Adele and All. Ted White, as an individual and as a Member of Parliament quite frankly frustrates the hell our of me! Early on in our campaign I had considerable correspondence with him. Much of that correspondence is in his log attached to the MPs Scoreboard on the Post 1901 Census Project website. I finally gave him up as a lost cause. He refuses to give a simple answer to a simple question. From his response to your message he has obviously not changed. * - he continues to refer to 'promises' that no one has been able to produce. I have personally spent most of the past six years looking for any proof of such 'promises'. Statistics Canada has been unable to produce them. Perhaps Mr. White is all-knowing and all-powerful and has been able to find these 'promises' where no-one else has been able to. If so, perhaps he is willing to share them with us. * - he has elevated himself to the point where he thinks we should have a special petition directed to him, rather than to the government through the House of Commons and the Senate. A lot of good that would do -- unless he has suddenly become omnipotent and can, in and of himself, grant or refuse the access we seek. Apparently our first petition with more than 62,000 signatures on it sent to Ottawa are not good enough for him. * - he states 'all of the evidence available at this time continues to indicate public opposition to the release' of 92-year-old Census records. BULL****!! What 'evidence' -- and where is it?? If such evidence exists I challenge Mr. White to produce it!! The Report of the Expert Panel on Access of Historic Census Records found no evidence there was ever any intention that information provided to Census would remain confidential FOREVER. They recommended release and public access of ALL Census records 92 years after collection. 151 of 157 presenters at StatCans Town Hall Meetings totally supported public access of Historic Census records, and rejected out of hand the so called 'compromise solution' presented by StatCan. A privacy advocate invited by Statistics Canada to be a presenter at the Town Hall meetings supported public access to Census records after 92 years. Questions to participants of Focus Groups were biased to obtain responses desired by StatCan. The com! pany conducting those Focus Groups stated in their reports that they could not be considered representative of Canadians as a whole. Where is your 'evidence' Mr. White? * - he wants us to 'run the wording' of our petitions past him so that he can ensure that they are 'in a format suitable for Parliament, and that it makes signatories truly aware of what they are signing'. Rest assured Mr. White -- our petitions follow government guidelines and have been passed by a lawyer working on Parliament Hill. Anyone that can read either of the official languages will have no doubt whatsoever what it is they are signing. See them for yourself at the following URL. http://www.globalgenealogy.com/Census/Petition.htm On the MPs Scoreboard Mr. White was reluctantly awarded a gold tick of support based on one response to Vivian Kranenburg. In that response he claimed that 'present privacy laws in Canada vetoes any legal means of obtaining this information'. To the contrary Mr. White, the Access to Information and Privacy Acts, and Privacy Regulations make specific provision for personal information collected through Census or surveys to made available 'to any person or body for purposes of research', 92 years after collection. Don't rely without question on what Statistic Canada tells you -- read the legislation for yourself. Based on his response to Adele, Mr. White will probably return to riding the fence on the MPs Scoreboard. Happy Hunting. Gordon A. Watts gordon_watts@telus.net Co-Chair, Canada Census Committee Port Coquitlam, BC http://globalgenealogy.com/Census en français http://globalgenealogy.com/Census/Index_f.htm ----- Original Message ----- From: Adele Turner To: Gordon Watts ; Muriel Davidson Sent: Thursday, June 17, 2004 3:11 PM Subject: FW: Message from Ted White, MP re census and more Hi: Today, I emailed all potential MP's in the Liberal, Conservative and NDP party in British Columbia. The following is an example for what I sent and following that is Ted White's response to me......and I quote: Before I commit myself on the June 28th ballot, I will be basing my vote on the response to this important question. (No reply will result in a no vote for the Conservative Party). I would like to know: "What is your stand, as a party and an individual, on the release of the Post 1901 Canadian Census to the National Archivist?" For over 5 years, many of us have been waging a long & hard battle to have the Censuses released after the 92 years mandate but Stats Canada want to destroy them. This is part of Canadian history and some bright lights in Ottawa want to destroy it. Many of us want to be able to carry on our research whether it is to trace "inherited diseases" within our families, British Home Children trying to find their families, or genealogical research, AND it is all important to us. Please respond so I can decide how I want to vote. Adele Turner #67 - 1947 Purcell Way North Vancouver, BC V7J 3H4 1 604 987-5137 email: ajturner@shaw.ca -----Original Message----- From: Votetedwhite@aol.com [mailto:Votetedwhite@aol.com] Sent: Thursday, June 17, 2004 1:31 PM To: ajturner@shaw.ca Subject: Message from Ted White, MP re census and more June 17/04 Good Afternoon Ms Turner As for the Census question, you already know my position from extensive past correspondence, and the Liberal Government DID NOTHING to resolve the problem in its entire time in office, so you can not vote for them. In fairness, ALL PARTIES recognise that this is a very difficult issue because promises were made to past citizens that their information would NOT be released, so NO Party can promise to find a quick fix. As a result, you will likely have to stay at home and not vote. However, as I have suggested in past correspondence with you, I encourage you to take up a petition to support the release of the census data, because, as I have promised on numerous occasions, if you can show me that the majority of my constituents support release of the census information then I would act as an advocate. THIS GOES TO THE HEART OF THE ISSUE, because all of the evidence available at this time continues to indicate public opposition to the release. I can not, and will not, go against the wishes of the majority, so you must prove to me that you have public support for your position. If this means standing outside McDonalds gathering signatures, then that is exactly what you must do. But please, before writing your petition, run the wording past me, so that I can ensure that it is in a format suitable for Parliament, and that it makes signatories truly aware of what they are signing. Yours truly Ted White, MP