12 February 2007. CBC News reports today that the planned release of the 2006 Canada Census results has been delayed for at least a month.

Documents obtained by the CBC under Access to Information reveal the degree of internal turmoil and incompetence which has existed within the Census and Statistics Canada.

Things got so bad that Census management were telling their enumerators to make up fictitious names if they could not obtain the real names of persons residing in a dwelling. If three persons lived in a house, it would be OK to report them as Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, and Donald Duck! By so doing, we allege that Census employees violated the Statistics Act by knowingly providing false information to the Census. Will those workers receive a threatening letter from Ivan Fellegi, the Chief Statistician, threatening fines or jail for violating the Statistics Act, as some Canadian citizens received? We hope not.

The census footsoldiers do not deserve to be blamed for the census mess. It is the top management of the census, right up to Chief Statistican Ivan Fellegi who should be held accountable. They made or approved the original outrageous decision to allow a subsidiary of US weapons of destruction maker Lockheed Martin to be involved in Canada's census. They are the authors of the Census misfortunes.

StatsCan assumed mistakenly that Canadians would, sheep-like, embrace the Lockheed Martin (Canada) involvement. But Canadians, for various reasons including disgust for free trade, dislike of weapons manufacturer Lockheed Martin, job loss issues, and privacy concerns, wisely declined to embrace the Lockheed Martin way.

For more information on the CBC news item, click here

return to home