Evidence of meeting #29 for Industry, Science and Technology in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was questions.
A recording is available from Parliament.
3:35 p.m.
Liberal
Anthony Rota Liberal Nipissing—Timiskaming, ON
Other areas get affected. What kind of planning do you do in education and health planning? Are those all areas that would come from the information collected?
3:35 p.m.
Board Member, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami
That's correct. I will put on my hat as a mayor. For example, we have a young population, so for me, recreation is very important to ensure that we have healthy youth and are moving forward. Those kinds of numbers really help us in planning.
3:35 p.m.
Liberal
Anthony Rota Liberal Nipissing—Timiskaming, ON
If it were voluntary, would it have the same uptake as if it were enforced, in your opinion?
3:35 p.m.
Board Member, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami
It would be very much different, yes, because in northern communities, they're still very much intimidated by forms, especially the elders, because some of them still can't read English, so they're intimidated. But if you have someone who has been trained through Stats Canada going house to house, they would be very comfortable having the person come and help to fill out those forms.
3:35 p.m.
Liberal
Anthony Rota Liberal Nipissing—Timiskaming, ON
But if it's voluntary, and it is just mailed to them and it says, “Fill it out when you get a chance and mail it in”, what kind of response would we get?
3:35 p.m.
Board Member, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami
If it's in English, it's going to go in the garbage.
3:35 p.m.
Liberal
Anthony Rota Liberal Nipissing—Timiskaming, ON
Okay. Thank you very much.
My next question is for Mr. McKeever.
I've been reading some of the stuff you've put out. You've mentioned a few things about pandering, and that this really isn't about the census, and that nobody really cares about the census. It's more about pandering to a portion of the Conservative Party or to those who vote Conservative who are disillusioned. Maybe you could comment on that, as a Libertarian.
3:35 p.m.
Paul McKeever Employment Lawyer, As an Individual
Just for clarification, I'm not a Libertarian. I'm a capitalist.
3:35 p.m.
Employment Lawyer, As an Individual
The context of what you're talking about was something I had written in which I had said that there is a political purpose that can be served by proposing to make the long-form census voluntary. The political purpose to which I was pointing was simply that there are those who do call themselves Libertarian, for example, or Libertarian Conservatives, who, like me, are not in favour of someone requiring them to identify their race, sex, religion, and so on at the point of a gun or a fine or imprisonment.
The other part of my argument, though, was that I did not think there was really a substantive problem with making the census voluntary, because it's more form than substance. I think this data is available already, outside of the census. This is more an overture to those who think that maybe the Conservatives are more friendly with the social conservatives than they are with those who are sort of free-market types. It's an olive branch, if you will, although I'm not sure how effective it will be.
3:35 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Michael Chong
Thank you, Mr. McKeever, and thank you, Mr. Rota.
We'll go to Monsieur Bouchard.
3:35 p.m.
Bloc
Robert Bouchard Bloc Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Ladies and gentlemen, good day. Thank you for being with us this afternoon.
My first question is addressed to Ms. Jennifer Stoddart, Privacy Commissioner.
We know that the replies to the Statistics Canada census form questions are confidential. Do you feel that Statistics Canada does a good job when it comes to protecting private information?
3:35 p.m.
Privacy Commissioner, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
In my opinion, it does that well. Indeed, over the decades, the people from Statistics Canada have always been open to our suggestions. For instance, in 2006, they asked people whether they would accept, 92 years from now, to have their replies made available to the public. I feel that Statistics Canada listens to the suggestions we make to them concerning the protection of private information.
3:40 p.m.
Bloc
Robert Bouchard Bloc Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC
Consequently, can we say that Statistics Canada's questions do not violate the confidentiality of private information?
3:40 p.m.
Privacy Commissioner, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
The issue of confidentiality has more to do with the security Statistics Canada provides regarding the replies that are given. I think that Statistics Canada has a very good reputation with regard to keeping data secure. In the entire history of our office, I believe that there has only been one incident involving census information security, and this dates back to 1986.
3:40 p.m.
Bloc
Robert Bouchard Bloc Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC
Thank you.
Good day, Ms. Kenny. I believe I understood that you were opposed to the minister's decision. Can you tell us why?
July 27th, 2010 / 3:40 p.m.
Marie-France Kenny President, Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada
The mandatory long-form questionnaire of 2006 and previous years contains questions of a linguistic nature that are very important for the francophone and acadian communities and the anglophone communities of Quebec. These questions allows to measure the vitality of the communities and are used in the preparation of programs and services. I am not only talking about the federal level, but also the provincial level, since there are transfer payments and the provinces use these data.
We feel that the government's decision breaches section 20 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, as well as the Official Languages Act, in that there has not been any consultation, and the regulations under part IV of the act as they are worded today are entirely based on the language questions contained in the long form.
After the 2011 census, there will be an office designation exercise. A decision will be made as to whether offices are to be designated bilingual, whether here or in my organization. We will not have the data since these questions will no longer be asked. We may have some data, but no one can tell us now whether we will have at our disposal regional data of this nature.
Thus, if the number of citizens who answer the questions in a small community such as Falher or St. Isidore-de-Bellevue is not sufficient, we will not have any data for that region.
3:40 p.m.
Bloc
3:40 p.m.
Conservative
3:40 p.m.
Conservative
David Anderson Conservative Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I guess I've found it interesting, as we've gone through the day today, that many of the people who came into the room supporting a mandatory application of the coercive elements of the long-form census really seem to be running away from that today. I think Mr. Rota was expressing doubt about that, and Mr. Gravelle wondered why were even here--
3:40 p.m.
Liberal
Anthony Rota Liberal Nipissing—Timiskaming, ON
Excuse me, Mr. Chair, but he's putting words in my mouth again, and I don't appreciate it. That is just a point of order.
3:40 p.m.
Conservative
David Anderson Conservative Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK
I think this morning you said that you didn't like the idea of jail terms.
3:40 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Michael Chong
Just one moment here. Mr. Anderson has the floor, and if anybody wishes to respond to the truthfulness of anybody's statements, they can do so during the time I give them the floor.
In the interest of keeping this meeting in order, Mr. Anderson, you have the floor. Please go ahead.
3:40 p.m.
Conservative
David Anderson Conservative Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm just pointing out that there are a number of people who've expressed real concerns about the coercive elements of what's happened in the past, including Mr. Rota. Mr. Gravelle seems to have expressed some of that concern. Mr. Fellegi did earlier, as did Mr. McLeish. Even Mr. Drummond, I think, was distancing himself from that compulsive and coercive aspect of the survey.
I want to ask Ms. Stoddart where she stands. Is it necessary, in your opinion, to coerce Canadians to get this information we've been talking about today?
3:40 p.m.
Privacy Commissioner, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
I think that's a decision for the experts. As Privacy Commissioner, though, I can say that coercing people to give very sensitive information about themselves is clearly contrary to their privacy interests. Over the years, Canadians, I think, have shown increasing concern about some of the questions in the census, and in fact, my office has been working with census Canada over the last 20 years on Canadians' concerns, either about the questions or about the fact that their information is revealed after 92 years--previous to 2006--without their consent.