Feb 2 - Brandon is
the second-largest city in the province of Manitoba. According to the most recent census (2006),
41,511 people live in Brandon itself, and 48,256 live in the surrounding area.
I’ve been
referring to 2006 & 2011 census population data throughout my virtual trip,
and feeling like they were rather outdated, but it just struck me that this
must be the year for a new census! I’ve
spent a lot of time looking at old US Federal Census pages, too, and learning a
lot about the way people lived. I look
forward to new data & new insights.
Sure enough,
Canada is gearing up for a new Census of Population. When I searched online, I found announcements
about the upcoming census and many jobs available. And it’s starting this month. The main data collection will take place in
May, but in remote areas, enumeration starts in February using the traditional method
of personal interviews. Census
representatives will visit households in remote communities across northern
Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Quebec and Labrador, as well as in the Northwest
Territories, Nunavut, and Yukon Territories.
The census questions have been translated into 11 Aboriginal languages,
including Dené and Inuktitut, so that respondents can read or hear them in
their own language.
 |
| Canadian Ethnicities |
The
questions are quite detailed. I
appreciate especially the nuances of ethnicity.
The common question on official forms confuses race & ethnicity. They’re NOT the same thing! Most people are grouped by the continent of
their origins: White (Europe), Black (Africa), Asian, Latin American. I’m glad to see Asians separated into more
meaningful regional groups: South Asian
(e.g., East Indian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan, etc.), Chinese, Filipino, Arab, Southeast
Asian (e.g., Vietnamese, Cambodian, Laotian, Thai, etc.), West Asian (e.g.,
Iranian, Afghan, etc.), Korean, Japanese, Pacific Islander. But then Blacks & Whites are left in huge
amorphous racial groups. Racial
categories at this scale are meaningless.
Why not get more ethnically specific, since that is how people really experience
their identity?
Canada’s new
question is:
“What were
the ethnic or cultural origins of this person's ancestors?”
The form
even encourages the delineation of complex ethnic mixtures by stating: “An ancestor is usually more distant than a
grandparent.”
And then it
offers unlimited responses: “Specify as
many origins as applicable using capital letters. For example, Canadian, English, Chinese,
French, East Indian, Italian, German, Scottish, Cree, Mi'kmaq, Salish, Métis,
Inuit, Filipino, Irish, Dutch, Ukrainian, Polish, Portuguese, Vietnamese,
Korean, Jamaican, Greek, Iranian, Lebanese, Mexican, Somali, Colombian, etc.”
I also like
the range of choices available to answer the questions about the relationships
of people living together. And the
open-ended “Other relationship — specify”.
But in 2011,
many households received only the short form, which asked less detailed
questions, and many of them did not answer the short-form questions. the
response rate dropped from 94 per cent in 2006 to 69 per cent, which makes the
data totally unreliable.
In addition,
Canada is experiencing a massive data crisis!
An article published in MacLean’s in September 2015 describes the
findings of a months-long investigation, which included interviews with dozens
of academics, scientists, statisticians, economists and librarians. It found that “the federal government’s ‘austerity’
program, which resulted in staff cuts and library closures (16 libraries since
2012)—as well as arbitrary changes to policy, when it comes to data—has led to
a systematic erosion of government records far deeper than most realize, with
the data and data-gathering capability we do have severely compromised as a
result … Economic considerations are cited routinely to justify cutbacks in
collecting, analyzing and digitizing information … Stories about government
data and historical records being deleted, burned—even tossed into
Dumpsters—have become so common in recent years that many Canadians may feel
inured to them. But such accounts are only the tip of a rapidly melting iceberg.”
Government changes
of policy about access to information have also crippled Canada’s open
democracy. This article cites examples of federal
scientists being prevented from talking about their research on topics as
mundane as snow and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission being forced to
take the federal government to court to obtain documents that should have been
available under Access to Information. “The result is a crisis in what
Canadians know—and are allowed to know—about themselves … Canada’s closed-data
stance is taking root at the very moment “open data” and “knowledge economy”
are global mantras. … Canada is facing a ‘national amnesia’ … a condition that
will block its ability to keep government accountable, remember its past and
plan its future.”
This sounds
alarming indeed, a fiasco of stupidity that I did not expect to see in this country
that usually seems more sane & sensible than my own.
I hope Canada’s
2016 Census of Population is a pleasant experience for everyone and provides
good feedback data for community planning.
ethnic
map: Wikipedia.com
