The Senate Debate

... Continued from the March 1999 Newsletter

(Lack of access to post 1906 and all subsequent censuses)

Thank you to Vivian Corkum, member and Gordon A. Watts, from Lunen-Links (Internet) who sent the articles on the debates .

There has been an enthusiastic response from our members, to continue including information on the Debates regarding the "lack of access." Because of the length, of the debates, brief excerpts will be used. The full debate can be found on the Web at:
www.parl.gc.ca/36/1/parlbus/chambus/senate/deb-e/deb-e.htm

February 4, 1999

Hon. Joan Fraser... It is not always realized that Canada's census has a very long history indeed. The first census of New France was ordered by Louis XIV and conducted by Jean Talon in 1666. You must be interested to know that at that time the population of settlers in New France totalled 3,215.

Throughout the French regime, periodic censuses were taken. The British regime was less assiduous in collecting such data, but censuses did continue to be taken on an increasingly regular basis and the results have been a vital resource for historians.

Section 8 of the British North America Act specifically instructs the federal government to conduct a decennial census. Accordingly, the first post-Confederation census was taken in 1871 and the Dominion Bureau of Statistics, now Statistics Canada, was established early in the century. It has gained an enviable reputation around the world for the quality and rigour of its work.

Canada is not the only country to have faced this dilemma. In Australia, a parliamentary committee has thoroughly examined the question. It received 291 submissions and reported to the House of Representatives.

Indeed, one might think that it is precisely because of technology that our century and the next one will be relatively unrecorded. In an age of cellular telephones and E-mail, we do not leave the same paper trail that our ancestors left, nor do we require public registration of some of the things that 19th century states required.

Common-law marriages, for example, are now numerous and do not need to be registered, so we cannot necessarily replace census information with information gleaned from other sources.

It was recommended by the Australian committee that access after a period of 99 years. This would be comparable to the practice in the United Kingdom which allows access after 100 years.

The parallel that to me seems irresistible is with the Doomsday Book. When William the Conqueror ordered the compilation of what he called a description of England in the 11th century, his object was not to help out future historians, he simply wanted to be sure he was getting all the tax revenue to which he was entitled. In 1086, his inquirer produced a uniquely thorough record, listing not only individual people but vital information about them, from the amount of land they owned right down to numbers of livestock and agriculture tools.

Historians have been feasting on the results ever since. They are consulted even more often today than at some periods in the past because they gave an absolutely unparalleled look at how real people actually lived at that moment 900 years ago.

I find it simply inconceivable that we should close our minds to this wonderful, irreplaceable record. One of the great lessons we have learned as a society is, surely, that to move forward with constructive purpose we must look to where we have been and how we got to where we are now.

Hon. John B. Stewart: ....Were there particular questions brought forth information which was regarded as not suitable for publication even after 90 or so years?

Senator Fraser: ....I am not quite sure, if one looks at the census forms, one can see that there are some questions about which one would hesitate...

For example, there are very detailed questions about income on the long form. There are questions about the status of one's marriage. There are still people who would prefer that their children not know that their marriage is common law rather than traditional.

February 18, 1999

The Privacy Commissioner, Mr. Phillips, presented himself to the body in Committee of the Whole. It was an important occasion as his answers revealed some significant and challenging perspectives. He took a very hard line that basically ruled out any access to any census return for any purpose ever, other than by the person who completed the return)

Senator Andreychuk: Mr. Phillips, I had the benefit of listening to your view with regard to the DNS bill and was much taken by your concern for your proposition that you much put forward a strong position for privacy. I also liked the fact that you said that privacy rights are not absolute, that they have to be balanced against our rights.

I want to go back to Senator Milne's discussion about the census. .....Let us say 100 years passed. In my case, there will be no children, but who knows where my extended family will be in 100 years. It seems to me that, in a democracy, information collected by the government and put under seal may still need some examination at some later date, to determine the accuracy of information and to determine whether it was used properly or at all.

Mr. Phillips: I would certainly agree that there should be a very broad, extended, public debate before the terms on which census data collected from Canadians is altered. I say that based upon my own experiences on the extreme sensitivity with which a great many Canadians consider this census data.

It would be a pretty poor Privacy Commissioner, Senator, who would easily yield to a plea for access to that kind of information by genealogists and historians.

I might be more easily persuaded if that were the only or most important source of information for historical research, but clearly, it is not.

Let me give you a parallel experience, although it is not a precise analogy. There were many servicemen in Canada who were the fathers of children born overseas during the war. They came back to Canada, picked up their lives, got married, and had more children. Now there is a great appetite among people in Britain to know more about their biological fathers. They have come to Canada as a group and are individually asking the Department of Veterans Affairs and public archives to trace these people down so that they can get in touch with them. One can understand the anguish that lies behind some of those requests.

Senator Andreychuk: One of the comments that has been made about the last number of censuses is that information gathering has gone way beyond what a census should gather and has become a ruse for getting other information in a quick and easy way.

We do have examples where, in the public interest, we have breached previous confidentiality, and that is in adoptions. We chose to reopen those cases for the benefit of children who have diseases, et. cetera, and need to know the biological contacts.

March 3, 1999

Hon. Richard H. Kroft: While I share many of Mr. Phillips' fears, I am equally concerned that obsessive concepts of privacy not be allowed to inhibit the retention, management and availability of information that can be essential to the expansion of knowledge and understanding. The truth is that different information requires different treatment.

Part of my interest in this subject comes from personal experience. I became curious about a branch of my family that came to Canada from England in the late 19th century. As I pursued my investigations, I learned how full of inaccuracies.

In England, I was able to find, largely from actual census returns from 1841 to 1891, information that was extraordinarily valuable in providing real knowledge and understanding. If my search revealed a tiny microcosm of 19th century England - a country that for part of my family served as a 100-year stopping off point on a movement from Eastern Europe to North America - the total picture that can emerge out of a multiplicity of such stories is far too rich and important to be lost.

Are we prepared to forever deny all future Canadians and others the detailed knowledge of lives that have shaped and conditioned who we are and what they were? Surely, we should not leave this door shut and sealed forever.

Comments? Write your politicians.

-Would your Member of Parliament be willing to prepare, and present to the House of Commons, a Bill supporting release of the post 1901 Census, starting with 1911?

-What is our Minister for Canadian Heritage, Hon. Sheila Copps, doing to prevent the loss to the public of post 1901 Census Information?

-Would your MP vote 'for' or 'against' such a Bill?

The answers should be interesting.

Black Loyalists

..... Everybody's Business, Feb/Mar 1999

The legacy of the 3,000 Black Loyalists who landed in Shelburne in the wake of the American Civil War is being pieced together through a program founded by Heritage Canada and the Museum Services division of Department of Education and Culture. Under the program, called Remembering Black Loyalists, Black Communities and the departments are working with the communities of Shelburne and Guysborough, site of the Birchtown and Tracadie settlements, to gather research and conduct archaeological studies on the history of Black Loyalists as they spread across Nova Scotia. The two-year program, begun January 1998, will help communities across the province mount tourism campaigns that will capitalize on increasing US interest in this incredible, but as yet un-highlighted stories.

Family Tree Research Grows

....... Everybody's Business, Feb/Mar 1999

The provincial government has taken steps to help the steady flow of travellers tracing their genealogy in Nova Scotia. Bill 58 - the Protection of Cemeteries Act grants daylight hour access to anyone travelling on foot to any abandoned cemetery in the province located on private, uncultivated land. It also prevents the use of land used for human burial for any other purpose and establishes penalties for any property desecration, damaged or removal of cultural material. Finally, it will eventually establish simple, standardized procedures for any group wishing to take on the maintenance of abandoned cemeteries as well as community and county historical societies and museum collecting information on the cemeteries for exhibits and displays.

.. By Terence M. Punch, CG(C);

-Christian Kassabian Schaefer. The Hidden Half of the Family; A Sourcebook for Women's Genealogy. Order from Genealogical Publishing Co. Inc., 1001 N. Calvert St., Baltimore, MD, 21202-3897, for $38.50 (US), postpaid. (ISBN 0-8063-1582-2) 8 ½" x 11", 310 pp., illus., indexed, paperback, 1999.

Half of your ancestors were women, yet almost all of the customary sources we use in genealogical research are based upon the male head of family; census, directories, property transactions, and so forth. Before our century, women do not figure in many voters lists, assessment rolls, military or naval records. Yet, once we do the name and date stuff in a family history, we want to flesh out the picture. This book aims to supply that sort of information about females who lived and worked in the US.

The first part of the book makes educational reading, as it explains the special ways women were dealt with in various records. Those 48 pages of introduction are a magnificent tour of the subject, as we see how the records impact on women.

The rest of the book treats of the fifty states and the District of Columbia under eight headings: marriage and divorce law, property and inheritance, suffrage, citizenship, census, other government, bibliography, selected resources for women's history.

Since most Atlantic Canadians have or had family in the US, this guide will probably help you. Apart from being struck by the value of this fresh approach, this (Canadian) reviewer found himself hoping that this book will inspire emulation on this side of the border. Meanwhile be assured that this book comes highly recommended; perhaps by analogy it will suggest approaches you can utilize in your Canadian research.

-Tony Matthews. Paper Trees; Genealogical Clip-art. Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1001 N. Calvert St., Baltimore, MD 21202-3897 for US $114.95 + $3.50 p & h. (ISBN 0-8063-1607-1)

If you do not possess a computer program offering graphics for displaying a family tree - or even if you do, but want inspiration for something different - this recent book has 92 designs for you to consider. The compiler means for you to copy, enlarge or reduce his patterns for family use.

Fill in the designs with calligraphy, neat script and handwriting, type or the medium of your choice. Afterwards you can embellish your product with colour or shading. The finished product will be, as the brochure says, "elegant, whimsical, or just plain folksy". My taste favours the more austere layouts, but others will revel in the florid or the fantastic.

The capacity of the trees ranges from four to eight generations, many as fan charts, circles or squares, not to mention a maze or two. For those who seek ideas, Matthews offers wedding cake, turtle, balloon, menorah, cornucopia and insect-shaped formats. There are also Ahnentafel pages with space for five or six generations.

This book has one message that many family historians need to heed: doing your genealogy demands serious research and adherence to good scholarship, but there also needs to be humour and fun. Matthews' book may just tickle your fancy for enjoyment of your project.

BAKELESS BAKE SALE:

Because the majority of the SSGS members live outside of Lunenburg Co. and Canada, we decided to try a "Bakeless Bake Sale" as a fund Raiser.

Please include a favourite recipe, along with your donation, as we are considering a "Cook Book" if enough interest is shown.

One of our members discovered an interesting inscription at the Hemford Cemetery in Nova Scotia.

"When I am dead and in my grave, and all my bones are rotten, This stone will show where I lay, while other are forgotten."

The following is an excellent site by one of our members, Chris Young:

Consolidated Index to Lunenburg County Community Place Names.

www.geocities.com/Heartland/Ranch/8785/lburgpla.htm

Shipping in Bridgewater, NS 1899-1925. In early 1900's Bridgewater had been a busy port.

www.tallships.ca/shipping/index.htm

Queries

Foley: Who were the parents of John Foley b. Ca. 1830 d. 1905 (buried in Bridgewater, married Sophia Isabella Wagner. Children Charles, William, Elizabeth, Agnes and Isabel. Contact: Betty L Rhodenizer, 304 Aberdeen Rd. Bridgewater, NS B4V 2T2.

Bancroft: Is there any record of Samuel Bancroft being a Judge - where? (b. 1736, Reading, MA - d.1782) The family moved to Annapolis Co., NS in September 2, 1781. Samuel became a Judge and later returned to MA. A son, Jeremiah, was born in Yarmouth in 1763 and remained in NS). Don Boehner, 5176 Laurel Dr., Concord, CA 94521.

E-Mail:dlbeaner@msn.com
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