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From: "Muriel M. Davidson" <>
Subject: [Can-SK] Post 1901 Census - Article in St. Catherines Standard
Date: Tue, 31 Dec 2002 20:20:46 -0500


The following editorial in The Standard is great!!!!! It may be
forwarded to YOUR local newspaper -- we hope to learn the
name of the writer.
Muriel M. Davidson
Co-Chair, Canada Census Committee
===========

Greetings All

FYI. The St. Catherines Standard newspaper today included an Editorial
article regarding access to Census records. It is also online at

http://www.canada.com/search/story.aspx?id=a5175f95-f416-4cff-89e9-31a36
5c5c377#

(This URL is too long for plain text format messages and will be wrapped
around to a second line. Be sure that you include the full URL to
access the article.)

For those who may experience difficulty reaching the online version, I
have copied the extracted text of the article below. My thanks to Gail
Collins for advising me of the article.

Happy Hunting and Happy New Year.

Gordon A. Watts
Co-Chair, Canada Census Committee
Port Coquitlam, BC

http://globalgenealogy.com/Census
en français http://globalgenealogy.com/Census/Index_f.htm

=======================================

Release 1911 census data.

The Standard
St. Catherines

The bureaucratic mind is a baffling thing. It regularly makes decisions
that make no sense, but the move by Statistics Canada to keep secret the
national census of 1911 takes the cake.

The federal government ruled in the 1980s that census records are to be
opened 92 years after they are collected. As a result, the 1901 census
was released in 1993. The records were made available to the public
through the National Archives of Canada. As such, they became an
important source of information for Canadians researching their family
trees.

But Stats Can doesn't want to release the 1911 census, for reasons that
are not clear.

That's a pity, because that decade saw a tremendous surge in
immigration, particularly in the west. While at the time Ontario's
population grew by 15 per cent and Quebec's increased by 21 per cent,
Alberta and Saskatchewan ballooned to 413 per cent and 439 per cent
respectively.

That means a lot of descendants looking to find information on their
ancestors are going to be frustrated unless Stats Can changes its mind.

An expert panel on access to historical records, the National Archives
and the Information Commissioner have all recommended that Statistics
Canada release the information. The government announced a few months
ago it would produce legislation to allow access to the old returns. But
so far, nothing has changed.

We urge Stats Can to open the vault. There's no purpose to be served by
further secrecy, and there's a wealth of genealogical information to be
shared. Let the documents see the light of day.

<30>



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