Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today to speak to Bill C-625 and the commitments our government made to amend the Statistics Act. Our government committed to removing the penalty of jail time for anyone who refuses to complete the census or any mandatory Statistics Canada survey. We also committed to allowing for the release of historical household survey records related to the census of population.
Currently the Statistics Act provides only for the release of the census of population records. This amendment would allow Statistics Canada to transfer census-related records, including those for all voluntary surveys, to Library and Archives Canada for genealogical and historical research.
A bill on the release of census records after 92 years was debated and passed into law by the House in 2005. That bill ensured that individuals had the choice of deciding if they wanted their census information made publicly available 92 years later. Prior to 2005, many members of Parliament received letters, calls, and petitions of support from Canadians who felt strongly that historical records are a fundamental part of Canada's heritage and should be made available to everyone.
I am sure we would all agree that the reasons genealogists, historians, and researchers want access to historical information are legitimate and important. It is also as important to leave a record of present-day Canada for future generations as it is to have historical records from 1911. This amendment makes it possible for all of us to have a place in history and contribute to the future growth and prosperity of our great nation. However, while there is undeniable value attached to historical census records, an important principle of privacy does come into play.
I would like to take a few minutes to quickly outline the steps that led to the introduction of the census bill in 2005. During the late 1990s, a number of genealogical associations, researchers, and other interested individuals held a campaign to express dissatisfaction with the inability to access historical records for censuses after 1901. The census records up to and including 1901 were not taken with a guarantee of confidentiality, and records were therefore made available to the public 92 years after the event. Census information after 1901 was collected with a promise of confidentiality. As a result, these census records were never made available to the public. It was therefore recognized that clarifications to the Statistics Act were required.
The Statistics Act contains confidentiality provisions that protect all census and survey information collected by Statistics Canada. The 2005 amendments made it possible to release records from the census of population 92 years after the census has taken place. The bill before the House today would extend this provision to surveys related to the census of population. Therefore, it would ensure the release provisions also apply to the 2011 national household survey and any other future surveys related to the census of population.
As with the census, Canadians responding to the national household survey are asked to consent to the release of their personal information after 92 years. If consent is given, 92 years following collection their information will be released to Library and Archives Canada. This amendment allows Canadians to decide if others can have access to their personal information.
Canadians should have the right to decide for themselves if they want their personal records to be made publicly available in the future. If they answer no, their information will never be publicly accessible.
With this point in mind, I would like to assure my colleagues that the addition of a consent question will not impact the timeliness of statistical data from the national household survey. Information that does not identify individuals will be disseminated by Statistics Canada in a timely fashion, as was the case for the 2011 national household survey.
In closing, I would ask hon. colleagues for their support for Bill C-625. This government firmly believes that no Canadian should ever face the threat of jail time for failing to respond to a survey. The bill seeks to remove jail-time penalties for Canadians who fail to respond to mandatory surveys or who do not release administrative data.
The amendments proposed in the bill would remove this threat and ensure that Canadians can respond to surveys in complete confidence. The bill also seeks to make administrative records accessible, provided Canadians give their consent.
I would urge all members to support Bill C-625, to ensure that important records from today can be made available to all Canadians in the future, and to ensure that we remove the unnecessary threat of jail-time penalties.