Here are the addresses to which those who wish to write in support of the
ACA Resolutions may send letters.
Census Resolution:
Brian Tobin, Minister of Industry
CD Howe Institute
11th Floor, East Tower
235 Queen Street
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0H5
George Radwanski, Privacy Commissioner
Office of the Privacy Commissioner
3rd Floor, Tower B
Place de Ville
112 Kent Street
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 1H3
Ph: (613) 995-8210
Fax: (613) 947-6850
The Right Honorable Jean Chrétien
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A2
[log in to unmask]
fax: (613) 941-6900
Ian Wilson, National Archivist
National Archives of Canada
395 Wellington Street
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0N3
John Bryden
House of Commons
Room 163, Confederation Building
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6
(613) 995-8042
The Honorable John M. Reid, P.C.
The Information Commissioner of Canada
Place de Ville, Tower B
112 Kent Street, 22nd Floor
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 1H3
Joe Clark
Suite 806
141 Laurier Avenue West
Ottawa, Ontario K1P 5J3
Stockwell Day
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6
Gilles Duceppe
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6
Alexa McDonough
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6
Ivan P. Fellegi, Chief Statistician of Canada
26A RH Coates Building
Tunney's Pasture
Ottawa, Onatario K1A 0T6
Access to Information Review Task Force Mailing List
Anne McLellan, Minister of Justice
Department of Justice
284 Wellington Street
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0H8
Fax: (613) 954-0811
George Radwanski, Privacy Commissioner
Office of the Privacy Commissioner
3rd Floor, Tower B
Place de Ville
112 Kent Street
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 1H3
Ph: (613) 995-8210
Fax: (613) 947-6850
Ian Wilson, National Archivist
National Archives of Canada
395 Wellington Street
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0N3
John Bryden
House of Commons
Room 163, Confederation Building
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6
(613) 995-8042
The Honorable John M. Reid, P.C.
The Information Commissioner of Canada
Place de Ville, Tower B
112 Kent Street, 22nd Floor
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 1H3
-----Original Message-----
From: Corbett, Bryan [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Friday, June 15, 2001 9:09 AM
To: Arcan-L (E-mail); Archives-nra (E-mail); ICA-L (E-mail)
Subject: ACA Resolutions
I sent this message earlier but some were unable to apen the attachments So
here they are in an e-mail format.
The attached resolutions were discussed and passed unanimously at the annual
meeting of the Association of Canadian Archivists on June 8 in Winnipeg. The
Census resolution is being sent to the Prime Minister of Canada, the Leaders
of the Opposition, the Minister of Industry, the National Archivist of
Canada, the Information Commissioner of Canada, the Privacy Commissioner of
Canada, and the Chief Statistician of Canada. The Access Resolution is being
sent to the Access to Information Review Task Force, the Minister of
Justice, The National Archivist of Canada, John Bryden, Member of
Parliament, the Information Commissioner of Canada and the Privacy
Commissioner of Canada.
As President of the Association of Canadian Archivists I would ask you to
write to or call these individuals and Offices to support these resolutions
ASSOCIATION OF CANADIAN ARCHIVISTS
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
WINNIPEG, MANITOBA - 8 JUNE 2001
Motion of Membership on
Release of Historical Census
Moved by: Terry Cook
Seconded by: Tom Nesmith
Carried by: UNANIMOUS vote of approval
In that the historical censuses of Canada are essential records that allow
individual Canadians to situate themselves and their families within the
fabric of Canada and serve as a foundational historical record for research
in many disciplines necessary to understand aspects of our nation, its
peoples, and its identities not available through any other documentary
source;
In that the Government of Canada after much public lobbying by many interest
groups established an Expert Panel of well-respected Canadians representing
all aspects of the census-release issue to investigate and resolve this
matter thoroughly;
In that the Expert Panel issued its report over six months ago recommending
release of the historical censuses according to the terms of the Regulations
of the Privacy Act of Canada that balances release of government information
and protection of personal information while it is still sensitive, a
position that this Association formally supports;
In that the Expert Panel found that after researching the relevant records
that there never was an alleged promise of confidentiality to Canadians
regarding the census, and that by contrast depositing the census in the
National Archives was explicitly an accepted part of early census policy;
and
In that national censuses of 1871, 1881, 1891, and 1901 have been released
for many years now to hundreds of thousands of users via microfilmed copies
in numerous Canadian archives, as have all Newfoundland censuses before
1949, and that there has never been a single privacy complaint lodged
against the release, widespread use, or publication of any of this
historical census data;
Be it resolved, that the Association of Canadian Archivists
* strongly urges the Government of Canada to implement immediately the
findings of the Expert Panel without change, and especially without the
unnecessary additional delays of awaiting possible reviews of the Access to
Information Act and the Privacy Act;
*
* strongly urges the Government of Canada to release immediately to
the custody and control of the National Archives of Canada the Western
Census of 1906 and the National Census of 1911 so they may be released 92
years after creation as legislation directs, and directs Statistics Canada
to arrange for the subsequent transfer of all subsequent census data to the
National Archives for the years 1921-1991, and to protect electronic
versions according to National Archives' instructions for the years 1996 and
onward; and
*
* instructs its President to convey this motion to the Prime Minister
of Canada, the Leaders of all Parliamentary Parties, the Minister of
Industry, the National Archivist of Canada, the Information Commissioner of
Canada, the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, and the Chief Statistician of
Canada.
ASSOCIATION OF CANADIAN ARCHIVISTS
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
WINNIPEG, MANITOBA - 8 JUNE 2001
Motion of Membership on
Access to Information Review Task Force
Moved by: Terry Cook
Seconded by: Tom Nesmith
Carried by: UNANIMOUS vote of approval
In that the Government of Canada has created an Access to Information Review
Task Force (P.O. Box 1178, Station B, Ottawa, Ontario, K1P 5R2) to review
the clauses and operation of the federal Access to Information Act;
In that archivists as information professionals have vital interests in
Access to Information either directly at the federal level or through
federal legislation often being mirrored in other jurisdictions;
In that archivists have long experience in administering access to
information/freedom of information legislation across Canada, and in dealing
with researchers using that legislation to access archival holdings covered
by such legislation;
Be it resolved, that the Association of Canadian Archivists
* supports the Government of Canada in its review of the Access to
Information Act;
*
* urges the Task Force to use the expertise of archivists in its
deliberations through direct contact with appointees of the Association's
President
*
*
* urges the Task Force to maintain the historical and just balance
between citizen's rights, on the one hand, to access government information
for many research purposes and to hold government accountable through
reliable records as the basis of democracy, and, on the other hand, to
prevent the early disclosure of sensitive personal information that
constitutes an invasion of privacy;
*
* urges the Task Force to recognize the clear linkage between any
realistic implementation of the right of access and the effective management
of the information of Government in all recording media (including
especially electronic records), grounded by control of authorization of all
records destruction by the National Archivist of Canada;
*
* urges the Task Force to strengthen the authority (and resources) of
the Information Commissioner and National Archivist in promoting better
records management, including expanded punitive powers and penalties for
non-compliance with record-keeping directives;
*
* urges the Task Force to expand the scope of the Act, so that the
schedule of departments and agencies subject to the Act is made identical
with those of the Privacy Act and the National Archives of Canada Act with
which they are related;
*
* urges very strongly the Task Force to introduce a passage of time
clause, requiring that all government records should be released by their
creating department or by the National Archives twenty-five (25) years after
their creation. A passage of time clause exists in Privacy Act regulations
and in the more effective access-lease rules before 1983. If there are rare
exceptions to this blanket release date, save only for sensitive personal
information that has longer passage-of-time release dates already, these
should be justified for continued closure only on a case-by-case basis made
before the Information Commissioner, who would rule on their validity,
subject to appeal to the courts. This places the burden rightly on
government to demonstrate why records should remain closed rather than on
citizens to request (at their time and expense) that they be opened;
*
* urges the Task Force to consider, in light of recent impasses on
this release of historical censuses, inserting an explicit census release
clause in a revised Act; and
*
* instructs its President to convey this motion to the Chair of the
Access to Information Review Task Force, the Minister of Justice, the
National Archivist of Canada, the Information Commissioner of Canada, and
the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.
Bryan Corbett
University Archivist
University of Alberta Archives
University of Alberta
Book and Record Depository (BARD)
100, 8170 50th Street
Edmonton, Alberta
CANADA
T6B 2E2
Tel: (780) 466-6123
Fax: (780) 466-5210
E-Mail: [log in to unmask]
The University of Alberta Home Page is located at
http://www.ualberta.ca/archives/
The home page of the Association of Canadian Archivists is located at:
http://aca.archives.ca
The home page of the Archives Society of Alberta is located at:
http://www.glenbow.org/asa/home.htm
