The release of the 1906 special western census on Jan. 24 is a victory for historians and descendants of prairie pioneers, says Bill Waiser of the University of Saskatchewan.
“It’s wonderful for Saskatchewan people interested in their own histories,” said the historian, who was months away from a legal challenge against Statistics Canada for its refusal to release the raw census data.
Normally, such data is available to the public after 92 years have passed, so that information should have been released in 1998, he said.
Statistics Canada had maintained the survey contained sensitive material that prime minister Wilfrid Laurier had promised would never be released publicly. Waiser said no evidence was ever produced to support that theory.
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He said three major investigations had already concluded the 1906 data should be released: the federal internal justice department; an expert panel on access to historical census material; and the federal information commissioner.
“I suspect they faced losing again,” Waiser said of the agency’s reversal on the issue. “What happened was Statistics Canada was made to obey the law and it was released.”
The 1906 data can be accessed at www.archives.ca.
