22 July 2013

Lisa Dillon on the 1921 census

In What I think now University of Montreal Associate Professor Lisa Dillon, who specializes in demography, blogs about the withholding of the 1921 census of Canada by Library and Archives Canada and the work that was done years ago to make the census accessible - "rich metadata and image resources pertaining to the 1921 Census of Canada already exist."
That work was done under a cooperative arrangement, funded by taxpayers, and ceased after Daniel Caron assumed the leadership role at LAC from Ian Wilson.

In conclusion Lisa calls upon Minister James Moore (now Shelly Glover) and LAC to: 
  1. release the 1921 Census of Canada immediately. 
  2. state in clear detail the deal LAC has made with its indexing partner
  3. articulate the principles which guided this deal
  4. create a consultative committee comprised of representatives from the historical, archival and genealogical communities who will be given the opportunity to advise on such deals in the future
  5. integrate into its future cost-benefit calculations the long-term benefits of building Canadian capacity for population data development and innovation.

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