This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Hasselback Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/7aB.2ACEAE/554 Message Board Post: Government to release 1906 census records sought by historians, genealogists OTTAWA (CP) - Records of the 1906 census, kept secret because of confidentiality rules, are being released to the public. After reviewing the legislation that governed the survey, the government decided it could release the material, which came from a special census of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta following the entry of the latter two provinces into Confederation in 1905. The government also said it will also clarify the laws covering subsequent census data to allow access to records, while addressing concerns about privacy. The decision was welcomed by family-tree researchers, historians, genealogists and others who wanted access to the data and used the 1906 census as a rallying point. "Well whoopee ding, that's all I can say, that's great news," said Lyn Winters of Ottawa, a retired public servant who helped start the campaign to release the information. Gordon Watts of Port Coquitlam, B.C., another mover in the campaign to release the data, was also pleased. "There are no strings or conditions on access and no restrictions as to who might access them," he said. "This is, indeed, very welcome news, and is a part of why genealogists and historians have been lobbying their parliamentary representatives for the past five years and longer." Winters said the next step is a law to ensure the continued release of such information, subject to the normal delays. "We are told to expect draft legislation to be brought down shortly after Parliament resumes sitting next week." Data from pre-1906 censuses was routinely released after 92 years, a period deemed sufficient to ensure that living persons wouldn't be affected. But Statistics Canada, using Justice Department legal opinions, decided the data from 1906 and later was covered by different law and was bound by perpetual confidentiality. In 1998, Winters, Watts and others opened their campaign. Genealogical societies organized mail-ins to Statistics Canada and the government. MPs and senators were enlisted in the cause. In 2000, Statistics Canada appointed an expert panel to study the matter. It voted for release of the material. Privacy Commissioner George Radwanski was unavailable to comment on the latest development, but his predecessor, Bruce Phillips, was strongly opposed to the release of any census data. "When citizens are forced to disclose personal data under compulsion of law, government bears a heavy responsibility to protect the information" he wrote in his 1998 report. "Successive governments have acknowledged that the trade of information for confidentiality is a fair one and have accepted their responsibility. The result is closing the census to public access." Liberal MP Murray Calder, who supported the release, twice introduced private member's bills to allow census data to be made public after 92 years. He said the 1906 census is of great significance in documenting the opening of the West. "It was always Parliament's intention that this treasure should become part of Canada's permanent record and be made available to Canadians." Senator Lorna Milne, who championed the cause in the upper house, called the decision a major victory. "The government has finally come to the realization that the nominal census records form an integral part of Canada's historical record and should be released for research purposes." Winters said the data has wide application that goes beyond amateur genealogists. Geneticists can trade hereditary diseases, for instance. "Apart from the family historians, there's also the social historians, who see patterns developing through tracing the statistics records through the decades." Copyright © 2000 Canadian Press.