Thank you for the opportunity to address the committee.
Cutting to the chase, I want to come back and follow up on Peggy's comments in terms of recommendations, taking into account the fact that the committee is looking at the mandatory nature of the long-form census and questions around unpaid work.
We would urge the committee to use its powers to ensure that the mandatory long form is included in the 2011 census, as Peggy has outlined. As well, we'd like to put on record that we support the recommendations that the National Statistics Council has forwarded to this government in respect of the census and Statistics Canada. As well, we would like to register our support for the proposed amendments to the Statistics Act that would ensure the integrity of Statistics Canada and its autonomy to pursue the highest-quality data collection possible. We would like as well to support the letter that was forwarded earlier by the chief statistician, the former governor of the Bank of Canada, and two former clerks of the Privy Council.
It's not an exaggeration to say that the census is the foundation of our data collection systems in Canada. The decision to abandon the long-form census will certainly critically undermine the integrity of our census, but as well it will undermine the integrity of many other surveys and data collections in Canada. It will compromise the ability of governments at all levels to pursue evidence-based decision-making and informed policy and program choices, most especially at the community level.
I'm coming today as a researcher. I can touch briefly on some of the work we've done at CCSD in Vanier and about how we have used the census in our own work, but I actually wanted to bring forward a more personal anecdote. I've been doing research in the community sector for upwards of 20 years, and I really truly cannot tell you the number of times I get phone calls from people across the country--from Kamloops, as Leroy was saying--with simple questions, asking me, for example, how many single moms live in Campbell River, British Columbia, or what types of supports are available in the communities. People in this age are wont to pick up the phone, and I turn to the census. This is really, exclusively, the only source of information at the community level. This decision in particular will have an extraordinary impact on the availability and quality of data available to communities across the country.
In the absence of the census in the long form, where will communities turn in the future to answer these questions? Will they have the expertise or resources to pursue this information to help plan their services and the like? Will they have the ability to collect these data themselves? I would put forward to you that they will have neither the resources nor the funds to pursue this important information and that they will go without. Many communities will be steering, as Peggy has said, without any type of navigation tool.
In some of the research we've done, the census has been critical for us at CCSD in pursuing studies of urban poverty. I can cite the research. For instance, some of you may be familiar with “Poverty by Postal Code”. That report was done in Toronto back in 2004. That particular piece of research identified emerging patterns of urban poverty in Toronto, and that led directly to the United Way's profoundly changing their programming and setting up neighbourhood revitalization programs that are influencing policy today.
To wrap up, I would say that just as we have, over this past number of months, invested in our critical physical infrastructure, it's as critical to invest in our knowledge infrastructure. In that regard, the census is a foundation, and I urge the committee to lend its weight and its voice to maintaining the long-form census.