Just to make the point that I m not making this problem up here s the abstract of Who are the Canadians Changing census responses 1986 1996 Canadian Ethnic Studies Journal Spring 2001 by Monica Boyd Doug Norris At the close of the twentieth century Canadian has become the fastest growing ethnic origin group up from 0 5 percent in 1986 to nearly 4 percent in 1991 and to 31 percent in the 1996 census of Canada From what groups did this indigenous label draw in the five years between the 1986 1991 and the 1991 1996 censuses Using unpublished tabulations from the 1986 1991 and 1996 Canadian censuses this paper traces temporal shifts for a cohort of the Canadian born age 25 44 in 1986 and age 34 54 by 1996 We find that most of the increases between 1986 and 1991 in Canadian ethnic origin responses are accompanied by intercensal losses in British origin responses Between 1991 and 1996 increasing Canadian responses went hand in hand with dramatic losses in both the British and French ethnic origin counts In some provinces notably the Prairie provinces of Alberta Manitoba and Saskatchewan shifts also occurred out of other ethnic groups