Greetings All. It would appear from some of the feedback from my last posting on this subject there are some who have misunderstood the intent of that posting and the suggested letter of protest to be included with your Census forms. I hope to clarify any misunderstanding at this time. The Canada Census Committee does NOT advocate refusing to fill out and return the Census Forms. We do NOT advocate completing the forms with false or inaccurate information. To the contrary, we support filling out the forms with accurate information so that WHEN we are successful in regaining public access to Historic Census records our descendants will be able to retrieve that information about us. We DO advocate downloading and signing the Letter of Protest from the Post 1901 Census Project website, and including it with your completed Census forms. In addition, a review of the Census forms reveals that the final page of both the short form and long form contains an area for your written comments. We advise that you copy here the contents of the Letter of Protest to ensure that the message is heard and is on permanent record. Since my last posting I have been advised by Lois Sparling, a Calgary lawyer active in our campaign to regain public access to Historic Census, that her research found several reported decisions (i.e., the judges wrote decisions which were published) of people being convicted and fined for refusing to complete the census form. I hope this clears up any misunderstandings. Happy Hunting. Gordon A. WATTS gordon_watts@telus.net Co-chair, Canada Census Committee Port Coquitlam, BC Keep up to date on Post 1901 Census information at http://globalgenealogy.com/Census en français http://globalgenealogy.com/Census/Index_f.htm Permission to forward without notice is granted. 15 May 2001 Dr. Ivan Fellegi. Chief Statistician of Canada Statistics Canada Ottawa, Ontario Be advised that the Census Forms enclosed herewith have been completed under protest. They have been filled out only because the law requires me, under threat of fine and/or imprisonment for non-compliance, to do so. I take this position because I support public access to Historic Census Records, 92 years after collection, as per Regulation 6(d) of the Privacy Act of Canada. I call on Statistics Canada, Industry Minister Brian Tobin, and the Government of Canada to accept, and implement, suggestions and recommendations made by the Expert Panel on Access to Historic Census Records in their report dated June 2000. Signed Address Telephone