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From: "Muriel M. Davidson" <>
Subject: Post 1901 Census - New Industry Minister
Date: Wed, 21 Jul 2004 23:44:37 -0400


----- Original Message -----
From: Gordon A. Watts
To:
Sent: Wednesday, July 21, 2004 3:20 PM
Subject: Post 1901 Census - New Industry Minister


Greetings All.

On Tuesday 20 July 2003 Prime Minister Paul Martin announced the makeup of his new Cabinet.

David Emerson (Vancouver Kingsway, BC) was appointed as the new Minister for Industry and Minister responsibe for Statistics Canada. As a newly elected Member of Parliament Mr. Emerson is unlikely to be aware of the battle we have been in for the past several years to regain the same unrestricted access to Census records after 1906 that we currently have for 240 years of records up to that time.

Please take a little of your time to write him an email, or better yet a snail-mail letter, to congratulate him on his recent election and appointment as Minister of Industry. At the same time inform him of our efforts to regain the public access to Historic Census records that has been withheld (believed illegally) by the Chief Statistician of Canada. Inform him that the Access to Information and Privacy Acts (and Regulations) make specific provision for 'personal information' collected through Census or Survey to be made available to 'any person or body' for purposes of research 92 years after collection.

Ask him to immediately direct the Chief Statistician of Canada to return care and control of records of the 1911 National Census of Canada to Ian E. Wilson -- National Librarian and Archivist -- for subsequent public access in accordance with the ATI and Privacy Acts. Ask him to immediately direct the Chief Statistician to obey the Laws of Canada.

Advise him that the conditions and restrictions of the now defunct Bill S-13, in particular the so-called 'informed consent' clause for future Censuses, are totally unacceptable to the genealogical and historic communities that seek to regain the public access currently provided for in existing legislation. Advise him that any Bill containing conditions and restrictions similar to those in Bill S-13 would be similarly unacceptable.

Advise him that we do not believe any legislative change is necessary to regain the public access we seek. Existing legislation currently provides for that access. If he feels otherwise such access could be further clarified by the addition of a single clause -- similar to the following -- to the Statistics Act:

"Original schedules of Census or authentic copies thereof shall, not later than thirty (30) years following collection, be transferred to the care and control of the National Archivist for subsequent public access in accordance with provisions of the Access to Information and Privacy Acts, and Regulations attached thereto."

Such a clause would ensure continued public access to Historic Census records in accordance with existing legislation, would not add unnecessary and undesirable conditions or restrictions to that access, and would not create the necessity for a further costly bureaucracy to manage or control unnecessary conditions and restrictions. Further, it would not create a legislative conflict by conferring powers to the Chief Statistician that currently reside only with the National Librarian and Archivist.

Contact information for Mr. Emerson is as follows:

The Honourable David Emerson
Minister of Industry
11th Floor, East Tower
C.D. Howe Building
235 Queen Street
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0H5
Canada
Tel.: (613) 995-9001
Fax: (613) 992-0302
E-mail:

In corresponding with any of our parliamentary representatives please be polite and respectful. We are seeking their support. Include full contact information, i.e. name, mailing address, email address etc., to enable them to respond to your message. Please copy to me any responses you might receive so that their Correspondence Log on the Post 1901 Census Project website might be updated.

Happy Hunting.

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

http://www.globalgenealogy.com/Census
en francais http://www.globalgenealogy.com/Index_f

Permission to forward without notice is granted



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