do we really need civil disobedience? last july, during a community event, john reynolds (my mp) was cruising by in a convertable car (in a parade of other celebs/dignitaries)..i loudly shouted..RELEASE THE POST 1901 CENSUSES. my spouse cringed, and ppl around me looked at me in shock and confusion..like what did i want released?? so i told them. not much of a slug fest in the mud, but reynolds did turn and look at me..and about a half a city block..knew i wanted something released...reynolds knew that too. he saw the heads turn..hehe..so wait for a public event..and shout it out. if the ratzenfratrzen little newspapers don't think we're note worthy enough to publish our letters or articles..become a town crier the next time you see your mp in public. roz On Saturday, May 17, 2003 3:59 PM, Robert C. Westbury [SMTP:[email protected]] wrote: > Esteemed Listers; Greetings! > > There can be no doubt that our cause is in deep trouble. Unless we > are very > lucky, the government will continue to ram S-13 through Parliament > just as > fast as they can. Their fear, as Gordon has said, is that if they do > not > finish this off quickly, they will again face legal action, and, > certainly > as regards the 1911 Census, they would be almost certain to lose in a > court > of law. > So the most likely scenario is that no free debate on S-13 will be > permitted in the House, and that the Liberal Party Whips will make > sure that > Liberal MPs toe the party line, regardless of their personal feelings > about > release after 92 years, which many have expressed in the CCC survey, > and > which are there for all to see on the Global Genealogy site. With the > bill > passed into law our chances of getting back to a more reasonable > treatment > of the interests of genealogists and historians, will be even slimmer > than > they have been during the last 5 years of up-hill sledding. > So what do we do now? > I agree that we should continue to inform our MPs about the > genealogical > catastrophe that would result from the passage of Bill S-13, and do > everything that we can to persuade them to radically modify or oppose > the > bill. But, if that fails, as seems painfully likely, what then? > I want to suggest that we start to seriously think of using the > civil > disobedience option. A few of us have been urging this course of > action for > a long time, but our more level-headed colleagues have quite > correctly > insisted that it would be better to pursue our cause with reasoned > debate > through the channels provided by our democracy. But this has failed. > The > Senators in their wisdom seem to have overlooked the compelling > evidence > that most Canadians have no worries about confidentiality issues after > 92 > years have elapsed. They have been unduly respectful of the eccentric > opinions of a very few mandarins. > I would like to see us put our collective minds to the task of > putting real > pressure on our opponents. But this will not be easy - nothing is. We > will > need to ask the following questions, and others which I hope the CCC > listers will bring forward: > 1. What form or forms would civil disobedience take? > 2. Would genealogists have the stomach for a slug fest in the > dirt? > How much do genealogists really care about the loss of one of their > greatest sources of information? > 3. Our strength lies in our numbers, perhaps as high as half the > population; how could we set about "mobilizing the masses"? > > Let us debate this vital issue. Under normal circumstances, I should > say no > more until others have had the chance to express their opinions, but I > am > shortly to go into hospital for neurosurgery (not prefrontal lobotomy, > let > me say!) and I would like my views to be considered in this > discussion. > I think that the most effective attack would be on StatsCan. Much of > the > difficulty that we have encountered has been from this organization. > They > have cynically over-represented the need for "secrecy forever" as an > ingredient for successful collection of census data. They seem to have > a > blind spot with regard to history, especially micro-history. They are > vulnerable because they really do need the good will of Canadians to > do > their job. I realize that providing truthful information to the > census > enumerator is mandated by law, but there is a limit to the number of > people > whom they could charge and punish. ( I see in the papers recently that > no > less than 20,000 people in the last census gave their religion as > "followers > of the Jedi". This religion does not exist outside of the Star Wars > movies. > For sure these people were not all challenged in court) What StatsCan > fears > more than outright refusal to comply with the census laws is the > provision > of false data, especially false data that is hard to verify by other > means. > We have the means to make the Canadian Census a much less reliable > source of > data. > Furthermore not all of the surveys carried out by StatsCan carry the > force > of law. I was looking through the StatsCan site the other day and I > found 18 > surveys with voluntary participation. Too many refusals to participate > in > these surveys would seriously weaken the validity of the results. > If we do decide to follow this strategy we will have to work very > hard to > establish a network that allows us to get our message to all > genealogists in > Canada, not just the few hundred that subscribe to CCC, or even the > larger > number that can be reliably reached by e-mail. > Questions No.2 and 3 require reflection too. The census issue affects > all > Canadian genealogists to some degree, and yet perhaps some 150,000 > people > (at a high estimate) have been directly and actively involved in the > effort > to free the census. A (very) low estimate for the number of > genealogists in > the country is 2 million. Will we be able to move at least some of the > other > 82% of genealogists? How would this be done? > Let us all put our heads together to try to come up with some > strategies > that are do-able and that the withholders cannot simply shrug off. > Let us > do this quickly as time is running short. > Courtesy and sweet reason are no longer good enough. We are at the > very > end. Only strong action will save the censuses. > > Bob > > > > > > > ==== 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. >