Neither names nor addresses are entered into the census database. All employees who work with census questionnaires are sworn to secrecy when they are hired, and only a small number of employees have access to completed questionnaires. Government departments have no special right of access to the information they can only have access to the same statistical information as the general public. Many same-sex couples are cautious about providing their personal information to the government. It was only about three decades ago that homosexuality was a criminal offence, and many federal laws were only changed last year.
Discrimination remains an unfortunate social reality.
Nonetheless, the 2001 Census will provide a good start, and will at least provide information about the minimum number of same-sex couples in Canada. Over time, as the question is asked again in future censuses, community-members are likely to feel more comfortable with the question and we expect that the accuracy of the information generated will increase. I live in a smaller community where everyone knows everyone. Census representatives are responsible for gathering the census information in each region, but you don t have to deal with them. The first 2001 Census results will be released in April, 2002.