Greetings All. Third Reading debate of Bill S-18 continued in the Senate on Tuesday 22 March with Senator John Lynch-Staunton leading the charge against passage of the Bill. As he had done before for the Privacy Commissioner and the Chief Statistician, he now berated Justice Canada for having produced a legal opinion that differed from earlier opinions in that it found no intention that Census records were intended to remain confidential forever, and no evidence that any 'promise' had been made that would give such an impression. He stated that "Justice has a bad habit of tailoring opinions to suit its client." It does not appear to matter to the Honourable Senator that earlier opinions were based on a very narrow view of one specific clause in Instructions to Officers and Enumerators of Census (having the Force of Law), whereas the opinion of Ann Chaplin in August 2000 considered ALL pertinent clauses (also having the Force of Law) in those Instructions, as well as ALL legislation having a bearing on the access issue. The Honourable Senator was prolific in quoting clauses of various statutes, Instructions, and Census forms which, while they gave assurances of confidentiality in contemporary terms, nowhere was there anything that indicated that such confidentiality was intended to last FOREVER. The Honourable Senator Comeau added some further comments as well. During the course of the past seven years, whenever any Senator or MP has spoken against the access we seek, almost without exception they have voiced those objections as if genealogists and historians were seeking information from current Censuses, rather than from those of 92 or more years ago. While much of what they say may have some validity in terms of access to current Census records, to apply those terms to records almost a century old is, to say the least, misleading. The full text of yesterday's (Tuesday) debate has been added to the Post 1901 Census Project website at the URL following my signature. Follow the link "Progress of Bill S-18". Happy Hunting Gordon A. Watts [email protected] Co-chair Canada Census Committee Port Coquitlam, BC http://www.globalgenealogy.com/Census en francais http://www.globalgenealogy.com/Census/Index_f.htm Permission to forward without notice is granted