What You Can Do

1. Write a letter requesting that the recipient support, in any way they can, whatever legal and parliamentary measures prove to be necessary to allow the continued release of nominal census data to the public. We are not providing a model letter because it will be more effective if it were in your own words.

   A letter should be sent to:

   The Minister responsible for Statistics Canada: The Honourable John Manley, Minister of Industry The House of Commons, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6 No stamp needed Ivan Felligi, The Chief Statistician of Canada 120 Parkdale Avenue Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0T6 The Privacy Commissioner Bruce Phillips, Privacy Commissioner Privacy Commission of Canada, 112 Kent Street Ottawa, Ontario K1A 1H3 The Honourable Sheila Copps, Heritage Minister The House of Commons, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6 No stamp needed The Liberal Senator (and genealogist) introducing a Private Member's Bill: Senator Lorna Milne The Senate of Canada, Parliament Buildings, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A4 No stamp needed The Member of Parliament introducing a Private Member's Bill: Jason Kenny, Member of Parliament The House of Commons, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6 No stamp needed Your Member of Parliament If you do not know who your MP is, you may get some help at this Parliamentary site. No stamp needed Anyone else who you think would be able to bring some influence to bear on those politicians and bureaucrats who will make the final decision.

   Letter Tips Write a traditional paper letter, not an e-mail or telephone call You should use the heaviest weight of notepaper that you have Keep the letter as short as possible but still allow yourself to make the points which think are most important Do not rant or be abusive. Be respectful, but make your point clearly and very firmly There is no objection to writing one letter with copies to others as appropriate, with out without a separate covering letter

2. Sign the petition [.pdf format] if you have not already done so.
3. Become informed on the subject:
   1. Talk to a member of the AFHS Workgroup
   2. Join the mailing list for those concerned for the release of the census.
      Simply send an E-mail with the subject "Subscribe" and the message "Subscribe" (and nothing else) to the following address:
4. Join the AFHS Census Workgroup or attend the meetings which it will hold from time to time.
5. Tell other people about the census problem, and try to get them on side and active.
6. Get to know your MP better, so that he/she is more likely to listen to your opinion and act on it. MPs are generally influenced by their constituents in this order of priority:
   1. Major donors to their campaign funds
   2. The Board of Directors of their party at the local level
   3. The Executive of their Constituency Association
   4. Lesser donors to their campaign funds
   5. Constituents whom they have met
   6. Constituents whom they have never met
7. Think about it. Do you have any friends who are active in these local party organizations?
8. Write a letter to a newspaper about the issue.

What you Must NOT Do

1. Ignore the problem, or leave it up to others to deal with. If our efforts are insufficient, we and those who follow us will no longer be able to use the census for our genealogical research - EVER.

We live in a democracy; it IS possible to change governmental decisions that the People do not like..... but no one ever said it would be easy!