FOR YOUR IMMEDIATE ATTENTION To: All scholars, researchers, teachers, and anyone else interested in Canada's ethnic/cultural and racial groups and Canada's evolving multicultural nature. From: Warren E. Kalbach, FRSC. Professor Emeritus, University of Toronto; and Adjunct Professor, University of Calgary and Madeline A. Kalbach, Chair in Canadian Ethnic Studies, The University of Calgary Subject: The 2001 Census of Canada and the Ethnic Origin (Ancestry) Question. Date: October 6, 1997 We need a demonstration of strong support to Statistics Canada for the retention of the "ethnic origin (ancestry)" question in the 2001 Census of Canada! Why? Because there are growing indications that Statistics Canada may be seriously considering dropping the question from the long form (sample) census questionnaire. Those of use who work with the ethnic or cultural origin data collected by the Census are well aware of the difficulties that Statistics Canada, and its predecessors have had over the years in obtaining valid, reliable and consistent data on these complex and "ambiguous" population characteristics. At every census, Statistics Canada has tried to inform the public of the importance of these data and to get them to understand the meaning of the question, i.e., that it is asking for their ethnic or cultural origins (in terms of their ancestry rather than their current identity). In spite of these efforts, increasing numbers (often inspired by newspaper campaigns) have been utilizing the ethnic origin question as an opportunity to indicate that above all else they are first and foremost "Canadian". Rather than add an additional question that would allow individuals to express their current (national) identity, the census now accepts "Canadian" as an acceptable answer to the "ethnic origin" question. Of course this has further confused the original and historical intent of the question and blurred the distinction between one's "ethnic or cultural origin" and the respondent's current ethnic or cultural "identity". Admittedly it has become more difficult to interpret the meaning of responses to the ethnic origin question, but dropping the question does little to resolve the problem. Because of the multidimensional nature of one's ethnic identity, we need the other ethnic/cultural variables that the census collects, e.g., religion, mother tongue, language used in the home, country of birth, etc., to give us clues as to the ethnic ancestry of the population as well as to their current ethnic identity. The point is, that no single ethnic/cultural/racial variable by itself is sufficient to give us a reasonably valid estimate of the composition of either of these types of population, or the opportunity to examine the effects of the integrative and assimilative processes which Canadian immigrants experience. Dropping the traditional ethnic origin question from the census, or replacing it with another question will not solve the problem. It will only make the other ethnic/cultural variables more difficult to interpret. In addition to retaining the ethnic origin question, two things can be done to help improve the situation. (1) Reinstate the question "Birthplace of parents" (last used in the 1971 Census) in order to identify the second generation Canadians, i.e., those born in Canada of foreign- born parents. This is a particularly important group for the study of integration and cultural persistence or assimilation of immigrants and their descendants. While this variable, provides a clue as to the possible ancestry or origins of the second generation, it alone doesn't provide clues regarding the ancestry of the third and subsequent generations. Hence, arguments for substituting the birthplace of parents variable for the ethnic ancestry question are not valid, but including it in addtion to the ancestry question is extremely valuable. (2) Provide a current identity question that will allow persons to claim that they are Canadian, either in the political or cultural sense. Such a question was actually tried out in the pretest of the 1991 Census (There seems to be some indication that this was not incorporated in the 1991 Census because of its potential political sensitivity). In summary, dropping the ethnic origin question from the 2001 Census makes no sense whatsoever. Canada proclaims itself to be a "Multicultural" country. To cut back or stop collecting the ethnic or cultural origin data that Canada has historically gathered would eliminate the very data needed to understand the nature of Canada's multicultural society or the social, economic and cultural consequences of its multicultural policies. Whether you agree in whole, or in part, with any of the above statements, or their implication for your future research, the possible reduction in the number of ethnic/cultural variables (especially the ethnic origin question) for which data traditionally have been collected by the national census, is something that we must try to prevent. Statistics Canada, when under pressure to add new, socially and politically relevant questions by national pressure groups, has to look around for existing questions that can be dropped. Usually these are questions that Statistics Canada has reason to believe are no longer of any importance, are questions that no one is using, or questions that no longer produce valid and reliable data. Unless we can convince them otherwise, any of the origin/cultural questions could easily be dropped. We can no longer assume that the importance of these questions is "self evident" to those making decisions about census content for the 2001 Census of Canada. We have to make the argument loud and clear to the government that ethnic/cultural origin (ancestry) data, along with the other ethnic/cultural data on "Birthplace of parents", "Mother tongue", Language in the home", "Religion", etc., are irreplaceable in any inventory of a multiculural society's characteristics. It is important to write directly to the Chief Statistician, Ivan P. Fellegi, to Members of Parliament, to the Chair of Statistics Canada's Census Advisory Committee, Prof. Rod Beaujot (Dept. of Sociology, University of Western Ontario), Pamela White, Manager, 2001 Census Content Determination Project; and, to anyone else you may know that might have some influence on developing content for the 2001 Census of Canada. Remember, although the final census form has to meet Cabinet approval, decisions as to specific census content are generally made well in advance of the Census date To have any hope of having an impact, letters will need to be written in the next several months. It is also important to participate in the consultation process for Census 2001. Call your regional Statistics Canada office to find out when the consultation meeting re content is being held in your area.