Greetings All. My thanks to Norma Brown for forwarding to me a copy of her notice from Statistics Canada regarding the rejection of her request for access to the 1911 Census records. The response was dated 27 June 2003 so Canada Post would appear to have been on the job for the speedy delivery. Reasons given for the rejection stated that the records have not been transferred to the National Archives and 'remain under the care and control of Statistics Canada'. It mentions that Bill S-13 is currently waiting second reading in the House of Commons and that it is intended to 'remove any legal ambiguity in relation to historical census records, including those from the 1911 Census'. We all know that there is NO legal ambiguity regarding access to the 1911 records. The letter concludes "Accordingly, at this time, the schedules of the 1911 Census are being exempted from disclosure pursuant to section 24 of the Access to Information Act which reads as follows: '24(1) The head of a government institution shall refuse to disclose any record requested under this Act that contains information the disclosure of which is restricted by or pursuant to any provision set out in Schedule II.' Schedule II includes section 17 of the Statistics Act. Section 17 of the current Statistics Act replace similar provisions found in the Census and Statistics Act, R.S.C. 1906, c. 68 under which authourity the 1911 Census was taken and pursuant to which the 1911 Census Instructions were issued. Those Instructions were issued, assented to by the Governor in Council and published in the Canada Gazette on April 22, 1911. The Instructions had the force of law and continue to be in effect by virtue of the Interpretation Act." The letter advised of the entitlement to bring a complaint before the Information Commissioner. I will shortly post a copy of what I will be sending to the Information Commissioner as my complaint. Submitting these complaints is a very important part of our campaign and I urge all who submitted ATI requests for the 1911 Census, and have been refused, to submit such complaints. Happy Hunting. Gordon A. Watts [email protected] Co-Chair, Canada Census Committee Port Coquitlam, BC http://globalgenealogy.com/Census en français http://globalgenealogy.com/Census/Index_f.htm Permission to forward without notice is granted.

Hello Gordon and All, I have received my ATI request refusal.My request was received on June 6th.I received the refusal on June 30th which is amazing as it is date stamped the30th and there was not a mail delivery today.It is similar to the one below so I guess we are all getting the same letter.It is interesting that they do not even mention the money.If we behaved that way we would be considered rude.It is interesting that they are still hiding behind the same old reasons even though they were proven wrong.I wonder what it would take to get the message across?? I must go now and read the information about filing a complaint.An interesting sideline that I just noticed is that they even spelled my last name wrong!! Must scoot now and get busy, Mary. "Gordon A. Watts" wrote: > Greetings All. > > My thanks to Norma Brown for forwarding to me a copy of her notice from Statistics Canada regarding the rejection of her request for access to the 1911 Census records. > > The response was dated 27 June 2003 so Canada Post would appear to have been on the job for the speedy delivery. > > Reasons given for the rejection stated that the records have not been transferred to the National Archives and 'remain under the care and control of Statistics Canada'. > > It mentions that Bill S-13 is currently waiting second reading in the House of Commons and that it is intended to 'remove any legal ambiguity in relation to historical census records, including those from the 1911 Census'. We all know that there is NO legal ambiguity regarding access to the 1911 records. > > The letter concludes > > "Accordingly, at this time, the schedules of the 1911 Census are being exempted from disclosure pursuant to section 24 of the Access to Information Act which reads as follows: > > '24(1) The head of a government institution shall refuse to disclose any record requested under this Act that contains information the disclosure of which is restricted by or pursuant to any provision set out in Schedule II.' > > Schedule II includes section 17 of the Statistics Act. > > Section 17 of the current Statistics Act replace similar provisions found in the Census and Statistics Act, R.S.C. 1906, c. 68 under which authourity the 1911 Census was taken and pursuant to which the 1911 Census Instructions were issued. Those Instructions were issued, assented to by the Governor in Council and published in the Canada Gazette on April 22, 1911. The Instructions had the force of law and continue to be in effect by virtue of the Interpretation Act." > > The letter advised of the entitlement to bring a complaint before the Information Commissioner. I will shortly post a copy of what I will be sending to the Information Commissioner as my complaint. Submitting these complaints is a very important part of our campaign and I urge all who submitted ATI requests for the 1911 Census, and have been refused, to submit such complaints. > > Happy Hunting. > > Gordon A. Watts [email protected] > Co-Chair, Canada Census Committee > Port Coquitlam, BC > > http://globalgenealogy.com/Census > en français http://globalgenealogy.com/Census/Index_f.htm > > Permission to forward without notice is granted. > > ==== CANADA-CENSUS-CAMPAIGN Mailing List ==== > How to unsubscribe from Mail Mode. Send a message to > [email protected] that contains > (in the Subject line and body of the message) the command > -- unsubscribe -- and no additional text.