Greetings All. I am trying a new tactic and have sent the following News Release to most of the major daily newspapers and television stations across Canada. I have not sent it to any of the weekly or community papers. Feel free to forward it to your local papers. Please remove this message before doing so. Thank you for your interest and support. Gordon A. Watts gordon_watts@telus.net Co-Chair, Canada Census Committee Port Coquitlam, BC http://globalgenealogy.com/Census en francais http://globalgenealogy.com/Census/Index_f.htm Permission to forward without notice is granted. ================================== News Release of Canada Census Committee Contact: Gordon A. Watts 604-942-6889 Saturday 6 October 2001 Industry Minister Brian Tobin is not endearing himself to the hearts of the estimated 7.5 million Canadians who have an interest in genealogy and family history. His refusal to respond to the concerns of many thousands seeking to regain public access to Historical Census Records, 92 years following collection, or to even acknowledge them, has angered a great many people. The first decade of the Twentieth Century showed the greatest influx of immigrants in the history of Canada, with 1,819,930 immigrants from 49 different ethnic origins. A further 1,573,432 came in the second decade. Without access to these vital Census records descendants of these immigrants my never know their origins. The Privacy Act of Canada allows individual level information from Census records to be made public 92 years following collection, provided that the records are under the control of the National Archivist. 235 years of Census records, all that survive from the first Census of New France in 1666 up to and including the 1901 Census of Canada are under control of the National Archives and are available to any person or body for purposes of research. It was expected that the Special Western Census of 1906 would have been released in 1998, and that the 1911 and subsequent National Censuses would be released on a continuing basis, 92 years after collection. Statistics Canada, however, refuses to turn control of any Census taken after 1901 over to the National Archivist. They do so because of misinterpreted legislation dating back as far as 1905, and their unsubstantiated claim that the government of Sir Wilfred Laurier made a promise that information from Census would never be released. While asked to do so, neither they, nor anyone else, have been able produce any documented evidence of such a promise. It had been hoped that the Report of the Expert Panel on Access to Historical Census Data would be the key to resolving this issue that has been ongoing since at least the 1970s. This report by an independent panel of experts headed by Dr. Richard Van Loon was commissioned in November 1999 by then Industry Minister John Manley. The panel unanimously supported the public access to the 92 year old records sought by genealogists and historians. Following an Access to Information Request their Report was reluctantly made public 15 December 2000 by now Industry Minister Brian Tobin. At the same time, Mr. Tobin issued a News Release that dismissed the recommendations of the Report of the Expert Panel, and stated “further broad based consultation with all Canadians is needed. This consultation will take place as part of the already announced administrative and legislative review of the Access to Information and the Privacy Acts.” The stated consultations have not been forthcoming. On 26 March 2001, members of the Access to Information Act Review Task Force informed participants of a roundtable discussion not to expect much to be said in their final report regarding public access to Historical Census Records. They advised that it did not form a part of their mandate. No similar review of the Privacy Act is known. Many attempts have been made, sent simultaneously by email, fax, and Canada Post, to obtain clarification regarding these consultations from Brian Tobin. To date he has refused to respond to, or even acknowledge receipt of, these requests. It would appear, however, that Mr. Tobin has changed his mind on how he intends to conduct his ‘broad based discussions with all Canadians’. On 19 September 2001, the Senate Standing Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology held hearings on Senator Lorna Milne’s Bill S-12, ‘An Act to amend the Statistics Act and the National Archives of Canada Act (census records).’ During testimony before this Committee Michael Sheridan, Assistant Chief Statistician of Canada, stated “we are arranging for an independent consultant to conduct town hall meetings across the country, starting this fall, to find out how ordinary Canadians feel and what those ordinary Canadians want. Town hall meetings will be supplemented with focus groups to test various alternatives.” There is concern that these town hall meetings and focus groups will be manipulated, by the information provided and questions asked, in order to elicit negative responses. Anyone reading the Environics Research reports on the focus groups and ‘national’ surveys conducted by Statistics Canada on behalf of the Expert Panel on Access to Historical Census Records can see evidence of such manipulation. The Canada Census Committee, representing many thousands of Canadians, calls upon Brian Tobin and the government of Canada to accept the recommendations contained in the Report of the Expert Panel on Access to Historical Census Records. We further call upon them to either accept Bill S-12 as a government Bill, or to bring forth their own Bill that reflects the recommendations contained in the Report of the Expert Panel. ……. 30 ============================ The Canada Census Committee is an adhoc committee made up of concerned genealogists and historians from across Canada. Co-Chair Gordon A. Watts retired from B C Telephone in 1996 and has been an amateur genealogist since 1990. He has spent the past four years extensively researching the issue of public access to Post 1901 Census records and is a leader of a campaign to regain that access. He participated in roundtable discussions relating to the Access to Information Act Review in Ottawa on 26 March 2001, and appeared before the Senate Standing Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology in support of Bill S-12 on 19 September 2001. He can be reached by: e-mail gordon_watts@telus.net Tel. 604-942-6889 Fax. 604-942-6843 or by Canada Post at: 1455 Delia Drive, Port Coquitlam, BC, V3C 2V9 Further information can be seen at the Post 1901 Census Project Website at http://www.globalgenealogy.com/Census