Canadian 1921 Census is ready to go online but Feds put it on hold
Posted 17 June 2013
By Rick Roberts
A reliable and well placed source called me today to let our readers know that the entire 1921 census of Canada has already been digitized plus a geographical index. It's sitting on a server ready to go online (free). Problem is that the Harper Government has put a hold on its release. Apparently a senior member of our government believes that the only persons interested in the 1921 census are "three old ladies in Kingston" who only want to use it for genealogy. In his mind that makes releasing the 1921 census an insignificant priority.
That said, there probably are "three old ladies in Kingston" who would like to use the 1921 census for genealogy... along with tens of thousands of other Canadians of all ages who have an interest in accessing the 1921 census for a variety of good reasons including family history research.
A few years ago a different government tried to block the release of post-1901 Canadian census records. Our subscribers and a host of volunteers across Canada launched the Post 1901 Census Project to ensure that those records were released. Thousands of people wrote letters and emails. Money was raised to pursue the matter in the courts. That effort was successful.
Of obvious irony is the fact that the Conservative Party of Canada under Stephen Harper, who was then in Opposition, supported public release of historic census.
It is time for us to let The Honorable James Moore, Minister of Canadian Heritage & Official Languages and our local MPs know that there are a lot of us who are interested in the 1921 census of Canada being released. They may not be concerned about "three old ladies in Kingston"... but a lot of mail from a lot of different constituents across the country may be enough to trigger action.
Contact information:
The Hon. James Moore, Minister of Canadian Heritage & Official Languages
(resposible for Library and Archives Canada)
Telephone: 613-992-9650 Fax: 613-992-9868 EMail:
james.moore@... Web Site:* www.jamesmoore.ca/ Preferred Language: English
Be who you are and say what you feel ... because those that matter... don't mind ...and those that mind ...don't matter!
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