Greetings All. I have this morning been sent my first reply from Statistics Canada in response to an Accesst to Information Request for access to the 1906 Census of the Western Provinces. As expected, that response from StatCan was a refusal to provide the information requested. Their refusal was based upon section 24(1) and Schedule II of the ATI Act. I provide here a suggested letter of complaint to be forwarded to the Information Commissioner. As with the letter of complaint regarding the inability of the National Archives to provide access to these records, those spaces enclosed with square brackets should be substituted with the suggested information. Feel free to modify the letter to suit your own circumstances, but be sure to include the points made in my suggested letter. As indicated in a previous post, we should continue to submit ATI requests to Statistics Canada for some time to come (one per individual). We consider this tactic to be a long range one and will probably be continued until we have achieved our goal. Requests to the National Archives have probably served their purpose and for the time being at least can be discontinued. With each refusal to provide access we must submit a complaint to the Information Commissioner. In my last column I provided addresses to send ATI requests, complaints to the Information Commissioner and letters to the Privacy Commissioner. Rather than repeat those here, that column may be accessed by clicking this URL: http://globalgazette.net/gazce/gazce83.htm Happy Hunting. Gordon A. Watts [email protected] Co-Chair, Canada Census Committee Port Coquitlam, BC http://globalgenealogy.com/Census en français http://globalgenealogy.com/Census/Index_f.htm Permission to forward without notice is granted. ====================================== Mr. John Reid Information Commissioner of Canada Place de Ville, Tower B 112 Kent Street, 22nd Floor Ottawa, Ontario K1A 1H3 Dear Sir; On [date] I forwarded an Access to Information Request to Statistics Canada. With this request I sought general access to schedules of the 1906 Census of the Western Provinces of Canada (Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta). On [date] I was advised by [letter/telephone] that Statistics Canada was unable to provide me with the requested information. In refusing to provide me with the information requested, Statistics Canada stated "schedules of the 1906 Census are being exempted from disclosure pursuant to section 24 of the Access to Information Act which reads as follows: 24(1) The head of a government institution shall refuse to disclose any record requested under this Act that contains information the disclosure of which is restricted by or pursuant to any provision set out in Schedule II. Schedule II includes section 17 of the Statistics Act." Mr. Commissioner, clauses in the Access to Information and Privacy Acts, and Regulation 6(d) of the Privacy Act specifically provide for access to personal information from Census, to any person or body, for purposes of research, 92 years following collection. It is my belief that restriction to access of this vital information, as per section 24(1) of the ATI Act, was intended to be in force only until the expiration of the 92 year period of closure stipulated by Regulation 6(d) of the Privacy Act. The Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act were born of the same legislative Bill. It does not seem logical that legislators of the day, deliberating on this Bill, would deliberately include clauses in these Acts that directly opposed each other and had the effect of one nullifying the other. Clauses in Instructions to Officers and Enumerators of Census for 1906 (and other years) clearly state that records of Census "have value as a record for historical use" (Clause 20) and that "The census is intended to be a permanent record, and its schedules will be stored in the Archives of the Dominion." (Clause 34). Similar clauses were included in Instruction to Officers and Enumerators of Census from at least 1901 to 1946. The National Archives of Canada Act provides that the National Archivist of Canada shall determine what records of government have historical and archival value, and that shall be deposited in the National Archives. The National Archivist has determined that Census records do have historical and archival value, and that they are, in fact, a National Treasure. The pertinent legislation and regulations clearly state that I should have unrestricted access, through the National Archives, to nominal schedules of Census 92 years after collection. Records of the 1906 Census should have been available from 1998, now four years past. This letter is to be considered my official complaint regarding the refusal of Statistics Canada to allow access to schedules of the 1906 Census of the Western Provinces, or to transfer control of schedules of the 1906 Census of the Western Provinces to the National Archivist as per the applicable legislation and regulations. Thank you. [Signature and address]