Ottawa

Voluntary and unanswered

Jennifer Ditchburn checks on the progress of the National Household Survey.

Under the previous system, census workers would call up a household that had not filled out its mandatory long questionnaire, and then pay a visit — or even several — to make sure it was completed. Now Statistics Canada is accepting incomplete forms — called partial responses — and there is no followup…

One census enumerator, who spoke to The Canadian Press on condition of anonymity, said workers had been instructed to accept the long forms with as few as 10 of 84 questions answered. They can also declare somebody has given them a “total refusal” simply by speaking to them on the phone.

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