May 10, 2016
Canada Census
Canada conducts a census every five years. Per Wikipedia…..A national census in Canada is conducted every five years by Statistics Canada. The census provides demographic and statistical data that is used to plan public services including health care, education, and transportation, determine federal transfer payments,[1] and determine the number of Members of Parliament for each province and territory. At a sub-national level, two provinces (Alberta and Saskatchewan) and two territories (Nunavut and Yukon) have legislation that allows local governments to conduct their own municipal censuses.[2]
As per this declaration it is the law to participate.
Apparently today May 10th is the completion date of the census. We have not received ours. I actually was able to speak to our mail delivery lady yesterday as she put mail into the 500 or so post office boxes here where we live. I asked about our census. She told me that everyone on her mail route had had a census delivered to them and that we here at Holiday Park Resort were the only ones who did not get them.
So I called Statistics Canada and over and over and I only got the voice message that the lines were busy and to please call again. This morning I was successful in getting an open line where I could punch a few buttons and finally be told to please hold. So I held for over 32 minutes. Thank goodness we have a speaker phone option so I could continue to work at my desk as I waited.
Finally I was connected to a young, very young, male voice who told me not to worry as he was certain that it would appear in the mail box today. I insisted that he check my address in his mass of data. Turns out that we, as in the entire 500 homes here, are to be visited door to door to take our information. I explained to him that we were a community of 500 and that that was a huge job to do in a day, he said don’t worry, they will come. Well we have walked the dogs today and seen no one. It it now 6:30PM and no one is about doing this job. He said to call back tomorrow if no one came along to take our census information 😯
Meanwhile I spoke with some of my neighbors and no one has received their census either. I had been concerned that perhaps we had been out when they came. Some have wondered why they didn’t get a census but I seem to have gone the extra step by actually calling in. What to do? The thing is how many other large areas of the entire Canadian population have been missed? How accurate are these census statistics?
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I’ve never filled out a census and would not go out of my way to get it done. If the government wants everyone to fill them out, then make them an online process that doesn’t rely on snail mail.
As for how accurate are the stats? They’re stats. Ie. They’re just information that the government twists for its own purposes, not meaningful data.
In other words, I wouldn’t lose any sleep over missing the census. Worry about Caeli instead. Hope she’ll be okay.
We fill one out if and when we get one, which is not very often.
We got the short form and i filled it out. Took ten minutes, all on line. All you get in the mail is a password to get into the site.
We haven’t had one either an we aren’t about to go out of our way either in order to get one. They have our address then they should be sending it out to us.
Ruth
I am sure some will get there late – my understand (I could be wrong) is you must do so online or by mail by May 10th or they send out live bodies to do it so maybe that is the backup plan? I did get mine and did it online – took about 2 minutes so was very easy once you actually get it.
I disagree entirely with the negative comments.
The Census is an incredibly valuable survey of Canada that’s used by a huge amount of organisations to plan the future of Canadians. Not only that but the data is used by scientists and researchers across Canada (and other countries) to understand and see trends within the Canadian population.
A number of years ago, I remember reading that Stats Canada was ranked one of the best federal statistic organisations in the world. If that has changed, blame the politicians not the census.
Finally, I am so grateful for my ancestors who cooperated with their census organisations and left a trail for me to discover a century and more later.