POST 1901 CENSUS PROJECT
Protect Canadian Census Records From Destruction
françaisThe following article by Dean Jobbs appeared in The Halifax Herald SUNDAY EXTRA 21 June 1998Census records off limits to historiansBy Dean JobbStaff Reporter SUNDAY EXTRA Lyn Winters knows his grandfather, Jacob, was a farmer in the Ohio area of Yarmouth County at the turn of the century. He knows Jacob, a Baptist, lived with his wife Elizabeth and their five children, including his father, Lyndall. He even knows each of their birth dates. Mr. Winters or anyone else researching family trees need not rely on family Bibles or fading memories for such facts - they can look them up the 1901 federal census returns. But conflicting laws and modern privacy concerns threaten to prevent the release of the 1911 census, touching off a chorus of protest from genealogists, historians and researchers. "Some people out there don't know who their great-grandfather is," says Mr. Winters, a retired RCMP officer who was born in Yarmouth and now lives in Gloucester, Ont. "To have that sort of thing cut down and taken away from them, I think is a terrible disservice." He and other genealogists have mounted a letter-writing campaign to pressure cabinet ministers and MPs to ensure the continued flow of dated - but invaluable - census information. There are tens of thousands of amateur and professional genealogists in Canada - the Ontario Genealogical Society alone has 37 branches - and countless Canadians harbor an interest in tracing their roots. Returns for the first four censuses taken after Confederation - 1871, 1881, 1891 and 1901 - are already in the public domain. Statistics Canada, which counts Canadians at 10-year intervals and crunches the numbers, began releasing raw data from the earliest censuses to the National Archives of Canada in the 1960s. Under the federal Privacy Act, personal information collected for a census remains confidential for 92 years. In keeping with that rule, the 1901 census was made public in 1994. History junkies have been eagerly awaiting the unveiling of the 1911 edition, expected in 2004. But Stats Can refuses to release the 1911 census, or any taken since, citing confidentiality guarantees adopted in 1906. "Legally our hands are tied," says Louise Desramaux, the agency's information and privacy co-ordinator. There are also fears bending the rules on old census material will make it harder to collect information for future censuses. "If we go out and say we're going to be putting that information out in the public domain at some point ... there's always the possibility this will affect the co-operation" of citizens. Canada's privacy commissioner has received complaints about the personal nature of some questions on the detailed census forms mailed to one in five households. One query, since discarded, asked about persons "living elsewhere who stayed overnight." But researchers say such concerns should not block access to the names, birth dates, family relationships and occupations of people collected nearly a century ago. Leland Harvie, who edits the newsletter of the 1,500-member Genealogical Association of Nova Scotia, points out that no one complained when the 1901 census was released. His grandmother, who was four in 1901, was still alive but "it didn't bother her that she showed up (in the returns)." The census is one of the fastest ways to trace ancestors and link relatives, according to Nova Scotia's best-known genealogist. "It's probably one of the best connecting tools we've got," says Terry Punch. The 1911 census is crucial because it covers a period when Nova Scotia did not record births and deaths, he notes. Historians and archivists are also pushing for its release. A history professor at Mount Allison University in Sackville, N.B., says the census is crucial in documenting social trends. William G. Godfrey cites a recent book by two historians about unemployed Canadians in the late 1800s that relied heavily on census data. Census records were often the only way to identify people he encountered recently as he researched the history of the Moncton hospital. "The privacy people are almost destroying the historical profession because, every time you turn around now, you discover there are new rules and regulations," Mr. Godfrey noted. "In a way you're happy to be working in the 18th century, with people safely dead." The Office of the Privacy Commissioner is not directly involved in the standoff, but its 1994-95 report investigated more than 30 complaints about the 1991 census. The commissioner advised Stats Can to tell people up front that census records will eventually be released or to destroy them. "It's one or the other," says Sally Jackson, the commissioner's director of public affairs. "There is this real and growing reluctance to be required by law to provide detailed personal information, and then be told that it's going to be released." The mere thought of destroying such records sends shivers through researchers, but that's not about to happen. The National Archives in Ottawa, which controls their fate, has ordered Stats Can to preserve them. There are ongoing negotiations between the two agencies and archives officials are hopeful the 1911 census will eventually be released. Mr. Winters says either Parliament must change the law to open censuses after 92 years, as the Privacy Act envisions, or someone will have to ask the Federal Court of Canada for a ruling. "The 1911 census will be extremely helpful to me in rounding out my family," he says. "if I'm ever able to see it." |
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