CCA Bulletin 20/10

July 20, 2010

The Long-Form Census Controversy and the Arts

Just the Facts

On June 26, as Canadians were focused on the G-8 and G-20 meetings in Toronto, the government discretely announced its decision that the long-form census would no longer be compulsory. The census, which is sent every five years by Statistics Canada to a fifth of Canadian households, would be replaced by a voluntary survey of a full third of Canadian households. The short version of the national census, which contains only eight questions, remains compulsory and protected by the Constitution.

Statistics Canada was not consulted on this decision but simply asked to provide alternative solutions, none of which, they recognize, will provide the same quantity and quality of information. While no solution can adequately compensate for the change in methodology, the extended voluntary Household Survey will cost Statistics Canada an estimated $ 30 million more to administer a system which all statisticians describe as faulty.

How will the government’s decision impact on the arts and culture sector?

Governments at all levels, as well as the nation's cultural organizations, directly or indirectly use the long-form census to help design policy, plan and evaluate programs. An understanding of the changing demographics of individual communities and neighbourhoods is essential when planning cultural programs, designing cultural infrastructure and more.

As noted by the former Chief Statistician, Ivan Fellegi, a veteran public servant who spent 51 years at Statistics Canada before retiring in 2008, no voluntary survey can repair the methodological flaws of the new system. One of the main shortfalls of the proposed voluntary Canadian Household Survey is that it will under represent a number of Canadians, including First Nations, the poorest and richest of Canadians and the self employed, who cover a very large number of artists and creators.

As a result, we will lose important data on the cultural workforce.  The Canadian Conference of the Arts (CCA), the Cultural Human Resources Council (CHRC), provincial and municipal governments as well as cultural organizations across the country rely on census data to provide information about cultural workers in Canada.  Artists are mobile, often living in non-traditional housing (commercial and industrial areas) and working in other occupations to earn their primary income.  While the census is not a perfect instrument to collect data on artists, it is far preferable to a voluntary sample survey, which would be even less likely to capture information on artists and cultural workers.  It is indeed highly unlikely that low paid artists and other types of cultural workers will have the time or motivation to provide the kind of information required for a household survey if it is voluntary.

Another consequence to the cultural sector is the very serious impact this new approach will have in the design of surveys themselves. A census, or some other instrument that lists all individuals in a population, is required for the proper design of voluntary sample surveys. Trying to use a sample household survey, in place of a census, to design social or household surveys will effectively undermine the entire statistical system as it relates to non-business data. Furthermore, a voluntary sample household survey cannot be used to design or validate voluntary household or individual surveys.  Finally, relying on skewed one-time voluntary surveys means that it will be impossible to compare results from one survey to another and to analyze trends, both of which are key elements in fact-based policy making.

For all of these reasons, the CCA has decided to add its voice to the growing number of Canadians from all walks of life and all regions of the country who are protesting the government’s decision. As Chair of Statistics Canada’s National Advisory Committee on Culture Statistics, I have sent a letter to the nation’s Chief Statistician, Dr. Munir Sheikh. The Board of Governors of the CCA has also sent a letter to Minister Clement, asking him to press the government to rescind the decision. We are also urging our members and member organizations to write to the government and to their MPs to protest this most unfortunate decision (see: What Can I Do? section below). So far, the arts and culture sector has been remarkably silent on this crucially important issue. The CCA invites all of you to add your voices to the national protest.

Tell me more

If the government was hoping that the news would slip unnoticed in the doldrums of a particularly hot summer and the hooplas of the Mundial, it must be bitterly disappointed. This  unilateral decision has caused uproar across the country and has been decried forcefully by the business and academic communities, provincial and municipal governments, the medical profession, economists, sociologists, genealogists and historians, community groups, charitable organizations, Francophone minorities, Opposition parties and more.

According to the Minister of Industry Tony Clement, who is responsible for Statistics Canada, the government has received numerous complaints about the fact that the long-form census is invasive and violates the privacy rights of Canadian citizens. As the controversy increases, this explanation is now being repeated by other Ministers and Conservative MPs, with some trying to paint the protests as the cries of special interest groups trying to get a free ride at the expense of Canadian taxpayers. The government’s explanations are being met with one rebuttal after another, and the issue is front page news across the country.

The inability of the government to provide solid evidence for its claim has prompted a growing number of critics to state that the decision is purely ideological. They note that without reliable and comparable data, evidence-based decision-making is impossible and that it is troubling to see our elected leaders think decision-based evidence-making is preferable.

What is particularly grating is the fact that the new approach ordered by the government will cost Statistics Canada alone (i.e. Canadian taxpayers) an extra $ 30 million to produce what most statisticians describe as low quality, not to say useless, data. To these additional costs, one must add the considerable costs which will be borne by other elements of Canadian society, as data will become less reliable over time. We will stray further and further from the 2006 Census and it will become impossible to compare one survey to the other.

Given the successive budget cuts Statistics Canada has suffered over the past fifteen years, and as recently as last year, and the ensuing degradation of services, it is difficult for the government to justify finding such an amount of money at a time when it is looking to reduce a deficit. How can a government concerned with managing Canadian taxpayers’ money responsibly explain deliberately spending millions more to produce lower quality data that cannot be compared over time?

In 2003, at the request of the American Congress, the U.S. Census Bureau produced a report in which it outlined the impact of abandoning the compulsory long-form census. The conclusions of this report led the Bush administration to back down on its decision. Unless the government changes its mind in the face of growing opposition from all quarters, Canada would become the only country in the world to relinquish retention of a compulsory long-form census. However, the new U.K. Conservative government has indicated it intends to do the same.

What can I do?

This is a very important issue for all, not only as artists and cultural workers, but as citizens. Please make sure you send an email to your MP, Minister Clement, Minister Moore and Prime Minister Harper. Also contact the Leader of the Opposition and the leaders of the NDP and the Bloc Québécois . You can find a model here (for a PDF version click here).

What are your thoughts on the decision to abolish the long-form census? Let us know on our blog.