CAN-SK-SASKATOON-L Archives

From: "Muriel M. Davidson" <>
Subject: Post 1901 Census - Your cooperation is requested.
Date: Tue, 28 Jun 2005 12:06:08 -0400

To keep everyone in suspense, watch for the next posting!!!
Muriel M. Davidson, Co-chair, Canada Census Committee

----- Original Message -----
From: "Gordon A. Watts" <>
To: "Canada Census Campaign" <>
Sent: Tuesday, June 28, 2005 2:21 AM
Subject: Post 1901 Census - Your cooperation is requested.


Greetings All.

FYI.

Gordon


----- Original Message -----
From: Gordon A. Watts
To: MP Gauthier, Michel ; MP Duceppe, Gilles ; ; MP
Davies, Libby ; MP Hill, Jay ; ; Prime Minister Paul
Martin
Sent: Monday, June 27, 2005 11:14 PM
Subject: Your cooperation is requested.


1455 Delia Drive
Port Coquitlam, BC
V3C 2V9
27 June 2005


Rt. Hon. Paul Martin, Prime Minister
Hon. Tony Valeri - Government House Leader
Hon. Stephen Harper, Leader - Leader of the Opposition
Hon. Jay Hill - Opposition House Leader
Hon. Gilles Duceppe, Leader - Bloc Québécois
Hon. Michel Gauthier - Bloc Québécois House Leader
Hon. Jack Layton, Leader - New Democratic Party
Hon. Libby Davies - NDP House Leader

Gentlemen, and Ms. Davies

Most Canadians have the utmost respect for our Parliamentary system and
believe, for the most part, that it works well, and in the interest of
the people who it represents. In the past several weeks however,
regular watchers of the proceedings of Parliament may have cause to
wonder. The political game playing and manoeuvrings of recent weeks are
not what Canadians wish to see.

For seven long years, a great many Canadians, and others, have
campaigned to regain the public access to Historic Census records, 92
years after collection, that existing legislation states we are already
entitled to, but for which we have been denied. That access has been
denied us, not because of restrictive legislation or government
directive, but simply because of a policy initiated by, and under the
control of, Statistics Canada.

Over this period a number of Motions and Bills, both Private Member and
Government Bills, have been proposed to resolve the impasse we find
ourselves in. These Motions and Bills have received varying degrees of
support from the genealogical and historical communities. Each time we
have been close to seeing a resolution, a Session of Parliament was
prorogued, or an election was called, causing the proposed solutions to
die on the Order Paper. Should that happen again, it will mean that we
restart our campaign for a fifth time.

Bill S-18 - An Act to amend the Statistics Act is a Bill that all
leaders of the Census campaign have committed to support without seeking
amendment. This includes leaders of the Canada Census Committee, the
Canadian Historical Association, and the Association of Canadian
Archivists. It is a Bill that has the stated support of the Chief
Statistician, the Librarian and Archivist, and the Privacy Commissioner.
It is a Bill that will finally put to rest a controversy that has lasted
for more than twenty-five years. Bill S-18 has been passed in the
Senate and at this time has only to pass Report and Third Reading stages
in the House of Commons before it can be presented for Royal Assent and
become Law. It is a non-partisan Bill, having widespread support from
all Parties in the House. Currently, 216 Members of Parliament have
expressed support for the access we seek.

We were pleased that for several days Bill S-18 appeared to have a
degree of priority in that it was shown in third place on the Projected
Order of Business for the House of Commons. Unfortunately, because of
the lengthy debates on Bill C-48, Bill S-18 did not reach the floor of
the House for Third Reading before the normal date of adjournment for
the Summer recess. Bill S-18 no longer appears on the Projected Order
of Business.

Sitting days of the House of Commons have been extended to allow further
debate and voting on Bills C-48 and C-38. Bill C-48 was passed on
Thursday 23 June 2005, leaving only C-38 to be debated in the coming
days. We expect it likely the extended sitting days will be adjourned
immediately Bill C-38 has been voted on.

We ask you, gentlemen, and Ms. Davies, to show that the Parliamentary
process can, and does, work. We ask that you cooperate to include Bill
S-18 in the business of the House needing to be completed before
Parliament is recessed for the Summer.

The issues involved in public access to Historic Census records have
been debated endlessly over the past several years. It is unlikely that
anything new can be added to the debate. As such it is expected that
the Report and Third Reading stages of Bill S-18 could be completed at
the same time, with minimal debate. With unanimous consent of the House
it could be deemed to have passed Third Reading without further debate.

We ask that you allow genealogists and historians to spend their Summer
researching the long overdue records of the 1911 Census of Canada,
instead of having to continue the battle to see them released.

With respect, I remain

Gordon A. Watts
Co-chair Canada Census Committee

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