Tamura Jones GeneAwards 2015

Each year since 2006 Tamura Jones has given a personal overview of the year's technologies, events, companies, products & services, and highlights a few trends. It includes bests, worsts, honourable and dishonourable mentions. Read it at www.tamurajones.net/GeneAwards2015.xhtml

Tamura has strong opinions. Your's may differ just as your needs likely differ.

One item that caught my attention this year is an honourable mention to the new Canadian Government

"After elections this year, the new Liberal government reinstated the mandatory long-form census that was scrapped by the Conservative government five years ago. They replaced it with a voluntary National Household Survey (NHS), that had significant shortcomings.
Like many other governments, the Canadian government collects census data to support data-based decision-making, but keeps census data around for researchers."

What Tamura may not recall is that under present legislation no individual information from any census since 2011 will EVER be released unless the person responding makes a deliberate choice to have it opened 92 years later. The default is that it will remain closed -- forever.

Will the returns be preserved. As Librarian and Archivist of Canada Guy Berthiaume has famously said, even Minister Mélanie Joly is quoting it, preservation without access is simply hoarding.

If there will never be access, 92 or 992 years later, why continue hoarding?

Hopefully the new government will one day get around to reviewing the condition.