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EXTRACTS FROM HANSARD
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PROCEEDINGS OF CANADA'S HOUSE OF COMMONS

The following extracts have been taken from Hansard Records
of Canada's House of Commons for the 37th Parliament of Canada:

Debates of the House of Commons (Hansard)
1st Session, 37th Parliament,
NUMBER 088
Friday, September 28, 2001
The Honourable Peter Milliken, Speaker

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ROUTINE PROCEEDINGS

Petitions

Census Records

Mr. Murray Calder (Dufferin--Peel--Wellington--Grey, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, I rise once again to present a petition concerning the release of census records to genealogists and historians. The petition is signed by more than 2,500 Canadians from all 10 provinces. If we add that to previous petitions I have presented this year, more than 11,700 signatures have been submitted.

The petition points out that an estimated 7.5 million Canadians are engaged in the pursuit of their family histories and that census records are a valuable tool for such research. Such records have been used for historical research, tracing genetic diseases and settling wills and estates.

The petitioners are calling on parliament to take whatever steps are necessary to retroactively amend the confidentiality clauses of the Census and Statistics Act, 1906 to allow the release to the public of post-1901 census records after a reasonable period of time.