Just an Average Canadian

Posted on by

Today, I sent this email (I will also be printing and sending the same as a letter) to three Members of Parliament: Tony Clement (Minister of Industry), Michael Chong (Chair of the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology) and Denise Savoie (my MP):

House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A6

Ministers,

I would first like to thank my MP, Denise Savoie for voicing her opposition to the scrapping of the long form Census. I am adding my name as an “average Canadian” to the list of those opposed. Of course, that does open up the question of what is an average Canadian — and how can you know without the long form Census?

The big talking point, as I understand, has been the issue of people being “afraid” to fill out the form. Annoyed I could understand, but afraid? Really? People mention the threat of jail time but I could not find any report confirming that anyone had ever been jailed for failing to fill out the document. I did fill out the long form, years ago, when our household was randomly selected. It was tedious but no more so than filing taxes and certainly less stressful!

As for the privacy issue, I do expect my government to both protect and respect my privacy and I do not feel that Statistics Canada or the Census poses any threat to me. I am far more concerned about information gathered by the Canadian Revenue Agency, Canada Border Services Agency, or even Parks Canada. Furthermore, any information gathered by my government is far less of a threat to me than that which is gathered by private companies — telecommunications, financial institutions, retail outlets, and so on. As an average Canadian, I understand what is invasive and what is not — when a business asks for my postal code when I buy school supplies, that is invasive; when Statistics Canada asks how much education I have, that’s acceptable.

Realistically, of course, one only needs to do a quick search of the internet to find this information out about many people — Facebook, Linkedin, personal blogs, and hundreds of other private (and often non-Canadian) companies collect and use similar information. There is no threat of jail on the internet, no fines if one does not fill in the details or if one lies, yet thousands of Canadians input personal details every day. Afraid of the Census? I highly doubt it.

As an average Canadian, if there is one thing I’m accustomed to, it is bureaucracy and the many, many, many forms that go hand in hand with all the benefits we get in return. I urge you to restore the long form of Canada’s Census and the random distribution model used for decades to gather the information.

Sincerely,

Cheryl DeWolfe
An Average Canadian
Victoria, BC.

3 Replies to “Just an Average Canadian”

  1. Pingback: Tweets that mention Flotsam and Jetsam » Blog Archive » Just an Average Canadian -- Topsy.com

  2. What I think is that we should be asking to remove the threat of jail as just completely offensive. That no one has gone to jail is true doe not mean it is meaningful and is an insult to Canadians. How about make the punishment reasonable and hold Canadians accountable.
    Eg. the failure to complete the file, will result in a thousand dollar fine. Then collect it upon failure … this would amount to a revenue generating tax. The government would love the revenue.Of course the fine could be forgiven under obvious conditions.

    The reality is, while we know our government is not able to fully protect the information, business does need it.

    So lets keep the form required, but drop the jail sentence.

    Dan White

    • I agree, Dan. I think the threat of jail is an insult to Canadians and should be dumped. Thanks for your comment.