July 23, 2010 Update

Please Act Now!  Over the few days since RNAO first asked you to contact the Prime Minister about reversing the decision to cancel the long form of the census, the government’s refusal to listen to reason on this issue has prompted the resignation in protest of Chief Statistician, Munir Sheikh. Mr. Sheikh’s resignation as the head of Statistics Canada was based on his unequivocal technical judgment that a voluntary survey cannot become a substitute for a mandatory census. The loss of this respected public servant and the perceived attack on Statistics Canada’s independence and integrity threatens the credibility of an agency that was formerly known as the “world’s gold standard.”

In addition to the broad coalition of professional, community, and business groups that have registered alarm at this decision, the government of Ontario has warned that scrapping the long-form census questionnaire will threaten Ontario’s Poverty Reduction Plan by hindering access to reliable data. If the Harper’s decision is not reversed, it will be as the Canadian Medical Association Journal’s editors noted, a triumph of ideology over evidence.

Background

On June 26, 2010 it became public that the federal government has arbitrarily decided to cancel the 2011 long form Census and replace it with a less reliable voluntary survey. This hasty decision was taken without consulting the various levels of government, business, and civil society groups that depend on this data to inform evidence-based policy decisions.

In sharp contrast to the proposed voluntary survey that will be biased, unreliable, and not representative of the population, the long form Census has a response rate of over 95 per cent and provides “the only source of regular, highly detailed, systematic information on immigration, family and household structure, racialization, demography, and other vital information about Canadians.” The risk of undercounting vulnerable groups such as new immigrants, Aboriginal Canadians, and those in lower socio-economic groups through a voluntary survey has the potential to impact our ability to best provide services as well as identify societal trends such the racialization of poverty, income inequality, hours worked without pay providing child and elder care, etc. The proposed changes will cost more and deliver less reliable data. The anecdotal rationale provided by Industry Minister Tony Clement of the long form Census as intrusive contrasts with the very few complaints received by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner. For most households, the long form questionnaire requires less than 20 to 30 minutes on average and statistically, the average household will receive the long form once every 25 years.