Hello Patty:- You have written a terrific letter and I certainly hope you learn what happened to the children. In my family it seems we were noted for taking in motherless children -- also a Home Child -- but all are on the census records with his or her personal surname, not our family name. All the best -- and I hope you receive an answer. Muriel M. Davidson muriel_davidson@sympatico.ca Co-Chair, Canada Census Committee ----- Original Message ----- From: "pmcgr" <pmcgr@allstream.net> To: <CANADA-CENSUS-CAMPAIGN-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, August 11, 2004 6:39 PM Subject: [CCC] Re: CANADA-CENSUS-CAMPAIGN-D Digest V04 #190 Gordon, Muriel Here is my letter. I will let you know if/when I get a response: Dear Mr. Godbout Congratulations on your recent electoral victory. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend any of the all candidates' debates for Orleans riding. If I had been able, I would have posed the following questions to all of the candidates. I did send an e-mail to you before the election in the hopes that I would know your views on this issue prior to casting my vote. Alas, although your assistant replied and indicated he would do his best to get back to me, I heard nothinng more. I must say, that was a little more positive than the lack of even a 'thank you for your question' I received from your main opponent. Now that you are my member of Parliament, I really hope you have had some time to think about this. I am the genealogist in the family and have been able to learn a great deal about my roots and my ancestors through research of the various Canadian censuses which have up to now been released to the public 92 years after they were taken. I learned that my great grandmother and great grandfather PULLMAN lived in the same rooming house in Toronto in 1871 - this is likely how they met as they married in 1872; I learned that my great grandparents WEIR took in and raised their grandson when their daughter died in childbirth in 1886 - he is with them in the 1891 census. I learned from the 1901 census that my great grandfather LEISHMAN, a Presbyterian Minister, earned $600.00 for the year in 1900 when he was the minister for the church in Fleming Saskatchewan. However, I cannot further that research because the chief satistician is refusing to release the 1911 census to the Library and Archives Canada as he was supposed to do in 2003. While Mr Fellegi continues to claim a promise of 'confidentiality forever' was made when the census was taken, no one has been able to produce any documentation to support that claim. I have one line where three young children in the family were left without a mother when she died in 1908. Their father remarried but did not take the kids. Where did they go? While I have some suppositions, the 1911 census would allow me to confirm or deny them. That adopted grandson I found in the 1891 census: what happened to him after his grandfather died in 1905 and his grandmother died in 1910? These are only a few examples of information I need to continue building the family history. We are always bemoaning the fact that young people today have little appreciation for history. What better way to make history come alive than to be able to research your own family and put real people into the theories and events depicted in the history books? So, I have the following questions for you: 1) Would you, as an elected Member of Parliament, propose or support a Motion in the House of Commons calling for the government to direct the Chief Statistician of Canada to immediately transfer care and control of the 1911 National Census of Canada to the National Archivist?" 2) Would you support a Bill (preferably a Government Bill) that would add to the Statistics Act a single clause similar to the following?: "Original schedules of Census or authentic copies thereof shall, not later than thirty (30) years following collection, be transferred to the care and control of the National Archivist for subsequent public access in accordance with provisions of the Access to Information and Privacy Acts, and Regulations attached thereto." Some of your colleagues may discuss with you the Bill that was introduced in the Senate during the last Parliament. I think you need to know that the restrictions that would have been imposed by that Bill would have made family resaerch very difficult and would have with the opt out clause that was proposed severely limited access in future years. I suggest to you that censuses which are paid for by the citizens belong to the citizenry and that 92 years is ample enough time to keep the information from the public. Youn may also be interested to know that Briatin relaeses their censuses after 100 years and the US after 70 years. The 1931 census is now available publicly. We have a situation where a bureaucrat is acting like a legislator rather than following the law. Prime Minister Martin has gone on the record (last year) stating that bureaucrats should follow the legislation made by Parliament - they should not be bending the laws that exist or refusing to follow them. You are presently shown on our scoreboard as a ?. We would love to be able to change that to a gold checkmark. See for yourself at the following website: http://www.globalgenealogy.com/Census/Index6.htm Should you require further information, you can access much more at the main page for the above website, or I would be more than willing to discuss the issue with you further. http://www.globalgenealogy.com/Census/ Thank you for your time and consideration of this issue. I woudl very much appreciate a reply. Patty McGregor