POST 1901 CENSUS PROJECT
Open the door to Canada's Historic Census
TOWN HALL MEETINGS |
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This page contains correspondence from Leland Harvie, Administrator of NSroots mail list and Editor, Journal of the Genealogical Association of Nova Scotia, relating to the Town Hall Meeting held in Halifax. Leland attended both sessions of these meetings. From: Leland Harvie To: Gordon A. Watts Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2002 11:04 AM Subject: Report on Halifax Census Consultations The sessions were held in the Commonwealth Room at the Westin Nova Scotian. There were 100 chairs set out, a small table for the presenter to sit with his back to the audience and facing the moderator who was seated at a second small table. There were translators in a booth at the back and a technician operating the speakers and audio recording. The morning session started about 15 minutes late, there were 25 seated in attendance. The moderator introduced himself as Chris Baker, Project Director for Environics. He outlined the format of the session, no questions from the audience, he indicated that there were copies of a compromise solution avaiable in a stack on the presentators table. There were four presentors scheduled. 1. Darce Fardy Mr. Fardy is the Review Officer for the Nova Scotia Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Review Office. He said that he was a privacy advocate and that release of the census would be an unwarranted invasion. He supports the compromise document which had not been discussed. He believes that individuals do not go out of their way to inform themselves of their rights and freedoms and government must look after them. 2. Dennis Pilkey Mr. Pilkey is the Director for the Statistics Division of the Nova Scotia Department of Finance. He said that he was not speaking on behalf of the government. He is opposed to release of the census. He believes that confidentiality should extend beyond death. He strongly believes that release of the census would impact on future responsiveness. Also opposed to release because answers were obtained under compulsion of law. 3. Michael Colborne Director of the Nova Scotia Provincial Library. Mentioned large and increasing number of clients researching their family history, the positive economic impact, book publishings industry, local and community histories, believes 92 years is sufficient to ensure privacy, used comparisons to U.S. and U.K. The procedings were ahead of schedule at this point, the questions posed by the moderator were short. He asked if anyone from the audience wished to make a comment before taking a short break until 3:35 for the 4th presenter. Three individuals took advantage of that opportunity. -Sandra Wooten (incensed by the first two presenters and the apparent bias towards Stats Canada's position by the self described impartial third party moderator in his comments and questions) -Rowin MacLean (attempted to differentiate between the population schedules of 1911 and the long form questionaires of today) -Mary Anne Bohaker (scheduled to present at the evening session but made several good points in rebuttal to the afternoon presenters.) 4. Dr. Ian Taylor An excellent presentation by an academic historian who has worked in the U.K. and Canada and how his work on western settlement research in Edmonton/Strathcona was effectively shut down by the lack of co-operation by Statistics Canada and the exhorbitant amount of money they wished to charge for non-identifying information that would have been of no help. Hit on all the major points as to the precedent of release and the continuity of the departments from Dept. of Agriculture to Ministry of Trade and Commerce in 1912 and Dominion Bureau of Statistics in 1918. Afternoon session adjorned. Evening session: The noise from an air conditioning fan in the afternoon made it very difficult to hear the procedings and it was turned off, much to everyone's relief at the time however the room was very warm and stuffy that evening. There were 24 people in attendance, at least 6 had also attended the afternoon session. The moderator in his introduction outlined the debate in terms that his employer would likely approve, the promise of confidentiality in perpetuity, the embarrasment of questions on ability to read or write, the description of infirmities such as "silly". Unlike the afternoon session there were no copies of the compromise solution in evidence and no mention was made of it specifically in his questioning of the presenters. 1. James P. Barnaby A very well prepared presentation, a personal account of his own family research and the importance of the census. In the questioning he was handed a list of the questions from the 1911 census and put on the spot when asked if there was anything that perhaps he could live without. He agreed that that income in dollars could be deleted. 2. Leland Harvie Began by reference to report of Expert Committee and read into the record section 2.9 "The Legal Situation" including their inability to find ANY mention of perpetual confidentiality either in legislation or in any of the debates surrounding it. Mentioned release of 1901 British Census last Wednesday, focused directly on privacy issue and willingness of people today to complete their forms by using personal example from 1901 census schedule, read into record the exact wording and responses, illustrating that questions of literacy had been asked since 1871 and that census of 1901 which has already been released included section on infirmities including "deaf and dumb", "blind", or "unsound mind" to counter statement that these were new in 1911. Made statement that open process inspires confidence while secrecy breeds mistrust, continued with personal example where 5 year old grand-daughter in household (my grandmother) lived to May 1996 and saw her family recorded. Made point that complience and civic duty is stronger in communities that value their heritage and that Statistics Canada is wrong to deny us the census to build that sense of community, the result will be the opposite and people will be less inclined to complete their forms. Made point that occupations and incomes are from a different era. Made point that birth certificates are not available in Nova Scotia between 1901 and 1908 and unless the 1911 census is released there could be no record of many people having existed including thousands killed in First World War. Made point that Baptists do no record baptisms, christings or marriages and represent a large proportion of the population in Nova Scotia as evidenced by the example schedule. Remarked on the cost of the consultations reported to be $260,000 and suggested that the Department of Industry could use the money to better advantage by digitizing the census records as they did with the Books of Remembrance from Parliament Hill. Ended with a statement that the time for study has passed and that the recommendations of the Expert Panel on Access to Historical Census Records should be implemented without further delay. 3. Mary Anne Bohaker Well organized presentation, used personal examples of her own family research and outlined the work of the Census Committee, petitions to Parliament. Questioned as to why Stats Canada is so insistant on non release responded well with comments on sale of statistics to third parties as did others. Moderator vigorously defended Stats Canada and their integrety. 4. Dan Conlin Researcher and director of exhibits at Maritime Museum of Atlantic. Used case studies of various ship builders and evidence from census to prove origin and authenticity of boat building. Excellent and effective presentation. 5. Dr. Mary Lu MacDonald Retired university researcher made references to the Expert Panel, gave scathing comments about Statistics Canada's tactics. Re-inforced the difference between promises on confidentiality given today vs. historical documents after 92 years, believes 92 years is actually too long. Very well spoken and effective. Time for additional comments from the audience. - Fred Curtis gave examples of personal research - Karen McKay spoke about use of census records from point of view of professional researcher for medical cases and for intestate estates and heir traces. - Joanne McCarthy spoke about heritiage resources in province and Pier 21 immigration museum who without access to future census releases witll not have the documentary evidence required to put on exhibits nor will productions like "A People's History" be able to draw on accurate information. - George Young, professor of History at St. Mary's University, spoke on personal genealogy research rather than field of study. Other memorable comments and questions (unsure as to whom they were directed or answered) - the poor quality of genealogy on web sites and the need for documented primary sources like the census - who is responsible, Stats Canada or individuals, to prove or disprove the perpetuity of confidentiality - what is Stats Canada's motivation, general agreement that control of information gave them a sense of power and the inability of a large organization to change. Your faithful reporter, Leland Harvie Halifax, Nova Scotia |
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