Lois, In the US,we have what we call a class action suit mechanism. It doesn't avoid the up front costs, but it does up the ante as a motivator. It also requires "damages" (I think - since I am not an attorney/barrister) so the premise I see for such damages revolves around the medical history information gathering problems. I am also not a doctor or medical researcher, but do work with statistics in computer simulations, and I am curious if this type of class action mechanism also exists in Canada. Here's why ... Anecdotal medical research occurs with all family history researchers as a bi-product of our poking around in records. It makes an impact on me when I see that my paternal great grandfather died of colon cancer since my father has had a colonostomy due to colon cancer. However, since my father and 4 of his 5 siblings have also had heart surgery ( 4 aorta valve replacements and 3 triple-by-pass combinations), I am now looking for maternal line issues and am blocked in some respects by 2 ggm's and one gggm who died of TB. MS and rheumatoid arthritus are also issues. Cousin branches are key clues to sorting out "environment vs heredity" and trends. Cousins research is especially aided by the census. Such damages issues are quite substantial for the more imminent problems in finding bone marrow transplant and organ donor matches when the expeditious culling of potential donors could be statistically calculated based on both the medical stats for matches and the historical stats for locating branch members through the census snapshots. 92 years represents about 3 generations back which also bridges the gap between living family members and "history". Currently, medical efforts in this area revolve around voluntary registrations drives, which is statistically "the luck of the draw". The draw is improved when more people register, but it is certainly nowhere near the impact that you would have for targeted families. So, I wonder if there are medical research groups or issues in the Western provinces whose efforts would benefit from the 1905 census release and if there are any statistics that might help support such a case. I also wonder if there are any statitistics from the longitudinal Quebec medical studies that would highlight potential benefits from branch as well as direct line statistics Thank you for your efforts in the legal issues. I think making headway in such a multi-disciplinary issue might be aided by confering with folks who know about the medical end. Sharon --- SPARLING LOIS <sparlinl@home.com> wrote: > Dear Sharon and List > > Its the 1906 census of Sask and Alberta which is just begging to be > the > test case. See my legal memo on Gordon's web site at Global > Genealogy. > What we need are plaintiffs, a team of volunteer lawyers and money - > not > to mention a consensus that a test case in the Feberal Court is worth > the energy, money and resources versus the other routes we could > take. > > Lois SParling > Barrister & Solicitor > Calgary, Alberta > > Sharon Sergeant wrote: > > > > Hello, > > It is - or seems - clear from the article > > > > > http://www.nationalpost.com/news.asp?s2=national&f=000620/322391.html > > > > that the leaked spin of the report has deliberately avoided the > actual > > legal issue versus the Phillips spin. The "promise" has been > > retrofitted to the normal contemporary census concerns about > privacy - > > from other contemporaries. > > > > The only way this could be viewed as a political "hot potato" is if > > there is an understanding of the weakness in the legal aspects of > the > > advertised "promise". Attempting to "try" this case with the > public > > emotional spin is a smokescreen as Phillips steps down. > > > > The goal of the release of the 1911 census after 92 years is still > too > > far off for political minds. It seems to me that the overdue 1905 > > provincial census' needs to be the focus to find a test case. > > > > Hoping to hear from some Parliamentary/Legal minds on this as I am > in > > the US biased by the political chennanigan pratices here. > > > > thanks > > Sharon > > http://bostonstates.rootsweb.com > > > > __________________________________________________ > > Do You Yahoo!? > > Send instant messages with Yahoo! Messenger. > > http://im.yahoo.com/ __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Send instant messages with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com/