By Bird Bouchard
A census legislated 92 years in the vault may soon be able to help fill in some of the blanks in the Eastern Townships history books.
Collected during the Great Depression and at a time of significant immigration, the 1931 census provides a glimpse of how more than 10 million people were living.
However, by law, the personal information in a census cannot be made public until 92 years after the census was completed. As a result, the data remains sealed until June 1, 2023.
“Part of the reason the government of Canada is able to collect personal information like that as part of the Census is we promised not make it available until much further down the line,” said Alexandra Clemence, Chief of Orientation and Genealogy with Library and Archives Canada.
Clemence said Library and Archives have received the 1931 Census from Statistics Canada in the form of 187 microfilm reels. Team members have then assigned reel numbers and locations, created archival descriptions, and added the records to Collection Search.
