Posted on 07/20/2010 4:59:43 AM PDT by Clive
I can't dig up my original 1996 Sun column wherein I announced my refusal to complete the long-form census that year -- the online archives I can find don't go back that far. But I'm sure I made the same points I make in today's Sun newspapers about the nosy parkers trying to find out all sorts of irrelevant details about the lives of others.
I was never charged with an offence under the Statistics Act, though I had a first-rate lawyer lined up to defend me pro bono if that happened. Instead, I was just pestered by a cascade of increasingly senior census takers who just didn't understand why I didn't want to tell them my race and ethnicity. (One was quite funny, without trying to be; she thought the problem was I didn't want to physically fill out the form, so she offered to write my answers for me. Nope, illiteracy wasn't my problem.)
In the end they let me go. I wonder if I would have been convicted if they did charge me -- probably. I don't know if I'd take such a stand again today, or if I would do what tens of thousands of other Canadians do: like jamming the system by telling the government they're not black or white or Jewish or Somali. They're jedi knights. (Congrats to the Western Standard team for the great website idea and quick execution.)
So long, long formThe next census comes around in 2011, and the federal government just announced the long form of the census will be voluntary, instead of mandatory, for randomly selected Canadians chosen for the extra work.
As someone who received the long-form census in 1996 — and refused to complete it — let me tell you why this is a good thing.
The regular census is short. It asks who lives in your house and some questions about how everyone is related to each other. It also asks about language use — information that fuels Canada’s bilingualism policy. That’s about it.
But the long-form census feels like it was written by the biggest gossips in the country. The 2011 version hasn’t been released yet, but the 1996 one can still be seen online.
Some of it is the basic stuff. But how about this: Question 7 demanded everyone in your home describe any physical or mental-health condition, and what limits that places on your school, work or home life.
Sorry, that’s just none of the government’s business. It’s supposed to be a census, not a peek through a family’s medicine cabinet.
This so-called census also asked Canadians to tell the government who did what chores and errands in the house — which parent helped the kids with homework; which parent drove them to sports; who did the shopping; who talked “with teens about their problems.”
And a helpful bureaucrat would be right there to write it all down.
That’s not what really bothered me, though.
Question 19 demanded Canadians define themselves according to ethnicity.
And “Canadian” wasn’t an option.
The census gave a list of different alternatives including some colours (white and black) and a continent (Latin American). What would U.S. President Barack Obama, whose mom was white, choose — both white and black? Why weren’t brown or red or yellow allowable colours?
What on earth does “Latin American” mean as an ethnicity? Latin Americans come in every race and ethnicity — black, Aboriginal, white or, like Alberto Fujimori, the former president of Peru, Japanese. And why was Latin America a choice, but not North America?
Stranger still, black was actually explained not by colour but by country. It included African, which would include white South Africans.
But Arab/West Asian was another choice, even though the examples included Egyptian and Moroccan (which are in Africa, not Asia) and Iranian, which is a country that is overwhelmingly Persian in ethnicity — not Arab.
Some ethnically homogenous countries were listed (Filipino, Korean, Japanese, Chinese) but many others weren’t.
The choices just made no sense.
And then there was the answer marked “other”.
In another question, the census asked your “cultural group.” It listed only one religion (Jewish), and several countries. Is Jewish a country?
Given that “etc.” was also listed, it’s not surprising that in a recent census, 21,000 Canadians described themselves as Star Wars Jedi Knights.
What are these bizarre questions and answers about? The census form was perfectly frank: It stated it was for government programs that use racial quotas — also called affirmative action. As Canadians, we like to think we’re equal before the law. But Statistics Canada collects this information to treat us unequally.
Let the nosy bureaucrats pound sand: Scrapping the mandatory long-form census is a small victory against big government.
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....had the FIFTH census working stop by yesterday....he left with the same answers the other FOUR left with........
working=worker
I gave my answer. I wrote “2 residents.” Each time the enumerator came to my door for “clarification” or to apologize for assumed previous offense I said with a smile, “Two.” I refuse to be impolite to them. They are doing what they contracted for pay to do. And I did it twice, in 1990 and 2000. I do not grudge them the money though I believe it is at least 90% wasted. The Constitutional mandate can surely be accomplished with a tiny fraction of the expense that is actually incurred.
A Census worker left a form in my door handle Sunday stating he stopped by and will return if I don’t call. It looks like he will be returning but will get the same answer I wrote on my form, giving only the number of people in my household.
I own two houses. One at my farm that is vacant and the other that I live in about 8 miles away. Thus far, I've had two visits from Census workers at each house that I'm aware of, in addition to getting 3 forms at one house and two at the other. Obviously, I can't be both places simultaneously and they might have stopped by more times than I'm aware of. If they're not going to believe me when I return multiple copies of their stupid form, why do they bother sending the forms in the first place? The really scary part on the farm house was the last Census visitor insisted that she be able to look inside the house to confirm that no one lives there. I can't post what my response was. I would get banned from FR.....
obama make work
I sent the initial questionnaire back to them in March, noting that my crystal ball wasn’t working, and so I couldn’t say anything about who’d be here on 1 April.
They finally got around to leaving a note on my door with a phone number.
Since I’m a nice guy, and also because I didn’t want to be bothered, I called, told him that two people lived here, and that that was all the information I was required to provide. (I did mention that we’ve a couple of cats, who are people too...)
Anyway, he took it, and that was that, I hope.
On reflection, they already have all of this information for legal residents in one data base or another, so why bother us?
Obama keeps it running so he can cover some of the job losses...but as soon as the census is over unemployment is going to skyrocket again. My guess is that will happen after the elections in Nov.
I only filled out the first couple of questions. Two weeks ago some older man started ringing our door bell and then tried to talk to our neighbors about us.
He didn’t get any answers from them and then he started to literally hang around our front door, bothering my wife when she came home. She told him she was busy and going in for dinner so he waited on our front patio. I finally went outside, told him I had answered IAW the Constitution, and that he would get no more information. He was not happy.
Similar situation here.
I sent in the census form with the number of people who live here (the purpose of the census). Some old guy shows up at my door on a Sunday, asking all kinds of guestions. I was polite and told him to contact the IRS because they already have all kinds of info on me already. He told me that that was impossible because the census was not able to access that kind of info. Then I told him in my best southern drawl, “bullshit, look at who is running the census there son”. End of discussion.
....had the FIFTH census working stop by yesterday....he left with the same answers the other FOUR left with........
Yep, same with me. First they claimed they didn’t get my form, then two different census workers came to my door and talked to me, and now I am getting repeated phone calls (despite the fact that I did not give my phone # on the form!)
I am pretty much convinced that since I live in a heavily Democrat area my family has been counted at least five times. The Repubs need to launch a major investigation here.
no kidding,... they should know how to find us at tax time.
oops... that should be they SURE know how to find us......
I sent the census form as required, with the required info. IIRC names and number of people at residence.
Yesterday a census worker shows up, my normally docile dog was not impressed, I’m not sure what set her off maybe the clipboard he was sporting.
By the time I intervened she had come very close to biting him, maybe it was him swatting at her with his clipboard that did it.
He was kind of sneaky in his approach when he said he would like me to complete a survey and that they had no record of this residence, never mentioning that it was for the census until I asked directly.
I told him that I had completed and sent the form in with the answers required by law.
Apparently that was not good enough but even after several attempts to convince me that it was a harmless and confidential survey, that’s all that he got from me.
I have a feeling he won’t be back but we shall see.
....when does the census go over the line in which things become HARASSMENT?
Actually, you are not Constitutionally required to give even that. The government is required to count you. It doesn’t say you have to count yourself. I do agree with the original purpose of the Census though which is redidtribution of representation in Congress and will go along with giving the requisite information for that purpose, namely, “Two.”
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