I received mine last night. The long form.
Now, I suppose if one believes in conspiracy theories, or feels that there are secret, Cabinet approved government programs that spy on Canadians, filling out the census might appear silly. After all, the government would know more about you than you know about yourself. We are living in the information (computer) age.
If that was the case, then any census would be redundant in its redundancy.
But the census might be a valuable tool to conceal covert spying operations. With tin foil hat firmly in place, and spoken in my best, incredulous, but fatherly voice,
"Hey, we only know what you tell us! We aren't collecting any information about you, except what you are obligated to provide on the form or the website. If we really knew you, why would we bother with a census?"
It's a great smoke screen to keep average Canadians off the scent. It's a win-win situation for the feds. Above all, it hides the truth. Secondly, it provides some jobs, albeit temporary ones, that will placate some citizens.
When the first truly Canadian census was started in 1871, paper and pen were the only tools available to record information. These days, computers compile data, with the goal of generating all manner of unique and useful statistics. The purpose of the census is, and this is from the government census site,
"...designed to provide information about people and housing units in Canada by their demographic, social and economic characteristics."
Basically, it means they want as much information about you and your family as "demographic, social and economic characteristics" will allow them to collect. That's a lot, potentially. The description is vague, which means until challenged, they will continue to use this as a tool, and possibly to hide any "unusual" collection methods that they may be presently using.
To keep people from complaining, there is the following piece of legislation. The penalty for not filing is intimidating to the majority of Canadians. (The underlining is mine):
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QUOTE 31
False or unlawful informationEvery person who, without lawful excuse,
- (a) refuses or neglects to answer, or wilfully answers falsely, any question requisite for obtaining any information sought in respect of the objects of this Act or pertinent thereto that has been asked of him by any person employed or deemed to be employed under this Act, or
- (b) refuses or neglects to furnish any information or to fill in to the best of his knowledge and belief any schedule or form that the person has been required to fill in, and to return the same when and as required of him pursuant to this Act, or knowingly gives false or misleading information or practises any other deception thereunder
- 1970-71-72, c. 15, s. 29.UNQUOTE
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It might be said that using an archaic collection method, originally intended to collect population and farming information, the government can obtain whatever data it wants with impunity. The information may come from Google, other government computers and spyware (because, when the government is using it, it's not really spyware).
Other sources include, but are not limited to, banking, health and tax data released to other organizations for the purpose of filing taxes, collecting health benefits, etc. Certainly, there are many other places where you voluntarily reveal confidential information in your daily life.
Mazel Tov!
The Statistics Act - Statistics Act
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