Demagogues at the helm.

Amazing, mind-boggling, incomprehensible, indefensible. The decision by the Federal Government to abolish the mandatory long-form of the census may be the worst policy decision of the past decade in Canada. The impact of this decision, if it is not reversed, will be felt for many years to come and, if it remains in effect over other census cycles or if it is a harbinger of things to come, could severely restrict our capacity to generate evidencebased policies and ultimately lead to significant changes in Canadian society over the next several decades. The long-form was previously sent to 20% of the population and contained questions on ethnicity, income, employment, education and several other basic social and demographic variables which are invaluable to support programs and policies in all aspects of public life and civil society in Canada. Health care organizations, public health programs, social services, cultural and economic policies at the local, provincial and national levels are all affected by longform census data. Businesses, research and academic institutions, NGOs and all public sector and Government Agencies rely on information from the long-form for their work. Accurate and valid information is critical for public health. Mandatory reporting of information from the census is irreplaceable. The absence of reliable information on key aspects of our society will severely hinder our capacity to identify subgroups of the population with special needs and to target specific public health interventions. It will undoubtedly reduce our capacity to intervene effectively on the determinants of health and ultimately increase socio-economic and health disparities in the country. Concerns over privacy were invoked to justify this decision. However, Statistics Canada has an impeccable record of maintaining confidentiality and security of the information it gathers from the population. Canadian researchers who use these data are governed by strict rules and oversight by ethics committees, privacy commissions and other mechanisms which prevent abuse and have resulted in remarkably few, if any, breaches of confidentiality. The decision is particularly worrisome because of the message it conveys about the importance of knowledge in policy-making and about the relationship between the State and its citizens. Rather than promoting a healthy dialogue about privacy in the information age, the Government uses a populist discourse which increases the population’s distrust in its institutions. This dangerous decision is ideologically driven, demagogic and ultimately detrimental to the well-being of all Canadians. When evidence and knowledge are no longer valued in Government decision-making processes, the door is open to arbitrariness, irrationality, bias, partiality, unfairness and injustice. These are not Canadian values.