For Immediate Release
Census Boycotter Willingly Faces $500 Fine, Jail Time
At least one Canadian who refused to fill out the 2006 census forms in protest against U.S. military giant Lockheed Martin’s involvement is being called to court, and may face a $500 fine and up to six months in jail.
The popular pro-Canadian website Vive le Canada (www.vivelecanada.ca) ran a campaign from 2004 to 2006 to protest Lockheed’s involvement with the Canadian census. The campaign, called “Count Me Out” as a response to Statistic Canada’s census campaign “Count Me In”, offered information on Lockheed’s involvement with the census, an email form letter visitors could edit and send to Chief Statistician Ivan Fellegi opposing Lockheed’s involvement, and information on other actions, including the option of refusing to fill out the census forms.
Vive le Canada founder Susan Thompson says that her site started the campaign after receiving requests from members. She was recently contacted by Sandra Finley, a Vive le Canada member and Saskatchewan resident who will be going to court and entering a plea on April 15 over her refusal to complete the census. Vive le Canada is spreading the word and helping organize support.
Thompson says she is certain that there are other census boycotters across Canada because of the tremendous response the website received while running its campaign. According to Thompson, most boycotters felt that a U.S.-owned company, and in particular a military contractor such as Lockheed Martin, should not be involved with the Canadian census, especially during the unpopular Iraq war. Another concern was privacy. It remains unclear whether information gathered by the Canadian census falls under the American PATRIOT Act if gathered in part by a U.S.-owned company. Through the PATRIOT Act, the U.S. military potentially has access to any information held by a U.S. corporation.
“StatsCan did respond to our initial boycott of the census testing in 2004 by limiting Lockheed’s involvement in the 2006 census and later firing Lockheed Martin employees. However, as many of those employees were hired back according to StatsCan itself in a ‘fair competition’ for their old jobs, and Lockheed was still involved in creating the software which processed the census results, our concerns were not completely laid to rest. Two years later, they still aren’t.”
As for the potential legal consequences of boycotting the census, Thompson says that many Canadians such as Sandra Finley are willing to face them.
“We made it clear that not completing the census is illegal in Canada, and that the consequences for boycotting could be jail time and/or fines. However, Canadians across the country were upset enough to make the personal decision to boycott the census despite the potential consequences,” she says. Thompson herself was one of the census boycotters.
She says that the boycott was larger than Statistics Canada has acknowledged.
“Our opinion is that the boycott was widespread, and that one of the main reasons many Canadians refused to participate in the census was Lockheed Martin’s involvement. Even more people across the country didn’t boycott, but agreed that Lockheed Martin should not be involved and sent emails, letters, and other statements in support of our campaign. However, StatsCan probably felt the boycott was damaging to its image, and has done its best to downplay the sell-out of our census and the subsequent outcry.”
“Now that census boycotters are going to court, StatsCan should finally acknowledge that Canadians did not want Lockheed Martin involved with the Canadian census, and don’t want the company involved in any future census information gathering either.”
Census boycotter Sandra Finley says that her refusal to complete the census was, and remains, a matter of principle.
“Through the outsourcing of the Canadian census, my tax money is now adding to the profits of Lockheed Martin. Lockheed Martin is the largest U.S. defense contractor. Why would I participate in the census and be a collaborator with Lockheed Martin? Lockheed Martin makes huge profits from killing. I do not believe in increasing the hatred in the world through killing other people and their children.”
“The out-sourcing of Canadian census work to Lockheed Martin was unnecessary and immoral. I will not be complicit with the Government of Canada in enriching this American corporation. We are supposed to have democratic government, so I am responsible for the actions of my Government. Their use of the threat of jail time to make me conform to an information-gathering document is odious.”
Finley says she would rather go to jail before completing the census form or paying a fine.
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For more information contact:
Susan Thompson
(780) 322-3325 cell
(780) 618-5314
email: susan.thompson@vivelecanada.ca
Sandra Finley
(306) 373-8078
email: sabest1@sasktel.net
Stumble It!
I think that going to jail is silly, pay the fine as a cost of the protest.
Or not. Why pay a penalty for protecting your rights? Rights that the government is supposed to not impose on.
Some things are more important that money, and putting people in jail because they do not want their names to be on some US government list only shows who is really calling the shots here. (It's not Canadian Citizens, BTW)
The louder and wider that message is heard, the better. What good came to the British Empire for locking up Ghandi? And he didn't have the internet.
This guy is just going to jail for being stupid IMHO.
This guy is just going to jail for being stupid IMHO.
Classic sasquatch - you didn't even read the press release. What, nobody responding over on the Climate Change threads?
It will still cost the "system" much more than that to impose it and if they try to bring us all to court it would cost them a absurd amount of money and resources as well generate more publicity to the cause.
The 'system' is us. It comes out of our pockets and we've given the government a blank check so they can spend as much as they want taking us to court and throwing us in jail.
By the way, excellent use of the courts! Justice is surely being served.
Even in a free society there are limits to rights. Co-operating with a census is akin to filing income tax. None of us like it but in the scheme of things it is reasonable.
This guy is just going to jail for being stupid IMHO.
IF it was a free society, there would be NO limits to rights:
http://www.consciencecanada.ca/legislat ... mmary.html
TO: THE CURRENT, CBC Radio
RE: Thursday April 10, "The investigation of NaftaGate has been outsourced to a private company."
Your discussions on questions of governance should include at least minimal input on the philosophy of democratic function. Your listeners otherwise have no anchor in the sea of slippery sentences from silver voices.
The "powers" in the system of governance are kept separate and independent.
Why? ... to prevent the ability to collude. To prevent corruption. To protect the population against the concentration of too much power. Because power corrupts.
Companies exist to make money. Out-sourcing Government work to corporations marries the power of governance with the power of wealth. This is extremely dangerous. It is contrary to the philosophy of democratic government, and not solely on the basis of separation of powers. Transparency and access to information are essential to democracy. With out-sourcing you lose these.
For example, in the question of privatization ("out-sourcing") of water utilities, I recall an incident where a citizen who requested information from the water utility in his city, now privatized, would have to pay a charge of over $2000.00 to get the information. Companies bill for services. Out-sourcing destroys the elements necessary for democracy.
I am being prosecuted because I will not fill out my 2006 Canadian Census form. I will not because the Government out-sourced to Lockheed Martin Corporation.
When you read the list of convictions for criminal behaviour, bribery, etc. by Lockheed Martin (see appended list), you wouldn't trust them with your dog. How does it happen that the Government outsources to corrupt (and "corrupting") companies?
Lockheed is not a single example of very corrupt corporations that the Government of Canada "out-sources" to, or has 50/50 cost-sharing agreements with. We paid half of Monsanto's research costs - their list of convictions and fines, on the public record, is a mile long.
I am prosecuted. Potentially I will be jailed. The corporation SHOULD be in jail - look at the convictions. They do far more harm than jailed people have done. But of course, we don't send corporations to jail. They are fined - but what is the effectiveness of a fine of, for example, $426 million dollars when the corporation holds $21.9 billion in Pentagon contracts ALONE?
There is anonymity for the Corporation. What does the name Martin Munro mean to you? He is Mr. Lockheed Martin Canada. Of course, you will be queezy about naming him. And following that up with the statement that Lockheed Martin makes money from the sale of weapons of mass destruction. They have the power to intimidate people by using the threat of our court system to sue you.
Paul Bernardo, Karla Homolka - - names of human beings are known and associated with their crimes. The name Lockheed Martin has a huge criminal record. But there is nothing personal associated with it. Indeed, they are viewed as good because they make money. People make money by investing in Lockheed Martin. Few people question.
Stephen Harper has out-sourced the investigation of NAftaGate to a private company. If Canadians understand the philosophy behind democratic government, and reinforce it with actual experience, they should rise up in arms against this practice.
Has anyone addressed why this particular person has been singled out. I recieved a registered letter many months ago and nothing since. Why is she the only one going to court?
Frank
If Sandra, who is very brave for doing this, goes to jail with no outcry, then her protest won't be heard. The best way we can all help her is by spreading the word.
Government is like a truculent child. In both we find that the way they learn the truth and limitations is by pushing until someone pushes back, and says "NO!"