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EXTRACTS FROM HANSARD
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PROCEEDINGS OF CANADA'S HOUSE OF COMMONS

The following extracts have been taken from Hansard Records
of Canada's House of Commons for the 37th Parliament of Canada:

Debates of the House of Commons (Hansard)
37th Parliament, 1st Session
NUMBER 38
Wednesday, March 28, 2001
Speaker: The Honourable Peter Milliken

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ROUTINE PROCEEDINGS

STATISTICS ACT

Mr. Murray Calder (Dufferin-Peel-Wellington-Grey, Lib.) moved for leave to introduce Bill C-312, an act to amend the Statistics Act and the National Archives of Canada Act (census records).

He said: Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to reintroduce a bill to allow the public release of the post-1901 census records. The bill is intended to amend the Statistics Act and the National Archives of Canada Act to allow the transfer of census records from Statistics Canada to the National Archives of Canada where records could be released to the public subject to the Privacy Act.

The main element of the bill, that census records be keep secret for 92 years and released to researchers after that time, is the key recommendation of the expert panel on the access to historical census records. That panel was established by the Minister of Industry, and its recommendations were released in December 2000.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)

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Petitions

CENSUS RECORDS

Mr. Murray Calder (Dufferin-Peel-Wellington-Grey, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, I rise to present a petition signed by nearly 1,200 Canadians from nine provinces and one territory concerning the release of census records to genealogists and historians. The petition points out that an estimated 7.5 million Canadians are engaged in the pursuit of their family history and that census records are a valuable tool for research. The records have been used in historical research and for the tracing of genetic diseases, settling of wills and estates.

The petitioners call upon parliament to take whatever steps necessary to retroactively amend the clauses of the Statistics Act since 1906 to allow the release to the public after a reasonable period of time of the post-1901 census records.