did they go in Canada, how did they fare after they came, and so on? Answers to these questions form the basis of a sound understanding of the social and family history of Canada. The major contribution of the census is to locate an individual or a family at a fixed address at a definite time. The family historian then knows where the family of interest is on Census Day. This provides a starting point for the collection and analysis of other data from the census and other sources. The result is a family history that when combined with many others forms the basis for a social history of a community. The Canadian Census of 1851, 1861, 1871, 1881, 1891 and 1901 that have been released to the National Archives in the past provided important information to family historians. Both the National Archives and the National Library are well used by genealogists. A recent estimate indicates that they account for between 20 and 30% of the researchers using the National Library. (1) On a personal note I have found each census to contain information important to me in developing an understanding of the various families that constitute my background and the background of my children and their children. Without this information my task would have been much more difficult and in the long run much less complete. The release of historic census records after 1901 became a public issue in the 1990’s, particularly over the question of privacy. On August 31, 1998 I wrote, as president of BIFHSGO, to the Hon. John Manley, the Minister of Industry. I would like to quote a few thoughts from that letter. “There is a large community of genealogists and family historians, both in Canada and abroad, that look on census material as key information in the development of the social history of a country or a region through the study of hundreds, even thousands, of individual family histories.”(2) “The current system whereby the information is placed in the public domain 92 years after the census was taken has worked satisfactorily. Other countries, where census results are placed in the public domain, have similar time delay rules”(2) Mr. Manley appointed an Expert Panel on Access to Historical Census Records to report regarding the legal, privacy and archival implications of providing access to historical census records. The panel did a thorough job in carrying out its assigned task and reported to the Minister in June 2000 but the report was not released to the public for 6 months. (3) “The panel’s recommendations with respect to the release of historical and future census records are clear, reasonable and attainable”. (3) They reported that “Our fundamental recommendation is simply that census records should be publicly released through the National Archives 92 years after a census is taken. The means by which the release of historical census records can be achieved varies with the historical period in which the census was and will be taken.”(4) The basic view of the British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa is that the government should accept the recommendation of its Expert Panel and get on with the task of releasing the historical censuses. We urge in the strongest terms possible that this recommendation be reinforced by the current series of town hall meetings. What we should be doing now is not rehashing the completed work of the Expert Panel but we should be spending our time and knowledge in a discussion of how the census is to be released. A number of historic censuses have been made available online or by means of CD’s. The Church of Latter Day Saints, renowned for their leadership and action in furthering the cause of family history and genealogy have worked with universities in Canada, United Kingdom and United States and the genealogical community to develop and make available on CD’s, the 1881 National Census of Canada and of the United Kingdom and the 1880 Census of the United States. I have worked with the UK and US databases and found them to be easy to understand and generally user friendly. I worked with the group that prepared a similar package for Canada. It should be available for public use early in 2002. The 1901 Census for England and Wales will be made available for public consultation on the first working day of January 2002. The returns are being digitized and will be available electronically via the Internet on the release day. (5) In Australia historic census records have been routinely destroyed. A current policy change indicates that census data in the future should be retained in the National Archives of Australia. In an article published by UNESCO Terry Cook argues that “There are certain categories of personal information for which preservation is essential:
2. Land registration records, 3. Certain court and legal records, 4. The national census of population.”(6) In the United States census records are placed in the public domain after a time lapse of 72 years. The latest census to be released was the 1920. The 1930 should be released in the near future. Private concerns such as ancestry.com and genealogy.com have made the historic censuses available online. In summary: our view is that the policy of releasing the national census after 92 years should be continued and that Statistics Canada and the National Archives of Canada should work with representatives of the genealogical community to examine the means by which the data becomes available. Full advantage should be taken of the opportunities offered by the Internet. Thank you for this opportunity to speak of behalf of a most worthy cause: S.O.C. Save Our Census References: 1.Taylor, Gordon D., “English Roots Conference a Big Success” Anglo-Celtic Roots, Volume, No. 1, Winter 2001, Pp. 15 – 16, 2.Taylor, Gordon D., “Letter, Release of Census Data: Anglo-Celtic Roots, Volume 4, No. 4, Fall 1998, Pp. 7 3.Taylor, Gordon D., “Review of the Expert Panel on Access to Historical Records,” Anglo-Celtic Roots, Volume 7, No.2, Spring 2001, Pp.37-38 4 Report of the Expert Panel on Access to Historical Census Records, June 2000, p.14 5.Public Record Office, 1901 Census Project, News Release, p. 1 6.Cook, Terry, “The Archival Appraisal of Records Containing Personal Information, A RAMP Study with Guidelines”, UNESCO, Paris, 1991, p.22. |
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