POST 1901 CENSUS PROJECT
Open the door to Canada's Historic Census
TOWN HALL MEETINGS |
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This page contains correspondence from Mary Anne Bohaker, Finders Keepers Book Store and Halifax Regional Library, relating to the Town Hall Meeting held in Halifax. Mary-Anne attended both sessions of these meetings. From: Mary Anne Bohaker To: CANADA-CENSUS-CAMPAIGN-L@rootsweb.com Subject: The Halifax Town Meeting! Date sent: Mon, 7 Jan 2002 22:58:55 -0400 Gordon et al, Here is my report on the proceedings of the Halifax Town Meeting. I managed to forget to take notepaper with me so I will have to rely on my trusty memoy of today's event. (Leland and James, feel free to correct me as you see fit). In the afternoon session there were only four presenters scheduled. The first was a gentleman from Nova Scotia's Privacy and Access to Information Review Board (this is not the right title of that office but you get the idea). He of course spoke in favour of perpetual closure. The second speaker was a gentleman who is the Chief Statistician for the NS Dept. of Finance, who also favoured perpetual closure. The third speaker, Michael Colbourne, has worked for several Libraries here in NS and spoke in favour, as did the final speaker, Dr. Ian Taylor, who at one time was a lead geographer for the federal government, I forget which Department he mentioned. Fortunately we had time left over so the moderator allowed members of the audience to voice their comments on the various presentations, whereby serveral of us immediately rebutted the ridiculous arguments presented by the two govemnent toadies (sorry but I am still steaming mad). In the evening session there were five presenters, including myself, all of whom spoke in favour of access (my presentation is attached for any who care to read it). As in the afternoon we had time left over and again the moderator elicited comments from the audience. Three or maybe four people came forward and all voiced their support for access. All in all I think we won the day. On the way out the door the moderator was overheard to comment on how impressed he was with the quality of the prsentations, even those by folks who had not come prepared to speak. I don't know what he was expecting but I'm very glad that we were as prepared as we were. Several people pointed out that this whole process was a waste of government money, and that Statistics Canada may intend to continue "public consultation" until it gets an answer it likes. Anyway we drove the point home that concern for privacy in the here-and-now is admirable but applying perpetual privacy to historic records is ludicrous. We can only hope that the government will finally listen. Thanks to Leland for posting the Globe and Mail link, I will be sending my letter to the editor shortly. Well, that's the news from Halifax :) Mary Anne |
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