So the news about Munir Sheikh, the head of Statistics Canada, resigning is all over the news, in case anyone hasn’t noticed. Sheikh’s dramatic departure Wednesday over the federal government’s decision to scrap the mandatory long-form census has ignited what might be the most quintessentially Canadian political controversy in our nation’s history.
And, although I do take this issue seriously (as I noted in a previous post), I can’t help but think: How perfectly Canadian. Other governments get embroiled in scandals over call girls, corruption, going to war, expense accounts used for porn or moat repair. And what are we up in flames about? Getting people to comply with statistics gathering.
The Harper government’s decision to replace the mandatory long-form census—sent to one in five households every five years since 1971—with a voluntary National Household Survey has created an unprecedented crisis of professional integrity. Sheikh, widely respected for his statistical expertise and independence, stated bluntly in his resignation letter that “a voluntary survey can not replace a mandatory census.” His public rebuke of the government was extraordinary for a senior civil servant.
The controversy reveals the Harper administration’s complicated relationship with data itself. Officially, the government cited privacy concerns and claimed many Canadians had complained about the census’s intrusive questions about income, education, and housing. Yet when pressed, officials could provide no evidence of significant public complaints or polls supporting this assertion.
Critics suggest more cynical motives: that detailed socioeconomic data might reveal uncomfortable truths about growing inequality, poverty rates, or the effectiveness of government programs. Why would a government that champuses evidence-based policy making suddenly decide that less reliable, voluntary data would suffice?
Sheikh’s resignation letter was particularly damning because it came after media reports suggested he supported the government’s position. His departure made clear that Statistics Canada’s professional staff had advised against the change, warning that voluntary surveys would produce unreliable data with significant gaps, particularly from vulnerable populations least likely to respond voluntarily.
The international statistical community watched in bewilderment as Canada voluntarily degraded its world-renowned data collection system. The United Nations Statistics Division noted that Sheikh resigned “on a matter of professional integrity”—diplomatic language that spoke volumes about global concern over Canada’s retreat from statistical excellence.
How delightfully dorky we are. The only time I’ve felt prouder to be Canadian was traveling in North Carolina when the car radio, through some quirk, picked up CBC, where the top news item was: “There is still no movement on the discussions about the Charlottetown Accord.”
The census controversy exemplifies our national character: we get passionately worked up about institutional integrity, data quality, and the proper functioning of bureaucratic processes. While other nations’ scandals involve corruption or abuse of power, ours center on methodological rigor and statistical validity.
For those who don’t get my headline, there’s a journalism legend that editors at the New York Times once held a competition to devise the most boring headline imaginable. The winner was supposedly “Worthy Canadian Initiative.”
Yet this supposedly boring controversy has profound implications for Canadian governance, affecting everything from federal transfer payments to municipal planning to academic research for decades to come.
