POST 1901 CENSUS PROJECT
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This page contains the written submission of Lynton (Bill) Stewart re: public access to 1906 and 1911 Census Record made to Environics Research Group. From: "Lynton (Bill) Stewart To: censusconsultations@environics.ca Sent: Thursday, January 17, 2002 1:58 PM Subject: Post 1901 Census Release Sirs: I am a citizen of Canada, residing in the United States of America. One branch of my family came to Canada in 1783, as Loyalists emigrating to Nova Scotia. Over the past two centuries, various family lines have come to Canada from Scotland, Ireland, the United States, and one branch turned out to be Native to Manitoba. I am an amateur genealogist. By that, I mean that I do genealogy to root out all of the branches of my family tree, and I assist others when I can, for no fees at all. One of the essential elements of doing genealogy research of one's own family is access to census returns. Time and again, I have located my direct family line by first locating relatives in a particular census. To illustrate how this works, I will provide the following example: I had no idea who the parents of my paternal grandmother Black were. I knew her age, and date of birth. I did not know where she was born, or who her siblings were. I deduced that she was from Manitoba, as that was where my father was born. I knew that his father had moved from Nova Scotia in approximately 1904, and worked for the C.P.R. I obtained microfilm of the census returns from Manitoba. Working through them, I eventually located my grandmother in the 1901 Census, along with her parents and siblings. This was after many, many hours of searching through page after page of census returns from much of the Province of Manitoba. I had begun with Winnipeg, as that was where my father was born. Eventually, I located the family in Greenridge, in the Red River Settlement area. I found that my grandmother was part of a family of eleven children. I also found that her father had been born in Ireland, which no one in the family had known. This information, gathered from the census reports, allowed further research. I found that my great grandmother Black was Metis, and that she descended from the famous Fidler family. I discovered that her elder brother, Leslie Arthur Black had been killed in 1917, at the Pas de Calais, France, during the First World War. Another brother also served in the Canadian Expeditionary Force. Without access to the census returns, without restrictions, I would never have been able to discover any of the above information. On my mothers family line, the census returns have also been invaluable. I was able to trace my ancestors, and their children, through "Upper Canada", "Canada West", and throughout Ontario. All because I was able to find my maternal great grandparents in the 1851 censuses of Durham and Oxford Counties of Ontario. My family was broken in the 1940's. I had no idea that my father was born in Canada, or that he descended from Loyalists, Scot's that were forced to emigrate during the Highland clearances, fur trappers, native peoples, etc. He was simply a man that I carried the name of, until I was able to dig out the family history. I could not have done this without the various census reports that are available to me. Quite literally, relatives have led me to my direct ancestors, many times. I can now document an unbroken line of ancestry from 1783, to the present, in Canada. In the future, there will be many others like me. Persons attempting to research their family, to develop roots. Without access to the post 1901 census returns, they will not be able to do this. I regularly correspond with numerous cousins that I have discovered through my research. We share so much history together. Without the census returns, this would not have been possible. I still have a number of other cousins somewhere in Canada. My grandfather had two brothers that also moved from Wallace, Nova Scotia to Winnipeg. One died in a fire in Winnipeg about 1908 (he was a fireman). He left a family. The other sired at least two sons. The 1911 census would be a godsend in determining where these families lived, and in locating my cousins from those lines. Without that census, I have no way of finding those family lines, as I do not know the children's names or dates of birth. It was through the census returns, and research done as a result of the information I gathered from them, that I was able to document my Canadian Citizenship. By proving that my father was a Canadian Citizen throughout his lifetime (a British Citizen until 1947), I was able to establish that I, and my six siblings, were entitled to Canadian Citizenship from birth. Without free and unfettered access to the 1901 Census, I could not have done this. Access to the census returns is vitally important for reasons other than the hobby of genealogy. As I understand it, Statistics Canada wishes to prevent general access to the census returns that have not yet been released. This is based on a "Promise", which was reportedly given to those who provided information for the census. But, no one has ever been able to locate this "Promise". It does not appear in any legislation, it does not appear in the instructions to the census takers, it simply does not exist. Based upon something that no one can prove exists in any form, Statistics Canada has unilaterally decided to block release of the 1911 and subsequent census returns. I would strongly advocate that all census reports be made available 92 years after they were done. This has been the pattern for all census reports in the past, and there is simply no valid reason not to continue with this practice. Sincerely, Lynton C. Stewart, Ph.D. San Marcos, CA USA |
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