In light of the Conservative government's decision to cancel the mandatory long-form census, a decision opposed by hundreds of organizations, including anti-poverty advocates and disability groups, organizations that value and respect quality data and evidence, I move that the HUMA committee study the impact of cancelling the long-form census, particularly as it relates to planning and tracking of vital social trends related to economic security, labour markets, and social program development for those Canadians living in and on the cusp of living in poverty, and that this committee report back to the House its conclusions and findings.
Chair, this is somewhat self-evident. When it was announced that the long-form census was going to be changed and would no longer be a mandatory census, among the groups that were most concerned—frightened, really—are those who deal with people who need help the most, who rely on this kind of information to provide data so that social trends can be determined so that we, as parliamentarians, can then propose solutions to help them.
Disability groups are very concerned about this. This follows on the heels of cancelling the PAL survey, the participation active living survey, and the Canadian Council on Learning no longer being funded, which did a lot of work to ensure there were studies on how low-income Canadians, including people with disabilities and aboriginal Canadians, would be affected by not having access to post-secondary education.
This is a very important issue for the disability community and for social advocacy groups. I think it would probably be as relevant for this committee as any committee—more so than just about every other committee—to have a look at the impact of this decision on the people we're here to represent.