Editorials

Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

A census we can count on

By: Editorial

Posted: 07/6/2010 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

THE decision by the Harper government to turn the Statistics Canada long-form census into a voluntary survey has understandably upset statisticians and those most interested in the useful data the survey provides.

As a detailed look into the neighbourhoods and households of the country's regions, making the response a voluntary proposition risks the reliability of the data and that insight.

Industry Minister Tony Clement said the decision to expand the survey's reach, but leave it to the householder to return it, was made out of concern it was running into opposition from citizens upset by the intrusion. Rather than a mandatory census of a fifth of households, the longer survey will be sent next year to one-third of Canadians.

The Federation of Canadian Municipalities is upset at the news -- no consultations were done before the decision was made -- as are social policy groups, who rely on the detailed information to track social, economic and demographic changes in communities and in the country as a whole, over time. Municipalities use the information to inform policy and planning decisions on where to target spending.

Altering the methodology of the survey means details and conclusions drawn from data cannot be reliably compared over time. A former chief statistician with StatsCan noted people in certain groups -- aboriginals, recent immigrants and poor families -- will be less likely to send in the response. This leaves gaps in the understanding of the country's profile -- studying the income of first- and second-generation immigrants, for example, can reveal how well and quickly newcomers are assimilated. That, in turn, informs policy on settlement programs such as language, job training and professional certification rules.

Mr. Clement should have sought the opinion and advice of those who directly rely on the StatsCan census surveys before making a dramatic change to the way the detailed data are collected. It is not too late to do so. The effect of making the survey voluntary may not show up next year, or in the census that follows, but over time, response rates may fall such that long-term observations are unreliable.

A census is a detailed picture of a country and forms the bedrock of historical information upon which social researchers rely to draw cultural observations. Mr. Clement needs to take a step back, to protect the integrity of a survey that has for decades told Canadians a little more about themselves and their fellow citizens.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition July 6, 2010 A10

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