Scrapping the mandatory long form census will result in the loss of staggering amounts of information on how Canadian society is changing. Egale Canada’s Executive Director, Helen Kennedy, notes that a number of the most significant legal developments in lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, two-spirited, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ) rights have occurred within the past 15 years.

“Think about it. Same-sex marriage has been legal for 5 years now and has been through one census. Partner benefits are 10 years old. Adoption rights date to 1995 and protection from discrimination to 1996! These are all significant changes to the domestic lives of Canadians and it’s important to get reliable data,” Kennedy says.

The fact that so many important changes are so recent means that it is crucial to see how these laws are affecting the everyday lives and activities of LGBTQ individuals and families in Canada. Although some of this data can be gathered from the short form census, the loss of the long form makes it extremely difficult to correlate different variables, such as economic situations.

“Doing the long form is a little like homework. As Prime Minister Harper should well know, homework might take some time and hardly anybody likes doing it…but if you don’t do it, it’s pretty hard to learn anything!" quips Kennedy.