2021 Census Consultation Report

Just released by Statistics Canada is a report The 2021 Census of Population Consultation Results: What we heard from Canadians. It's based on input from 2,804 responses including 850 classified as the Public.

As the census is collected by Statistics Canada it's not surprising the emphasis is statistics.

"Data from the Census of Population are important for all communities and are vital for planning services that support employment, education and health care. Governments, businesses, associations, organizations and many others use these data to make important decisions. The census provides information that reflects Canada’s changing society and is the primary source of sociodemographic data for specific population groups such as lone-parent families, Indigenous peoples, immigrants, seniors and language groups."

The Stats Can mindset is evident. There is no acknowledgement of the importance of the census as a historical resource of interest for information on individuals.

Stats Can acknowledge input from genealogists in the following two paragraphs:

"Among the general public, demography and place of birth data stood out for their frequent use, reflecting the many responses from genealogists and individuals interested in family history."

"Other than LGBTQ2, gaps for demography and household composition tended to be reported by genealogists interested in the relationships between household members and marital status. Current content in the census questionnaire on demography and household composition otherwise appears to satisfy the great majority of information needs."

In the section on Immigration and Citizenship it was noted that:

"Non-government respondents tended to be interested in questions about ancestry, such as the precise place of birth of those born outside Canada and the place of birth of grandparents."