Census Boycotters Being Taken To Court!

Vive le Canada hosted a forum (now closed) about the boycott of the 2006 Census.  I was one who shared information and who did not fill in my census form.  I will not be complicit by participating in the enrichment (through the taxes I pay) of this largest of the American military contractors.  

Others boycotted the census because the American Government passed the Patriots Act which gives it access to records held by companies in the U.S., even if the records belong to the Government of Canada.

Today I am commanded in her Majesty's name, to appear on Tuesday, April 15th at 9:00 am in Provincial Court in Saskatoon (Room #1, 220 - 19th Street).  If convicted, the Judge has the options of a fine and jail time (up to three months).  

In 2006 there were a few media reports about the high rate of non-compliance with the 2006 census. The cause was attributed to a transient population (e.g. in Alberta). 

If you are in the email networks you know what the Government and media did not tell: people refused to cooperate with the census as a form of protest or resistance. There are a number of reasons why the census should not have been out-sourced to corporate interests but the Lockheed-Martin situation is pivotal.

On July 5th, 2006 we circulated the news report that 400,000 adults in British Columbia alone had not sent in their census forms - 10% of the population. The Government stepped up efforts to gain compliance. They did not disseminate the information on how many people sabotaged the census in various ways, from the provision of inaccurate information up to refusal to submit.

My first communication to the Government about their plans to "out-source" to Lockheed-Martin was in 2003. The Quaker people in Halifax lodged an excellent submission to the Government in February 2004.  Many, many people participated.

Later, we worked with the Government on the GDR (Government Directive on Regulating) which is part of so-called "Smart Regulations". I used the GDR to reinforce the point about the census, telling the Government that Canadians are learning non-compliance with regulations. I told them there would be a high level of non-compliance with the census for very legitimate reasons, if they did not change their direction. This was not hard to figure out, from all the protest. The rule of law in Canada is being undermined which is a very serious situation.

Corruption, governments in bed with the people they are supposed to regulate, the complete failure to regulate to protect "the commons", the gun registry, contracting-out to corporations like Lockheed-Martin, etc. - all PREDICTABLY lead to a loss of confidence and consequent disrespect for the laws of the land. Definitely not a good place to be. You can point this out to the Government, but they seem incapable of hearing.

The following is from my letter, October 13, 2006 to Ivan Fellegi, Chief Statistican for Canada:

"  The reason you provide for the necessity of compliance with the census is not truth. I presume that if your reason is an untruth, it is because you do not have a truthful reason to offer.

I would be failing my responsibilities as a citizen were I to bow in cowardice to anyone, civil servant or otherwise, who attempts to intimidate me with the threat of the judicial system - jail time and fines - when there is no reasonable basis.

Lockheed-Martin is a large part of the American war machine. I will not, through complicity, add to their financial profits. I communicated this to you more than two years before the census, as did many other Canadians.

If I am to be treated equally before the Law, then you must equally refer the thousands of other Canadians who have not complied with the census to the Judicial system. I presume you are doing this.

The reason you have provided for the necessity of my compliance, quoting from your letter of October 3, 2006 is: "A compulsory response is required of all respondents because the census is essential for providing the information needed by governments, businesses, researchers and individual Canadians to shed light on issues that are critical to virtually every sector of society. If respondents were to arbitrarily choose whether or not they would answer the census questions, the result would not accurately reflect the characteristics of the population and would therefore not be considered useful or reliable."

I am sorry to say, but that is a load of bull. Most people off the street know it's not the way statistics work. I find it offensive that citizens are treated as though they are ignorant. In my particular case, I am a graduate of the College of Commerce, University of Saskatchewan. I majored in Quantitative Analysis (Statistics) and graduated with Honours. Every day we are provided with reliable statistical information not based on 100% sampling.

I repeat my point: if you must resort to blatant untruths I presume it is because you don't have a valid argument to offer.

Another point I would like to make: you chose to define the Canadian census in a way that necessitated the out-sourcing.

On your website you record that the first census in Canada was conducted in 1666, the first national census in 1871. For centuries and decades the Government has defined the census in a way that civil servants had the capability of doing the work. To me, quite frankly, it is prudent to keep one's work within the limits you are capable of managing.

If the Government is not capable of doing that which has been successfully managed by civil servants for decades and centuries, then the answer is to fire those responsible for the mismanagement. The answer is not to knowingly create some over-sized census monster which weakens one's capabilities and then dictates an attitude of "I am so weakened I must rely on Big Daddy LM to help me out."

Statistics Canada and its employees are to serve the interests of the citizens of Canada. Previous administrations have done that very well. If not, there would have been problems in the past. I am not aware of any. So I suggest that you need to re-think what you are doing.

Third and final point: in the last paragraph of your letter you say, "I would like to assure you that the information you provide on your census questionnaire will be kept strictly confidential, ...".

I reassure children so they may feel safe and secure. I think you mis-read the situation: I am secure, I am an adult. I do not need to be reassured by you. I will arrive at my own conclusions by observing your actions and by reading what you write.

Furthermore, not once in my communications with the Government have I mentioned concerns about the confidentiality of information. I have been clear and explicit in the reason for my non-compliance. You repeat this mantra about confidentiality. Not once have you addressed or attempted to address my explicitly-stated reason for non-compliance: the Statistics Canada contract with Lockheed-Martin enriches a corporation that plays a very large role in the American killing machine.

I am not being snooty. I am not "radical". I come from rural Saskatchewan which is small "c" conservative country. I am "mature", a Mother of 2 children. I do not believe in increasing the hatred in the world through killing other people and their children. Lockheed-Martin profits from the killing.

I don't know into which pigeon hole you have slotted me. I am able to think. I can connect the dots between my actions and wider outcomes. I was a member of and benefited from the Girl Guides of Canada for many years. I learned service to community. That community and sisterhood extends to women in all countries of the world. I had the privilege of attending an international camp. I slept in the same tent, cooked, laughed and danced with these women when they and I were young. I really don't like seeing them killed, as in Iraq. That's killed, as in dead. Why would I participate in, or be a collaborator with Lockheed-Martin? Perhaps you have not read the Washington Post, October 11? 655,000 more people have died in Iraq since coalition forces arrived in March 2003 than would have died if the invasion had not occurred (research overseen by epidemiologists at Johns Hopkins University's Bloomberg School of Public Health). The killing, once started, does not stop.

You were told by thousands of Canadians that Lockheed-Martin is a large part of the American war machine. You made a bad decision to "out-source".

Your letter of October 3 is an attempt to coerce me through the threat of jail time and fines. Were my plate not full at the moment, did I not have more important priorities, I would be researching the avenues through which to lay charges, to "turn the matter over to the Department of Justice", as you say. So that you might be tried for your tactics vis-a-vis me. "


From website www.sandrafinley.ca, 

- right-hand side

- button "Governance"

- heading "Unholy Alliances between Government and Business"