Lethbridge woman calls 2021 Census questions “too intrusive and too personal”

“Now they want your name, your exact date of birth, if anybody is living in your home, you know, who they are, if anybody is temporarily in your home – who are they and where are they from? What other languages do you speak, other than English? What is the language you use in your home, what was your sex at birth, what is your sex now – male, female or other, and specify. That was way out of line, that question.”

The southern Alberta woman remarked that she was “still the same sex that I was born with, but some people that aren’t might be very touchy about saying that.”

She believes the federal government “went way too far with the census.”

“It’s looking like a regime, instead of the Government of Canada and you’re wondering why they’re asking these questions. Then, they’re saying what was your language at birth and what are you using in your home – it’s almost as if they’re looking for illegal immigrants, too. You don’t know what the government is looking for.”

The Lethbridge woman said she’s not the only one with concerns, as many of her friends and neighbors have voiced their displeasure with some of the questions asked in the census.

Another question she had an issue with revolved around people that are temporarily living in someone’s home.

She said, “if you had an aunt that was staying at your home for a month because she just lost her husband, you’d have to detail that, and I thought that was way out of line.”

“That’s what’s disturbing is it’s so personal and so probing that you can’t even have somebody staying in your home without detailing who it is and why – it’s almost starting to look like a regime here.”

The woman noted that she and her friends listed their concerns in the comments section that’s available at the end of the 2021 census, but she does not believe that will make much of a difference.

“Everybody’s feedback is that the questions are too intrusive and they’re too personal.” _{– Lethbridge resident speaking with LNN}

She said that, “the government of Canada isn’t going to care what you put in your comments. They’re going to continue with whatever they’re doing.”

“You can have as many people put comments in there that they’re not happy with the questions, it doesn’t matter to them. They’re not going to change the census just because you don’t like it.”

Lethbridge News Now has reached out to Statistics Canada for a response to these concerns, but we have yet to hear back.

However, prior to the census being mailed out to Canadians, LNN did speak with Geoff Bowlbe, the director general responsible for the census at Statistics Canada.

READ MORE: 2021 Canadian Census going online

He said data from the survey is “some of the most crucial and important information for government planning.”

The statistics help the federal government allocate funding to the provinces and territories.

Bowlbe explained that, “there’s a great deal of money that gets transferred from the federal government to the provincial and territorial governments for health and social programs, and that is done on a per capita basis, so for every [person] in the province and the territory, there’s a certain amount that gets allocated based on the census.”

More on the 2021 Census is available here.

by Justin Goulet

Lethbridge woman calls 2021 Census questions “too intrusive and too personal”

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