Historical censuses from around the world are available on-line at sites like http://ancestry.ca or http://www.findmypast.co.uk. A few hours spent looking up old family records made history come alive for me.
I've reproduced one of my favourite records here – my great-great-grandmother on my mother's side, Marian Vandermin. She lived at 5 Peckham Grove – oddly enough very near to where my cousin Jan lives now, and to where I lived as a grad student. The record paints, for me, a vivid picture of her life – she was widowed when she was younger than I am now, and here she is in 1901, a single mom with four children, running a business as a yeast merchant. Her sister-in-law lived just two houses away, and ran the business with her. Thank goodness they had servants – they would never have coped otherwise.
The census records demolish any myth that one hundred years ago people lived in nice, tidy nuclear families. Yes, when I dug up the census records I found one mom-and-dad-and-baby family. But there were also illegitimate children and complex blended families. At some academic level I knew that this was true, but seeing it in my own family made it real.
In the past, people weren't asked for permission to make their census records public – but now they are. Statistics Canada takes privacy seriously.
If you're one of the lucky one-third of Canadians who receives the voluntary household survey – and I sincerely believe that you are lucky if you have an opportunity to leave this legacy of information for your grandchildren – this is what you can do if you want to make your information public – look for Question F and indicate yes. Here's the question:
F1. This question is for all persons including children younger than 15.
Only if you mark "YES" to this question will your National Household Survey responses and family history be part of the historical record of Canada. A "YES" means your responses will be available to family members and historical researchers, 92 years after the 2011 National Household Survey, in 2103.
If you mark "NO" or leave the answer blank, your responses will never be made available to future generations.
Does this person agree to make his or her 2011 National Household Survey information available in 2103 (92 years after the National Household Survey)?
- Yes
- No
Worthwhile Canadian Initiative 
Dang. Only England and Wales; not Scotland…
Stephen – I’ve edited the post to provide clearer instructions. The cheapest way to access the Scottish census is to sign up for a 14-day free trial at ancestry.ca. Good luck!
Frances
The old Canadian censuses are readily available online and are a great source for genealogy, at least recent genealogy. One of the interesting things you can figure out is where your ancestors used to live. Sometimes two ancestors were raised on adjacent properties!
Here’s an example from the 1911 census: http://automatedgenealogy.com/census11/SplitView.jsp?id=28274
Thanks for the link, Guillaume – I forgot about that.
I particularly like the 1901 census. My family is from out west, so I have to search ‘territories’.
Well you opened a big can of worms here! There are many ways to reappropriate the past and redeem modernity. Is census taking, if it done unethically, the one best way? Historical records inclusive of all of us now living are not census documents. The frame of inquiry is too narrow. The conservatives, invested in reframing history because they are a power group, bring to the fore the coercive element. They tip their hand when in the same breath they announce new prisons, however this is a small point. We have to be smarter about we insist upon data transparency and media access to government files. Trust is lacking in our society. The first step is to rebuild it. “I trust the media to do this story right”.
This is another issue, no problem with that.