676,000 Canadian census forms unfilled countrywide

July 31, 2006

Currently there are 676,000 Canada 2006 Census forms unfilled countrywide following the May 16 census, a large number for Alberta and British Columbia. Canada operates a mandatory census, requiring all citizens to participate or face court action, a $500 CAD fine and/or three months imprisonment.

Census workers are coming to citizens' houses and asking them to fill them out. “We’ll keep following up until we get them; it’s just costing taxpayers lots and lots of money for us to keep doing it,” said Lisa Gibbons from Statistics Canada.

"The census provides a snapshot of the country as a whole and of individual provinces, and each community and how it compares with where it was five years ago," said Gibbons.