A friend of mine emailed me this today:
Subject: Count me out of the census!
To the Honourable Industry Minister Maxine Bernier,
I am writing to express my deep concern that Lockheed Martin has received a contract to work on the 2006 Canadian census.
As I'm sure you are aware, Lockheed Martin is the largest defence contractor in the U.S. and in fact the world. The company not only makes weapons of mass destruction, but also directly benefits from the Iraq war and is leading the development of the "Ballistic Missile Defence
System"--two U.S.-led policies that Canadians have rightly opposed and rejected. I question why we are now supporting this company with Canadian tax payers' dollars.
Statistics Canada defends Lockheed Martin's involvement with the Canadian census because they say that Stat Can did not have the expertise to develop the needed software and hardware itself, and because Lockheed Martin won the contract through fair competition. First, I question why Stat Can is billing itself the world over as a leader in gathering and sorting information if it must rely on outside sources to develop this capability. I'd also like to point out that I am well aware that once a
contract is opened for bid in Canada, NAFTA ensures that American companies must be treated the same as Canadian companies, and this does not in fact allow for fair competition for contracts. The comparatively huge American market and economy (the "elephant") virtually ensures that
American companies will beat out Canadian companies the majority of the time.
I am also concerned because both Lockheed Martin and its Canadian subsidiary could potentially be asked to give census information to the U.S. government under the U.S. PATRIOT Act, should any census information, despite your assurances, fall into the company's hands. Due to public outcry and a national boycott during the 2003 census test, Stat Can and Chief Statistician Ivan Fellegi now assure the public that the contract has been "changed" to ensure that no such information can be obtained by Lockheed Martin. While I certainly hope this is true, I am also well aware that despite similar assurances from the U.S. Census Bureau over a million American census records were used by NASA as part of a terrorist screening study without the knowledge of U.S. citizens. I also wonder whether we should fully trust Lockheed Martin, a company that has been frequently marred by bribery, corruption, and human rights abuses. And even if I were to accept the premise that my census personal information is secure (and I don't) my other concerns, mentioned above, have not been allayed.
Due to my deep concerns, I plan on protesting Lockheed Martin's involvement in the census. I support the "Count Me Out" campaigns launched by ViveleCanada.ca and CountMeOut.ca.
I sincerely hope that you will look into these issues and support all of the Canadians like myself who don't want Lockheed Martin involved in the 2006 Canadian census.
Sincerely,
name
city
postal code
email address
So, if you want to be a xenophobe and not send in your census forms, here is a whole laundry list of objections.
I guess I have a different perspective. I understand the desire to protect one's privacy, but if that were the case, you probably wouldn't be on the internet receiving this information. If you have a credit card, a mortgage, a bank account, even phone or electrical service, your name is on more databases than you can imagine.
I know someone who did contract work for NASA--believe me, they don't have the kind of information technology to do anything beyond compile statistical and demographic information. Interestingly enough, this person also warned me about the kind of anti-Americanism that I have, in fact, encountered--thanks to a his experiences living in Canada in the 90s, after the firm he worked for was unable to find anyone in Canada qualified to fulfill his position. That "huge American market and economy" elephant is sheer sour grapes, from my point of view. Canadians can rest assured that their government has set such high boundaries for immigrants that those of us who have entered the country have done so on our own merits. How many people with advanced degrees do you want to have in menial labour jobs before you understand that?
I'm not interested in being an apologist for Lockheed Martin--they are the lowest scum-sucking guttersnipes of the corporate world next to Halliburton, from my point of view. But you know what? So are Citicorp, Wells Fargo, HSBC, CIBC and a whole lot of other information-gathering entities with whom you are doing business right now.
I mean, honestly. The Canadian government couldn't even stop some dumb putz who put together a bomb less than a kilometre away from where I live destined to blow up LAX. The US and Canadian governments let billiions of dollars of counterfeit goods and illegal drugs inside their borders on a regular basis. The American government can't even keep the records of its veterans secure.
The governments are not the enemy--the banks, financial institutions and multinationals are. Once you wake up and understand that, you'll realise that a simple form from the government is nothing compared to what you give up every time you use your Air Miles card.
Get real, people.
