POST 1901 CENSUS PROJECT
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The April/May issue of "The Family Tree" (Page 22B) contained an article that I believe was entitled "Death of Canada's Census Greatly Exaggerated." While I have not been a subscriber, the text of the article was e-mailed to me by someone who knew I am involved in the campaign to obtain release to the Public of Post 1901 Census records. The article stated "During the past few months, rumors have been rife regarding the closure and/or possible destruction of the 1911 and later Canadian census records by Statistics Canada. There is no truth to the allegations. The records have been transferred from questionnaires to microfilm and are available for access by individual respondents." I have been following the Canada Census issue since I first became aware of it more than two years ago. I have sent letters to Members of Parliament and encouraged other to do the same, both personally, and by posting to various mailing lists on the Internet. The seriousness of this issue has NOT been exaggerated. · It is TRUE that initially it was thought that there was an attempt to have the Census destroyed, and it has been categorically stated by official sources that this will NOT happen. · It is also TRUE that information obtained through Canada's Access to Information legislation indicates that there was, in fact, an attempt to have Census information destroyed. · It is TRUE that the original Census has been transferred to microfilm. · It is NOT TRUE that these microfilm are "available to access by individual respondents" except under very specific circumstances. · It is particularly NOT TRUE that Canada Census reports after 1906 will be released TO THE PUBLIC without a concerted effort by that Public to have them released. The Acts under which Census information is collected contain confidentiality clauses which up to 1906 allowed personal information from Census to be made public after 92 years, PROVIDING that no other Act contained stronger language that prohibited this release. Statistics Acts from 1906 until the present contain strict privacy sections that today's government interprets as meaning no personal information from Census, as a matter of law, can be released to the public. There is no time limitation on this privacy clause. What this means, in the simplest terms, is that under current legislation, NO FURTHER CENSUS INFORMATION WILL BE RELEASED TO THE PUBLIC. This is a devastating situation for genealogists and historians. The following is a quote from a response on behalf of Dr. Ivan Fellegi, Chief Statistician of Canada "It is the case that individual records from the 1911 [and subsequent] Census will not be released to the public. This was not an arbitrary decision but was based on a review by the Department of Justice of the legislation under which these earlier censuses were taken. Starting with 1906, censuses have been conducted under various Statistics Acts, each containing strict confidentiality provisions that protect the information indefinitely. There are no exceptions in the legislation that would permit the disclosure of information from the Census that can be related to individuals, without their written consent. Consequently, the Chief Statistician does not have the legal authority to transfer records from censuses conducted after 1906 to the National Archives for release to the public." Information in the square brackets was added by myself, i.e. [and subsequent]. For the past several months, a number of concerned individuals, including myself, have waged a campaign on the Internet to get public support for change by having people write to their MPs expressing their dismay, and opposition, to this situation and to urge the government to take steps to allow the release of Post 1901 information. Lorna Milne, a member of the Senate of Canada, has raised the matter in the Senate and during the Fall Session intends to introduce a Private Member's Bill to obtain the release of Post 1901 Census records. She has requested letters and email continue to be sent to support her efforts. In addition a number of Members of Parliament, under pressure from their constituents, have indicated they would either present a Bill to obtain release of Census records, or would vote in favour of such a Bill. The realities of our Government system however, are that Private Member's Bills seldom, if ever, get passed. To obtain our goal we must have a Bill that has been introduced by the Government. Accordingly we have taken our campaign to the next step. A formal petition has been drawn up and is being circulated Canada wide. This petition is to be presented by MP Murray Calder in October 1999 and requests that the Government take whatever steps necessary to release to the Public after a reasonable period, Post 1901 Census records, beginning with the 1906 Census. Our efforts are having an impact. We have moved from a Government who had little or no interest in the concerns of a few genealogists and historians, to having the Minister responsible (the Honorable John Manley) requesting Statistics Canada to present options to address our concerns. For those who are interested in this issue there are a number of websites that have a great deal of information. Rick Roberts of Global Genealogy has contributed web space for the Post 1901 Census Project. This site contains much information, including a scoreboard that is tracking MP's responses on how they would vote on a Bill to release Census records, a correspondence log relating to MP responses, sample letters, and some background history. It also contains several Hansard extracts of Senate debates on Access to Census as well as a lengthy report to the Senate by the Privacy Commissioner. Several Senators asked a number of pointed questions during this report. Our formal petition to the House of Commons is downloadable from this site. Access the Post 1901 Census Project at the following URL. www.globalgenealogy.com/census/index.htm Information at www.chebucto.ns.ca/Recreation/GANS/statscan.html details quite fully the problem we are facing, and includes a correspondence log with links to many letters regarding it, including one from Dr. Ivan Felligi, Chief Statistician of Canada. www.cyberus.ca/~ogsottawa/statscan.htm contains a letter from Louise Desramaux, Privacy Coordinator for Statistics Canada. Check also www.chebucto.ns.ca/Recreation/GANS/138.htm and www.chebucto.ns.ca/Recreation/GANS/149.htm Check out my monthly update on Post 1901 Census News at The Global Gazette at www.globalgenealogy.com/gazette.htm A Rootsweb mailing list has just been set up to deal with the Post 1901 Census issue. Subscribe in Mail Mode by sending an email to CANADA-CENSUS-CAMPAIGN-L-request@rootsweb.com that contains the word " subscribe ", and nothing else. For Digest Mode send to CANADA-CENSUS-CAMPAIGN-D-request@rootsweb.com I am sure there are other web sites that have further information regarding this issue but someone reading the sources I list here will have a much better understanding of it. Happy Hunting. Gordon A. WATTS gordon_watts@bc.sympatico.ca 1455 Delia Drive Port Coquitlam, BC Canada, V3C 2V9 |
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