Census Time in Canada

[buster]

For some reason I always seem to get one of the long forms, while my cousin gets a short one. The universe is obviously unfair.

However this survey is a clear, clean and easy form to fill out, better than many things like this that are promoted by the private sector, or a municipal fact gathering, or what I faced back in the old days when I had to work for a living. I do hope a human actually reads the final spot on the survey where you are asked to comment on the process. I wrote, 'Nicely done. Congrats!' Maybe the message will get back to the programmers, but I doubt it.

One spot in the survey made me grin. When you select Bachelor of Arts and Science, you get directed to a new question: What was your major? I have a very odd degree. And I wrote, 'No major, but a plethora of minors.' Is the word 'plethora' still used by anyone? Will the reader have to use Google the word?

Little things like this get me through the day. 

Like to hear the reaction of anyone else who is doing one.

[William]

I got a census letter.  Instead of paper form, mine says to log in and do it online.

[buster]

' Instead of paper form, mine says to log in and do it online.'

Mine was online. You can get a paper form, but don't see an advantage to that.

[ssfc72]

I am going to make them send me a paper Census.  When the gov't pays my internet bill, then I will do the Census online. :-)

[buster]

It was always a policy for years that anyone over 80 had their Internet paid for by the gov't. But that was discontinued by the Liberals. Fortunately I squeaked in just in time and my Internet costs are covered forever.

And Bill, you might have to pay postage to send it in. Eh, eh?

[ssfc72]

I suppose you get mail, still delivered to your door also?  :-)  You live a charmed life Buster.

I am sure the return envelope will be postage paid. :-)

[gmiller1977]

If you don't have internet, don't fill the census via online.

If you do have internet, do it.

If you don't want to, don',t "they" won't know if you have internet or not.

What is the issue?  What am I missing?

[Jason]

I love the census but I'm also the kid in school who loved doing tests. I guess I just like having my opinion asked, whether it's about if I remember something or having me fill in some checkboxes. There was a time I even liked doing my taxes, by hand, but then I kept making mistakes so changed to doing it online. Now it's just a chore but not as bad since I like computers.

Now I'm in a 3-unit triplex. We're in the basement apartment which, because it was added later, is #3. I received two paper censuses (is that the plural?), one says UPR, the other says LWR. I don't know what that means in a 3-unit building. I know if they had asked in the previous census if I wanted to do it online, I would have answered yes, so maybe those two are for #1 and #2 and I'm still waiting for my letter. So right now I have two short-form censuses in front of me just begging to be ripped open. Maybe I'll just fill them out for my neighbours. I'll give me a chance to chat with them. But might be hard to casually bring up their religion. Or do they ask that in the short form? Does the one to do online come in a manilla envelope that has a tearaway on either side? That's what these are.

gmiller: The third sentence is your response is unintelligible, at least to me, probably because of an extra word?

[gmiller1977]

Corrections/additions marked with *as such*

If you don't have internet, don't fill the census via online.

If you do have internet, do it.

If you don't want to *fill the census out online*, *don't* "they" won't know if you have internet or not.

What is the issue?  What am I missing?

*No one gets arrested for not filling out a census, it's sent via Canada Post, who at the best of times can't find the address they are supposed to deliver to.*

[ssfc72]

It used to have jail as a threat for not filling out the Census but now you would just wind up with a fine and possible criminal record.

I remember one guy in Canada many many years ago who made the news for not filling in his Census. I don't know what happened to him, because of that but he probably had to pay a fine.

Here is a good Readers Digest article about the Census.
https://www.readersdigest.ca/culture/canada-census-penalities/

I haven't yet received the Census paper copy, that I phoned for.

[Jason]

If you don't want to *fill the census out online*, *don't* "they" won't know if you have internet or not.

I still find that hard to read but I'll take a shot at it. Are you saying "If you don't fill the census out online, won't they know if you have internet or not?" You had three negatives in your sentence so had trouble making head or tails of it.

In any case, I don't think anyone that's posted here is worried about the government knowing whether or not they have internet unless I missed something.

[gmiller1977]

If you don't have internet, or choose not to have it for the point of the census, the government won't know.

[ssfc72]

I got my paper Census in the mail yesterday.  I don't know if I got the short form or the long form Census.
I only had 13 questions to answer. About the only information that I needed to provide, other than my address and phone number, was that I only learned in English, at school.

Seems like a waste of government money/time, to acquire this minuscule amount of information.

[fox]

That would be the short form. And although they don't ask you a lot of questions, they ask enough that they can statistically infer a lot of the long form information from what you provided.

[Jason]

Seems like a waste of government money/time, to acquire this minuscule amount of information.

"The Census of Population is a reliable basis for the estimation of the population of the provinces, territories and municipal areas. These counts are essential for maintaining Canada's equitable representation, as they are used to set electoral boundaries; estimate the demand for services in minority official languages; and calculate federal, provincial and territorial transfer payments.

The census also provides information about the characteristics of the population and its housing within small geographic areas and for small population groups to support planning, administration, policy development and evaluation activities of governments at all levels. The information provided by the census for these geographic areas and population groups is also used by the private sector as well as data users in their decision-making process.

Federal government, provincial and territorial governments, municipal governments, First Nations, Inuit and Métis leaders and organizations , libraries, educational institutions, researchers and academics, private industry, business associations, labour organizations, ethnic and cultural groups, private citizens, public interest groups are among the users of census data."

Source: https://www23.statcan.gc.ca/imdb/p2SV.pl?Function=getSurvey&SDDS=3901