01 June 2013

All's Quiet on the Census Front

The 1921 census is supposed to be officially transferred to Library and Archives Canada on 2 June. Being a Sunday I suspect we won't get to see it on the day, and the silence from LAC makes one question when that will happen.

Let's review. On March 27, 2012 there was a posting on the LAC blog 1921 Census countdown!

If you're told there's a countdown you expect to hear
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, liftoff.

What did we hear?

Nothing.

That's not quite fair.

In response to comments to that post by people with high credibility in the genealogical community, like Janice Nickerson, M Diane Rogers, Lorine McGinnis Schulze and many others we've been informed by LAC:

On April 11 2012 "Library and Archives Canada intends to provide a nominal index and will be exploring various avenues."

On January 23 2013 "We will post more details as soon as they become available. Please continue to watch this space for upcoming information about the 1921 Census."

On February 6 "we ... will provide more details as soon as possible."

On April 18 "... the indexing of the 8.8 millions of names appearing in the 1921 census will be done through a similar process such as partnerships. Details will be communicated in the upcoming weeks."

On May 1st "LAC is committed to making the 1921 census available to all as quickly as possible."

That's nothing like the promised countdown.

The record on this countdown would be a credit to Pierre Poilievre, that master of information-free responses to questions in Parliament.

I was told on Wednesday a press release is being worked on at LAC so remain not very patiently optimistic that information on public availability and release to organizations capable of producing indexes will be coming on Monday, at the latest.






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