May 16 is Census Day in Canada.
Jean Talon authorized the first nominal census of Canada in 1666, a precious list of many of the founding families of New France. I know some of those names and families quite well from researching in that census. They exist.
For more than a century and a half, Canada has been conducting full censuses every ten years in years ending with 1, with half-censuses in the years ending in 6.
This year for the first time ever, the 2006 half census asks if you wish your census data to be made available 92 years from now, in 2098. If you tick NO, you and the data on you will be hidden forever.
Frankly it is barbarous and anti-intellectual of the government even to ask this question. But what is really sad is that some Canadians will tick No. And if the government of 2098 keeps its word, the integrity of the census will be lost forever.
Do the census. It's a proud civic responsibility. And tick YES to permit some researcher in the twenty-second century to contemplate your existence. You will be dead. Your kids will be dead. But you will live forever.
