To all:- I personally feel this is not the way Mrs. Elsie Wayne feels, as this following letter has already been received by others at least three times. The assistants must be kept busy at the photocopier!! Muriel M. Davidson <davidson3542@home.com> Canada Census Committee Dear Listers, Here is the response from Elsie Wayne - MP Saint John. Is basically rhetoric and does not indicate her personal support for census release. Ottawa September 12, 2000 Dear Mrs. Warren, I am writing in response to your email regarding the use of Census data for genealogical purposes. Rest assured the PC Party has pursued this issue with the Honourable John Manley, Minister responsible for Statistics Canada, since the fall of 1998. The government took some time before answering the enquiries of the PC Party, which wrote to Minister Manley on behalf of the many Canadians who have contacted us on this matter. Mr. Manley's responding correspondence states that he is considering two options submitted by Statistics Canada: * Amending the Statistics Act to allow records, starting with the 2001 Census, to be transferred to the National Archives of Canada and to be subsequently made available to the public; or * Retroactively changing the confidentiality provisions of the Statistics Act to allow the 1911 Census and all censuses taken thereafter to be eventually placed in the public domain. In either scenario proposed by Statistics Canada, 92 years would need to elapse from the time of the respective Census before the public would be permitted to access these records, which is in keeping with current regulations pursuant to the Privacy Act. I would welcome your views on these two options, as well as suggestions for alternatives. In my view, I believe neither of these scenarios fully addresses the concerns you and many others have raised. Should the government's current review fail to be satisfactory, the PC Party will examine possibly legislative action to make sure that this issue is resolved. I thank you for taking the time to write to me on this important matter. Yours truly, Elsie Wayne, M.P. ==== NOVA-SCOTIA Mailing List ==== For a list of other Canadian genealogy mailing lists and subscription instructions, please visit: http://www.rootsweb.com/~jfuller/gen_mail_country-can.html