CENSUS-CHAT-L Archives

From: "Gordon A. Watts" <>
Subject: Post 1901 Census - Current session of Parliament prorogued.
Date: Sun, 22 Sep 2002 19:42:13 -0700

Greetings all.

What up to a few days ago was speculation has now been confirmed. On 17
September the current session of Parliament was prorogued, effective 30
September 2002. Members of Parliament have been summoned to meet on
Monday, 30 September 2002 at two o'clock in the afternoon, for the
dispatch of business, thus starting the second session of the 37th
Parliament of Canada.

The effect of this is that all unfinished business from the prorogued
Session ceases to exist. All Bills and Motions - government or private
members - that have not been fully processed and completed, end up in
the dumper.

This includes Bill S-12, Senator Lorna Milne's Bill on access to Census,
that we expected to achieve third reading in the Senate shortly after
Parliament resumed sitting after the summer recess.

It is expected that both Senator Milne, and MP Murray Calder will
re-introduce their respective Bills in the Senate and the House of
Commons. This would be a second chance for Murray Calder's Bill which
was deemed non-votable and received only one hour of debate in the House
before being dropped from the Order Paper. However both Bills would be
starting from square one, having to go through first reading and all
other steps that they had been subjected to previously. It means that
the Bills, when presented, will have new numbers. It means more time
and further delays before we achieve what we seek.

This would be the third time that our Bills have had to start from
scratch. With a new start we must renew our efforts to gain the support
of those elected and appointed representatives who have not responded to
our questions. We urge all to check the position of their own elected
and appointed representatives on the MP and Senator Scoreboards on the
Post 1901 Census Project website. Send letters to them, either thanking
them for the support they have already expressed, or seeking support
from those who have not given a definitive answer to our questions (i.e.
fence-sitters or no response). If you have, or receive, a response that
differs from the position shown on the Scoreboard for your
representative, please forward a copy to me so that I might update the
Scoreboards. Copies of letters you send would be helpful as well.

We must also renew our efforts in collecting signatures on petitions.
Not having had an election with a new government, we are not starting
over again on petitions but we need to continue with efforts to obtain
new signatures. So far we have sent more than 55,000 signatures to
Ottawa, however with a population of Canada in excess of 32 million,
there remains a great many people interested in genealogy and history
that have not yet signed a petition.

Some may question the effectiveness of our petitions and the need to
continue collecting signatures, saying that having already sent more
than 55,000 signatures, adding to these numbers will have little
additional effect. The fact of the matter is, however, that numbers of
signatures on petitions is the only tangible, visible, evidence we have
to show that genealogists and historians seek to regain public access to
Post 1901 Census records. Presentation of petitions in the House of
Commons and the Senate, showing the numbers of signatures received, is
permanently recorded in Hansard, showing for all time that we seek these
vital records.

Letters and email to MPs, Senators and other officials are very
necessary. They may, in fact, outnumber the number of signatures on
petitions. However, we do not have any means of knowing the numbers of
letters and email sent and so cannot point to them, as we can with
petitions, as proof of our desire for access.

Do not give up hope. We may have hit another snag in our efforts to
regain public access to Post 1901 Census records. There is no question,
however, that with the help of all we will achieve that goal. It will
just take a little longer to do so.

Happy Hunting.

Gordon A. Watts
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.

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