Greetings All FYI. I am posting an excellent letter sent by Gordon Taylor to Prime Minister Paul Martin. It is posted with permission. Anyone sending a letter to their MP or other parliamentary representatives should feel free to post them to the CCC list. Happy Hunting. Gordon ========================== 3 September 2004. Right Honourable Paul Martin, Office of the Prime Minister, 80 Wellington St., Ottawa, ON., K1A OA2 Dear Mr. Martin: Family History Research: I was delighted to see the short article and photograph that appeared in the Ottawa Citizen of September 1. I trust that your son and his aunts have a great deal of success in finding and documenting the roots of the Martin family. By becoming family historians your family members have joined 7.5 million Canadians who are dedicated to researching their family history. As you must be aware family history is one of the important means of keeping fresh in the minds of our generation and of our descendants the contribution our ancestors have made not only to our lives but to those of all Canadians. As I am sure your researchers will tell you the data contained in the censuses of Canada are very important to the successful outcome of their research. Canada has traditionally released the historic censuses for public use 92 years after the census was conducted. The 1911 census, however, has not been released although it was due for release in 2003. In spite of many letters, petitions and personal pleas to members of parliament and to senior bureaucrats, the Chief Statistician has consistently declined to turn the census records over to the Library and Archives of Canada as current law requires. I am sure that a wink and a nod from your office could obtain the desired release of this very important census. All family historians in Canada and elsewhere including your own family researchers will be forever grateful for your help. As a family historian who has family members in Canada and the United Kingdom and the United States the availability of consistent and regular census data is a vital part of understanding who was where and when. I look forward to the release of the 1911 census of Canada so that I can understand my family history before I become part of my family history. Thank you for your assistance in making the information from the 1911 Census available to all family historians. Sincerely yours Gordon Taylor