The Martlet

Four years ago I spent my summer in a government office building being yelled at over the phone by angry Canadians.

I worked for the 2006 Canadian Census helpline answering calls from concerned and/or confused respondents and phoning households that had not yet filled out their census form. The majority of the Canadians I called did not want to talk to me.

During the 2006 census one in five households received a long-form questionnaire that asked about everything from income to ethnicity to the number of rooms in their dwelling.

The short-form questionnaire 80 per cent of households received asked very basic questions, like the names and birthdates of those living in the household.

The Conservative government now plans to scrap the mandatory longform questionnaire for the 2011 census, saying it’s “invasive” and that Canadians shouldn’t be threatened with fines or jail time for not filling it out. The mandatory questionnaire will be replaced with a voluntary questionnaire that will be sent to one in three households.

But my experience was that it didn’t matter whether people were filling out the long-form or the short form, they just didn’t want to give their information. Not their name, not their birth date, not their income, not anything. They were upset that enumerators had knocked on their door or that we had called them at home.

While I did explain to a few respondents that they faced possible fines or jail time for not filling out the survey, that was rarely the reason they chose to comply. Usually, with a little charm and an explanation of why the information collected in the census is so important, their attitudes would change and they would fill out the survey without too much trouble.

If only a little charm and explanation worked on the government. Experts from various sectors have publicly denounced the decision to cancel the long-form survey. The higher-ups, including Industry Minister Tony Clement, claim that the voluntary survey will suffice, and that agencies have enjoyed a free ride on census information for years. Go get your stats from private agencies, they say.

Statisticians disagree, saying that with the voluntary survey there will be underreporting by ethnic, linguistic and economic minorities. In many cases, information about Canadian populations who need government help the most will be incomplete or inaccurate. In short, they fear that the loss of the longform survey means the loss of the accurate, full picture of Canada the mandatory survey creates.

People are understanadably emotional about the census issue. Project coordinators, urban planners and leaders of minority groups – among others – feel like they are being threatened. How will the government ensure their needs are met if it doesn’t even know they are there?

The Conservatives’ ploy to their shrinking base will harm all Canadians, minority groups in particular. The long-form census needs to stay.