Letter: Quick Action by Trudeau is Needed to Save the Next Census  Banner Image

Letter: Quick Action by Trudeau is Needed to Save the Next Census

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In June 2010, the Harper government issued an order in council abolishing the mandatory nature of the census, ending a Canadian tradition older than the country itself.

Strong opposition to this arbitrary decision culminated in the resignation of Munir Sheikh, the chief statistician at the time. His predecessor, Ivan Fellegi, correctly predicted that low response rates among large segments of the population would result in biased data.

Provincial governments, municipalities, business associations, research institutes and social scientists all joined in rare unanimity against the decision.

We will not repeat here the arguments that have been put forward many times to describe the deleterious effects of such an anti-science measure. Its negative effects have been clearly documented.

Response rates plummeted, and nearly a quarter of Canadian municipalities are missing data for 2011. What’s more, the 2011 data cannot be compared with those of previous years, and many groups, including aboriginal, low-income and immigrant communities, are poorly represented.

The election of this new Liberal government provides an opportunity to stem the damage. Justin Trudeau has promised to reinstate the mandatory long-form census and restore Statistics Canada’s reputation as a world leader in national statistics.

The time for action is now, as Statistics Canada is on the cusp of launching the 2016 census. An immediate order in council is the only way to bring in the long-form in time for the census six months from now. The move would ensure future social policies can be made on scientific grounds rather than ideological dogmatism.

Alain Bélanger, president of the Canadian Population Society, Montreal;
Benoît Laplante, president of the Association des démographes du Québec, Montreal;
and 61 others: 

Shelley Clark, director of the Centre on Population Dynamics, Canada Research Chair in Youth, Gender and Global Health, and professor, department of sociology, McGill University;

Delphine Collin-Vezina, director, Centre for Research on Children and Families, Canada Research Chair in Child Welfare and Associate Professor, School of Social Work, McGill University;

Ian Culbert, executive director, Canadian Public Health Association;

Benoit Dostie, professeur, HEC Montréal and directeur académique, Centre interuniversitaire québécois de statistiques sociales (CIQSS);

Alain Gagnon, professeur et directeur du département de démographie, Université de Montréal;

Guy Lacroix, directeur, Département d’économique, Université Laval;

Michael Haan, professor and Canada Research Chair in Population and Social Policy, Western Ontario University and VP Canadian Population Society;

Thomas Legrand, professeur au Département de Démographie, Université de Montréal, vice president of the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population (IUSSP);

Céline Le Bourdais, professor and department chair, Department of Sociology and Canada Research Chair in Social Statistics and Family Change, McGill University;

Richard Marcoux, directeur de l’Observatoire démographique et statistique de l’espace francophone (ODSEF) et professeur Département de sociologie, Université Laval;

Gilles Paradis, chair and professor, Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics & Occupational Health, McGill University;

Mario Polèse, professeur Institut national de la recherche scientifique et chaire de recherche du Canada en études urbaines et régionales;

Dietlind Stolle, director of the Inter-University Centre for the Study of Democratic Citizenship, professor, Department of Political Science, McGill University;

Daniel Weinstock, director, McGill Institute for Health and Social Policy;

James McGill, professor, Faculty of Law, McGill University;

Francisco Alvarez Cuadrado, associate professor, Department of Economics, McGill University;

Philippe Apparicio, professeur, INRS;

Peter Baskerville, chair of Modern Western Canadian History, Departments of History and Classics and Humanities Computing, University of Alberta;

Roderic Beaujot, professor emeritus, Western Ontario University;

Sarah Brauner-Otto, assistant professor, Department of Sociology, McGill University;

Sébastien Breau, associate professor, Department of Geography, McGill University;

Aline Bogossian, McGill University, School of Social Work;

Anne Calvès, professor titulaire, département de sociologie, Université de Montréal;

Mattieu Chemin, associate professor, Department of Economics, McGill University;

Marie-Soleil Cloutier, professeure, Institut national de la recherche scientifique;

Lisa Y. Dillon, professeur, département de démographie, Université de Montréal;

Gordon Darroch, professor of Sociology emeritus, York University;

Pierre Doray, professeur, département de sociologie, Université du Québec à Montréal;

Barry Edmonston, professor, Department of Sociology, University of Victoria;

Frank Elgar, associate professor and Canada Research Chair in Social Inequality in Child Health, Institute for Health and Social Policy; Department of Psychiatry (Douglas Institute), and Department of Psychology, McGill University;

Raquel Fonseca, professeure dans le département d’économie à l’UQAM; 

Eric Fong, professor, Department of Sociology, University of Toronto;

Rebecca Fuhrer, professor, Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health McGill University;

Danielle Gauvreau Département de sociologie et d’anthropologie, Université Concordia;

Franque Grimard, associate professor, Department of Economics, McGill University;

Catherine Haeck, professeur, Département d’économique, Université du Québec à Montréal;

Sam Harper, associate professor, Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health;

Matissa Hollister, assistant professor, Desautels School of Management, McGill University;

Jay Kaufman, Canada Research Chair in Health Disparities and professor, Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics & Occupational Health, McGill University;

Don Kerr, professor, King’s College, Western Ontario University;

Ann H. Kim, associate professor, Department of Sociology, York University;

Fabian Lange, Department of Economics, McGill University;

Lucyna Lach, associate professor, School of Social Work, McGill University;

Evelyne Lapierre-Adamcyk, professeur émérite, département de démographie, Université de Montréal;

Solène Lardoux, professeure agrégée, département de démographie, Université de Montréal;

Sonia Laszlo, associate professor, Economics, and associate director of the Institute for the Study of International Development, McGill University;

Tracey Lauriault, postdoctoral researcher, National Institute for Regional and Spatial Analysis (NIRSA), National University of Ireland, Maynooth;

Rachel Margolis, assistant professor, Department of Sociology, Western University;

Pierre-Carl Michaud, professeur, Département d’économique, Université du Québec à Montréal;

Jean Poirier, PhD, directeur adjoint, Centre interuniversitaire québécois de statistiques sociales (CIQSS);

David W. Rothwell, associate professor, McGill University School of Social Work;

Vandna Sinha, assistant professor, School of Social Work, McGill University;

Lisa Strohschein, associate professor, Social Structure and Policy, Department of Sociology, University of Alberta;

Patrick Sabourin, PhD student, Institut national de la recherche scientifique;

Eran Shor, associate professor, William Dawson Scholar, Department of Sociology, McGill University;

Frank Trovato, professor, University of Alberta;

Axel Van den Berg, professor, Department of Sociology, McGill University;

Zoua Vang, assistant professor, Department of Sociology, McGill University;

Hélène Vézina, professeur, Département des sciences humaines, et directrice Projet BALSAC, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi;

Zheng Wu, director of the Population Research Group and professor, University of Victoria;

Seungmi Yang, assistant professor, Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics & Occupational Health, McGill University.

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