RELATED: (2011 census)
GOOD NEWS: 3 months in jail is no longer used to coerce citizens into relinquishing their Charter Right to Privacy of Personal Information. (But the threat of prosecution is still alive and well, with no mention of constitutional right to privacy.)
GIVE CREDIT: the CBC article below provides better reporting of the reasons for non-compliance than has typically been the case over the years since 2003 when all this started.
- privacy of personal information
- Lockheed Martin Corp
AUDREY TOBIAS, INTREPID WARRIOR, PASSED AWAY:
- StatsCan and the Justice Dept charged Audrey Tobias for non-compliance when she was 89 years old. She refused to be complicit because of Lockheed Martin’s involvement. Her trial was in 2013. Audrey passed away at the end of 2016. At this moment I don’t have the words to express the pangs in my heart. You fought the good fight to the end, Audrey! I think you are still here, even if just to dance in celebration of achievement in the Lockheed Martin – StatsCan data-base-on-Canadians, debacle.
I DO NOT BELIEVE:
This is the first time I have seen StatsCan quoted in the media to say Lockheed Martin is no longer involved with the census. (Thank-you, Audrey!) The only statement of that was in the transcript of the Audrey Tobias trial which very few people saw. Ref: 2014-07-17 Transcript, Tobias trial establishes Lockheed Martin is OUT (but not really when you see Lockheed Martin’s role of “steerage”)
(CBC article below (Feb 13/18): Statistics Canada confirmed to CBC News that Lockheed Martin is no longer involved with the census. “For the 2016 Census … all systems were developed in-house,” it said in an email.)
The “why” of my disbelief is spelt out in
2016-03-18 Does Lockheed Martin Corp have a role in the 2016 Census?
HOWEVER, with StatsCan having publicly stated that Lockheed Martin is out, whether or not they actually are, if that is an individual’s reason for non-compliance, the Crown/StatsCan may have an advantage in Court. They’ve removed your raison d’etre. Courts do not want to hear about things like FVEY countries’ collaboration on census data bases and international surveillance. They want to know: did you, or did you not comply? However, at the last trial we did develop an effective strategy for placing what would otherwise have been blocked, before the judge.
The Charter Right to Privacy of Personal Information I will defend to the end. If it dies, democracy dies.
ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT . . . ?
I am from the school that says it’s better if you don’t lie. But better to lie outright than try your hand at manipulation through word-smithing.
To claim that non-compliance went from 1.6 million down to a few hundred households from one census to the next (2011 to 2016), is streeeeeetching things a little too far!
StatsCan says below
For the 2016 census, 98.4 per cent of Canadians filled out either the long- or short-form census. Most of the remaining 1.6 per cent couldn’t be tracked down or didn’t provide enough information to be counted properly.
Statistics Canada identified 347 people unwilling to fill out the forms.
“identified” 347 people unwilling to fill out their form does not mean that only 347 people did not comply. The singular message is zippity-doo-dah! EVERYBODY is filling in their StatsCan forms! There are no problems here! (Use words that minimize.)
Sorry, I’d like to, but I can’t bring myself to believe
(NOT) A record number of Canadians filled out the 2016 census, but there were still a few hundred people who refused.
From the 2013 posting at top, StatsCan under oath:
14.6 million requests were made . . .
A. Yes.
Q. . . . for completion of the form?
A. Yes.
Q. Okay.
A. We received a little bit over 13 million completed questionnaires for 98 per cent response rate.
(14.6 million less 13 million) means that 1.6 million forms were not returned. Which means that StatsCan makes serious errors in basic math. 1.6 million non-compliance out of 14.6 million (the 2011 census) is 11% non-compliance.
CELEBRATE!
In memory of Audrey Tobias, how about a party in cyberspace? Who we are will mingle up there in the ether.
When we started, very few people knew who Lockheed Martin was, and what they do in the world. We helped change that. Our right to Privacy of Personal Information vis-a-vis the Government, still stands although on wobbly legs. That’s a major success. Bless us all, join in the song and dance! The worst about the tyrants was not they themselves, but us, all our cowardice and servility … we are the dragons, had forgotten, and always knew.
THE NAMES OF THOSE BEING PROSECUTED THIS TIME AROUND:
On a local news report I heard (I think I have this right) a man named David Stettler from the Vancouver area is in Court for non-compliance with the 2016 Census. I understood him to object to the collection of the volume of personal information demanded by StatsCan. Search as I may, I have been unable to turn up an online news report of ANY of the prosecutions that are underway. I have the fragment of what I heard this AM.
It was stated that prosecutions are underway, the number was (35?), slightly more than half the number prosecuted after previous censuses. However, in the past, as far as I know, ALL the prosecutions roughly started around the same time, near the end of the 2-year Statute of Limitations period, in about April. The strategy this time around seems to be: start the prosecutions early. It might provide incentive to those who are still holding out, to fill in a census form.
I try to contact people who are being prosecuted. If their reason for non-compliance is about Privacy of Personal Information in a democracy, or related to Lockheed Martin Corp, I want them to know that a large body of support stands behind them. I offer whatever help we might be able to provide, such as
Please use the Comments at the bottom of the posting if you know more re names of people being prosecuted. I have to “approve” your Comment for it to become visible to the public. Some Comments remain a private conversation between the Commenter and me. Thank-you for your assistance. /Sandra
NOW, to
StatsCan says response rate to 2016 census is highest yet, CBC
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/statistics-canada-census-lockheed-martin-1.3975666
Charges are possible for the 347 people who were unwilling to fill out the form
By Blair Sanderson
A record number of Canadians filled out the 2016 census, but there were still a few hundred people who refused. (Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press)
Statistics Canada says the response rate for the 2016 census was its highest yet, but there will always be Canadians who refuse to participate.
For the 2016 census, 98.4 per cent of Canadians filled out either the long- or short-form census. Most of the remaining 1.6 per cent couldn’t be tracked down or didn’t provide enough information to be counted properly.
Statistics Canada identified 347 people unwilling to fill out the forms.
“At some point over the next couple of months we will decide if any cases will be referred to the Public Prosecution Service of Canada,” said Statistics Canada spokesman Marc Hamel.
Census requirements became a hot-button issue in 2010 when the Harper government changed the rules for the long-form census, making it voluntary instead of mandatory.
As a result, the response rate for the long-form census dropped to 68 per cent in 2011, down from 93 per cent in 2006. The drop was widely viewed as diminishing the value of the statistical information.
Penalties for not completing census
Shortly after forming government the Liberals reinstated the long-form census as mandatory, meaning those who refuse could be criminally charged with penalties up to $500 in fines or three months in jail.
[INSERT, Sandra: correction. the penalties were “up to $500 in fines AND / OR three months in jail.]
The short-form census, which is the one most people get, has always been mandatory and there have always been people who refuse to fill it out.
People’s motivations for not completing the census forms vary.
“They can never make it 100 per cent secure,” said Philip Marsh of McBride, B.C.
Marsh refused to to fill out the short-form census in 2011 and was charged with breaching the Statistics Canada Act. He argued the prosecution was arbitrary and that he shouldn’t be compelled to reveal details about his personal life to the federal government.
“They don’t need to be storing my personal information about what my religion is or who my friends are. They need to know that I’m an upstanding citizen and I pay my taxes,” he said.
Activist Audrey Tobias objected to Lockheed Martin’s involvement with processing the census in 2011. She died in December 2016. (Chris Young/The Canadian Press)
The judge ruled against Marsh.
Others have refused to fill out the census because Lockheed Martin helped Statistics Canada process the data. They considered themselves to be conscientious objectors to the weapons contractor’s involvement.
But that’s changed.
Court action
Statistics Canada confirmed to CBC News that Lockheed Martin is no longer involved with the census.
“For the 2016 Census … all systems were developed in-house,” it said in an email.
Of the 347 people who have been identified as unwilling to fill out the latest census, Statistics Canada says it’s still deciding who they’ll pursue through the courts.
In 2011, Statistics Canada referred 54 cases to Canada’s Public Prosecution Service.
In 2006, that number was around 60.