Update: Amendments to the Statistics Act (Census Lockheed Martin)

December 12,  2016    The Government announced Amendments to the Statistics Act   – –  details at  http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=18049.

 

Should I have sent out an action alert?   (I didn’t.)

The changes to the Act have been made, but are not in effect yet – – the Bill (C-36) has not received Royal Assent as of Feb 3.

 

MY THINKING:

• StatsCan can initiate legislation to grant themselves greater powers.
• The Legislators can pass the legislation  (see below, Second Reading of the Act to Amend was on January 30, 2017).
• But that does not necessarily mean citizens will bleat and follow.

 

• If there are high levels of non-compliance, the Law, the Police, and the Justice System will find it difficult to enforce cooperation with StatsCan Census and Surveys  (a continuation of what has been happening ever since the 2006 Census, to the point where non-compliance with the 2011 Census was approximately 11%, according to the testimony of the StatsCan witness at the trial of Audrey Tobias).
• Canadians DO have a constitutionally-protected right to Privacy of Personal Information vis-à-vis StatsCan.   Our network is small,  but after a decade of helping to build awareness of the Charter Right,  there should be enough people across the country to keep the information alive.  Plus there are the wise folk who intuitively know, without any help:  citizens in democracies do not allow Governments to build detailed files on citizens.
• Whistleblower Ed Snowden elaborated on what we had been saying about the dangers of Lockheed Martin Corporation’s involvement at StatsCan (Surveillance by the Americans.  Confirmed back-door entry to data bases.)

 

• We could do a call-to-action,  petition the legislators,  but it won’t make a difference.    The protest to date hasn’t made a difference.   Oh yes – – the amendments remove the threat that you can be sent to jail for non-compliance.   As far as I am aware,  the Charter Right to Privacy has not been addressed.    They will mount an ad campaign to convince us that the Charter Right is insignificant in comparison to their need for our information.  And we will be told 20 times over that our personal information is secure with them.  Never mind that they do not have the right to collect it.   I don’t think there has been any public debate about the legislation.  Have you heard anything?   The other thing they are doing that is very good for us:   as I understand they are harvesting information from other Government data bases on citizens, and consolidating it all in one at StatsCan.  Please let me know if you come across more or conflicting information.  Thanks.

 

•  All-in-all,  I figure we’re past petitioning.  And I am not agreeable to complicity while the Government builds more and more detailed files on each of us.   A surveillance state is not a democracy.
• I think StatsCan and Navdeep Bains, the Minister Responsible for the Legislation,  are delusional.   Kind of like Donald Trump who is finding out that he can “Decree” all he wants.  It doesn’t mean the population is going to obey.

StatsCan and the legislators should know that Canadians are already well-practiced at non-compliance with StatsCan.  Assigning a StatsCan worker to come into our homes and write down truthful answers for us is rather costly and from what I’ve seen,  creates lots of antagonism which means more non-compliance, as people tell their stories of outrage to friends, co-workers, and relatives.

If an onslaught of advertising (propaganda) is ineffective in getting citizens to relinquish the Charter Right,  the Government is reduced to looking at police-state tactics.

(Related:  2005-11-29 Smart Regs – COMPLIANCE – Canadians are learning non-compliance. Census as example. The Government is undermining the rule of law.)

THE AMENDMENTS TO THE STATISTICS ACT, February 2017 

Source:  http://www.parl.gc.ca/LegisInfo/BillDetails.aspx?Language=E&Mode=1&billId=8669465&View=4

C-36 An Act to amend the Statistics Act

Sponsor  Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development

Last Stage Completed

Introduction and First Reading in the House of Commons (2016-12-07)

Progress:

 

Major Speeches at Second Reading

Sponsor’s speech Navdeep Bains (Liberal) 2017-01-30

Response speech Diane Finley (Conservative) 2017-01-30

Response speech Brian Masse (NDP) 2017-01-30