A Lund resident is facing federal charges after telling Statistics Canada to count her out.
Yoga teacher Eve Stegenga is one of 54 Canadians being charged under the Statistics Act for not completing the 2011 mandatory short form Canadian census.
“I chose not to fill it out as an act of civil disobedience,” said Stegenga, who objected to having her personal information handled by a software subsidiary of the American weapons giant Lockheed Martin.
“I like to live with an aspect of integrity in my life, so when [the enumerator] came to my door, I said ‘No, because I know what the government is doing and I don’t approve.’”
What she knew was that in the late 1990s Lockheed Martin had branched out into information systems and developed optical recognition software to be used in scanning census forms. The company was first contracted on the 2000 United States census and then in the United Kingdom in 2001. According to media reports from 2011, the Canadian government paid Lockheed Martin $61 million for its software that would automate the 2006 Canadian census and then another $19.7 million for updates on the 2011 census.
“All the information that they need on the census they can get from my income taxes, which I file each year,” she added. “Why are we going to an American arms company to process our personal census information and laying off a bunch of Canadians?”
Stegenga said she was visited by census workers a couple of times and received a phone call from the census workers’ supervisors and a warning letter.
“I don’t know why they’re coming after me, but I feel it’s because I was really honest with them,” she said.
Stegenga said that at the time she did not realize that it was a criminal offence to not complete the short form, though census staff informed her that it was an offence.
In the letter she received from Statistics Canada she was told she “could possibly be charged.”
“But I didn’t actually take that threat to be serious,” she said, adding that she felt it was just “intimidation” to pressure her to comply.
She believes there are a lot more than 54 people in the country who did not fill out the form.
A spokesperson from Statistics Canada said the agency would not comment on Stegenga’s case as it was currently before the courts.
“While the vast majority of Canadians promptly returned their completed 2011 census, a small number of individuals refused to comply,” said Gabrielle Beaudoin, director general of Statistics Canada’s communications division. “Charging any individual with failing to complete a census of population form is the last step in a lengthy process that ensures that the person has been given every opportunity to participate.”
Stegenga is scheduled for a court date today, Wednesday, October 9. If convicted, she could face, under the Statistics Act, a fine of up to $500, up to three months in jail or both.
