Mandatory Long Form Census

The recent Cabinet decision to discontinue the mandatory federal long form census is a disturbing one.

We have been advised by Statistics Canada that data collected on this form will continue to be obtained in the Arctic however in the rest of Canada that is not the case, and this is of concern to Inuit.

The data collected on the long form is an important tool for measuring and analyzing health and well-being indicators, such as life expectancy and social disparities between Inuit and the rest of Canada.

For example, comparable data on life expectancy between Inuit and the average Canadian would not have been possible without the existence of long form census data. For the record, the gap in life expectancy between Inuit and Canadians is 13 years and growing, an unacceptable statistic that could not accurately be tracked without the mandatory long form.

Although the long form will continue to be sent out to a percentage of Canadian households, the voluntary nature of its return will not ensure either accurate regional coverage or representation, something that will have a significant impact on the quality of data that we have to compare Inuit.

In the interests of ensuring that we are accurately able to gather statistical information that measures progress in the Arctic regions and communities, we have called upon the federal government to reconsider their decision to scrap the mandatory long form.

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