Date: Sun, 24 Oct 1999 13:20:15 -0500 From: "Holly & Scott" <voila@netcom.ca> Subject: Petitions to Continue (Post-1901 Census) Greetings Listers. The extended deadline of 31 October for the Post 1901 Census petition to the House of Commons is rapidly approaching. To date I have received almost 5000 signatures to be sent in on 1 November. While 5000 signatures seems a lot, when you consider our petition is Canada wide it is not a fantastic number. While it was necessary to set some kind of deadline in order to have a reasonable number of petitions to send at one time to MP Murray Calder, this does not mean that we can sit back and say that we are finished. Far from it. The deadline is now removed and we will continue to accept petitions which will be sent in on a periodic basis until we achieve our goal. Petitions for Canada are to be sent to myself while petitions for those outside of Canada will continue to be sent to Muriel Davidson. Addresses are included on the cover pages of both petitions that are downloadable from http://www.globalgenealogy.com/census A word about the petitions. It is important that those in Canada use the Canada petition while those outside of Canada use the Non-Canada petition. They are directed to two different places. The petition for Canada is directed To the House of Commons while the petition for those outside of Canada is directed to Senator Lorna Milne for support of her Bill to be presented shortly in the Senate. The petition to the House of Commons, by the rules of the House, may be signed ONLY by residents of Canada. The petition for those outside of Canada may be signed by anyone. Do not attempt to change the wording of the petitions in any way. They have been worded the way they are for particular reasons. Any attempt to change the wording, either by crossing out and/or adding words will cause the petition to be voided by the government gurus. They have specific guidelines about what can, and cannot, be done with petitions. Changing wording of petitions is a NO-NO. While the goal of our committee was to have a single petition (hopefully breaking records for numbers of signatures) we realize that we are by no means the only group to be presenting petitions for the release of Post 1901 Census information. Other groups have petitions as well. Signers of petitions should sign the same petition only once. That does not mean however that they cannot sign a different petition having a similar goal. If you have already signed our petition, by all means sign petitions of other groups. Conversely, having signed a petition from another group does not prevent you from signing ours. Having signed our petition to the House of Commons does not prevent you from signing another petition directed to either the House, or to the Senate of Canada. While the thrust of this message has been regarding petitions do not forget to continue writing letters to your MP, John Manley, Sheila Copps and anyone else you can think of to further our cause. Letters and calls to newspapers, talk show hosts, TV stations etc. all have an effect. We cannot afford to "rest on our laurels". Please feel free to forward my postings re: Post 1901 Census to any and all lists, Family History Societies and/or newsletters to which you belong or subscribe. Thank you all for your continuing interest and support. Happy Hunting. Gordon A. WATTS gordon_watts@bc.sympatico.ca Port Coquitlam, BC ICQ # 9183352 Keep up to date on Post 1901 Census information at http://www.globalgenealogy.com/census/index.htm Download and circulate Post 1901 Census Petiton now from http://www.globalgenealogy.com/census/petition.htm Read my column on Post 1901 Census News at http://www.globalgenealogy.com/gazette.htm Subscribe to the CANADA-CENSUS-CAMPAIGN mail list at CANADA-CENSUS-CAMPAIGN-L-request@rootsweb.com -- E-Mail: phaynen@gte.net Winnipeg District, Manitoba CanGenWeb http://www.rootsweb.com/~mbwinnip/ County Down, Ireland GenWeb http://www.rootsweb.com/~nirdow/ Phyllis' Family Genealogy http://home1.gte.net/phaynen/tree.htm