July 26, 2010
The Honourable Tony Clement, P.C., M.P.
Minister of Industry
5th Floor, West Tower, CD Howe Building
235 Queen Street
Ottawa, ON K1A 0H5
Dear Minister,
The Canadian Urban Libraries Council/ Conseil des Bibliothèques Urbaines du Canada (CULC/CBUC) would like to add a voice to the issue of discontinuing the ”long form” with the 2011 National Census. CULC/CBUC strongly encourages the government to reconsider their position and continue with the long form while broader debate and alternatives can be considered for the 2016 collection.
The data that is generated is critical in service planning in our urban communities. It is used both internally to help libraries make decisions about their service portfolio, facilities and to advocate for budgets to serve the broad needs of Canadians. Public Libraries rely heavily on the data. Many business owners and community groups access this data through the public library to make their own business plans and decisions. The data needs to be available.
Canada has among the most multicultural populations in the world. This is one of our strengths. How we serve that population, along with those in other marginal groups that are, in part, identified by the long form data, is also one of our strengths.
CULC/CBUC strives to strengthen our vibrant urban communities through building the capacity of Canada’s urban libraries. Our members collectively serve more than 7.5 million active users from 522 physical locations and virtually. In 2009 member libraries loaned more than 175,000,000 items and expended in excess of $480 million on collections including $10 million on digital resources.
On behalf of the Membership of CULC,
Yours sincerely,
Jefferson Gilbert, CAE
Executive Director