Census change worries archivists
Data issue; Plead for people to fill out long form
With the 2011 census under way, Canadians are being urged to think about future generations when they sit down to complete either the short-or long-form census that arrives in the mail this week.
While the short-form census continues to be mandatory, the National Household Survey, formerly known as the long-form census questionnaire, will be voluntary for the first time.
That change, along with another made in 2006 giving Canadians a choice on whether to allow their census data to be made public 92 years from now, has left archivists, historians and genealogists concerned.
Canada's census with its questions on age, sex, marital and common-law status, family relationships and languages spoken collects more demographic data on the nation than any other vehicle. The 2011 census is expected to go out to more than 15 million households, 4.5 million of which will receive the longform.
The fear of archivists and others is that many Canadians - although perfectly comfortable posting personal details on Facebook and other social media sites - will have a sudden desire for privacy and not consent to making the 2011 data available to the public in 2103.
"Say 'yes' to future generations," begins a dispatch posted on a Facebook page of the Association of Canadian Archivists and being widely circulated by ACA members through email this week.
"Question number 10 is the most important question on the 2011 Census," the ACA dispatch continues, citing the opt-in box that can be found on the short-form version of the census.
Shannon Hodge is an archivist at Montreal's Jewish Public Library and a member of the ACA.
In an email Wednesday, she said, she urged library members to fill out the National Household Survey and to optin so that 22nd century Canadians will have the same opportunity to learn about 21st century Canadians - us - as we now have to learn about our forebears.
For the 2006 census, Hodge said, only 56 per cent of Canadians checked "yes" to make their data public in 2098.
"What does that number mean?" she asked rhetorically. "It means that potential future genealogists will have no data from which to base family research. It means that whole population samples of ethnic and minority groups will be useless because of skewed data. It means that sociologists and historians tracking immigrant populations of the 20th century will be stymied."
Stanley Diamond of Montreal's Jewish Genealogical Society said he didn't have to read Hodge's email to recognize the importance of filling out Canada's latest census or of giving data-access to future generations.
Diamond has lobbied the federal government for continued access to census records that can provide invaluable medical and genetic family history.
The ability to track down a distant family member through genealogical research can be a lifesaver, he said, reuniting distant branches of families for bone-marrow transplants and other medical treatments.
ccornacchia@ montrealgazette.com
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