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Graphic By http://www.socialsignal.com/

Graphic By http://www.socialsignal.com/I maintain a list of actions, lists of lists and other media round up sites at the bottom of Census Watch and thought I would elevate them.  There are but a few weeks before the house sits (Sept. 20) and I thought you all might like to do a few things in preparation.  The local action is critical.

1. Canadian Council on Social Development (CCSD)Long Form Census Toolkit

  • Grass roots local action is key, especially in Tory ridings.  Very helpful information, templates, letters, and tips on talking to your MP.

2.Community Groups: Save our Census

  • Resources, tool kits, action letters, bumper stickers and more

3. Petition: Keep the Canadian Census Long Form Petition

  • Over 15 000 signatures so far! Go sign it.

4. New Brunswick Advisory Council on the Status of Women: Take Action et En action et ; A woman’s View & Le point de vue d’une femme

  • Information on taking action in New Brunswick, and talking points on why the census is important for women

5. Caledon Institute of Social Policy: Stand up for good government, MPs*

  • Reflections on governing when letter writing and voting

6. Community Dispatch: Changes To 2011 Census Threaten Community Data

  • Census issue explained bu community Development Halton  and action items.

7. Citizens Engaging Democracy, Newmarket-Aurora

  • facebook group, local coffee meetings to plan for local action

8. Vote on the Digital Strategy Submission: Reinstate the Census Long Form

  • Well we know what happened here! Just a reminder about a consultation gone bad!

9. Letter Writing: Canadian Institute of Planners

10. Facebook Page: Keep the Canadian Census Long Form

  • Join the group

Graphic By http://www.socialsignal.com/

First of all! A cool CBC Archive Video: 1961 census counts, not humourous but, mais bon, le plus Ça change le plus c’est la même chose!

Next up, Census Swag Perfect for summer – and no, datalibre.ca does not get a cut!

Graphic By http://www.socialsignal.com/

Graphic By http://www.socialsignal.com/

Note: I am receiving material by email from folks and this was the motherload of images I found in my mailbox this week.  I mean no copyright disrespect, and hope that the Artists, if they see their piece here, and see that I have not properly referenced them, will take pity, and just send me their references with a link to their other work.  I think it is important to keep a public record of all this material as it looks like we are going to be needing it!  There are more cartoons here, here and here.

What do I say?  Imaginary numbers, the “alarming rate of unreported crimes” to justify building prisons.  I must revert to The Wire for wisdom.  BEWARE the video clips below are loaded with swear words. (not the Canadian video of course – it’s just blasphemous!.

NOTE: StatCan does not juke stats, but the current government sure loves juking.  So they are juking the stats to kill the real stats.  Please lets not become like the US!

Juke, Juked, Juking

realm: American street slang

To intentionally confuse, distort, outmaneuver or misdirect attention away from what is real to favor what is illusory, imagined, or a more desirable outcome. (Newsroom Magazine).

The definition above accompanies a great interview with David Simon the creator of the Wire: Gaming The System, Juking The Stats.  Do watch this great interview series on PBS with Bill Moyers.

The Wire on Juking the Stats:

Juking Stats for curriculum alignment.  Remember this is hard core TV social discourse on power that would make Foucault proud.  This is also drug ridden, underfunded, cops loosing jobs, no child left behind urban Baltimore under Bush.  In Canada violent crimes are going down, violent crimes are reported while spousal abuse reporting is always problematically un-dereported while petty theft (like your bike got stolen) are under reported.  Bike theft and prison construction however, do not co-relate!

Such poignant commentary:

They Manufactured an issue to get paid and we manufactured and issue to get you elected Govenor. Everybody is getting what they need behind some make believe.

Marilyn Waring contributed to the inspiration for the questions on Unpaid Work that were part of the Long Form Census (1996, 2001 and 2006).  The National Film Board of Canada (NFB) has a copy of the film for free viewing: Who’s Counting: Marilyn Waring on Sex, Lies and Global Economics.  It is well worth the time to watch and learn about how those questions came about and why they are so important. I saw the film at the Main Public Library a couple of times, usually shown just before Census Day.

I guess women will just have to invent new professions again: educator, household engineer, recreation manager, child coordinator, plant supervisor, home health care provider and so on!  Watch the film for ideas.

These questions were scrapped by the “New” Government and for some odd reason, the National Statistics Council recommended that these questions be removed as part of their compromise offer to the Conservative Government.  It is claimed that this was the series of questions that generated the most inquiries.  Hmm!  What was the nature of the complaints and who made them?  I wonder if the anti childcare, stay at home & back to the kitchen, Tory lovin’ lobby called REAL Women had a posse working the phones!  ( I will inquire!)

As Stockwell Day indicated today (ahum) on the topic of ah, crimes stats, how can we know if things are not counted, but that does not mean we do not build an entire infrastructure of prison, just because we don’t know (ahum ahum). Hey does that mean we get daycare? Social Housing? Income supports and removal of claw backs for sole support parents? etc.  The argument used to be, show us the numbers.  The real numbers are gone, so we just have to communicate with our imaginary friends and make stuff up – alarming rate of un-reported crime – go figure ay. Well, it seems that with this government, the numbers just don’t matter.  Oye veigh!

Marilyn’s Book Counting for nothing: what men value and what women are worth was my first encounter with critical thinking and data.  I was in New Zealand and the friends I was staying with gave me the book as a souvenir!  It might be time to read it again!

The questions on unpaid work first appeared in the 1996 Long Form Census (see Q. 30 on 1996 Long Form Census and Q. 33 on 2001 Long Form Census).  We have 15 years of data and these are R.I.P.’d for 2011.  I guess unpaid work will cease to happen after that!

2006 Census Questions on Unpaid Work:

33. Last week, how many hours did this person spend doing the following activities:

(a) doing unpaid housework, yard work or home maintenance for members of this household, or others? Some examples include: preparing meals, washing the car, doing laundry, cutting the grass, shopping, household planning, etc.

  • None
  • Less than 5 hours
  • 5 to 14 hours
  • 15 to 29 hours
  • 30 to 59 hours
  • 60 hours or more

(b) looking after one or more of this person’s own children, or the children of others, without pay? Some examples include: bathing or playing with young children, driving children to sports activities or helping them with homework, talking with teens about their problems, etc.

  • None
  • Less than 5 hours
  • 5 to 14 hours
  • 15 to 29 hours
  • 30 to 59 hours
  • 60 hours or more

(c) providing unpaid care or assistance to one or more seniors? Some examples include: providing personal care to a senior family member, visiting seniors, talking with them on the telephone, helping them with shopping, banking or with taking medication, etc.

  • None
  • Less than 5 hours
  • 5 to 9 hours
  • 10 to 19 hours
  • 20 hours or more

These were just after education and just before paid work.  There is no long form Census for 2011 (so far anyway), there is this thing called a voluntary survey, and it does not include the questions on unpaid work.

What Men Value and What Women are Worth [Paperback]

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