My understanding is, that the Gun Registry, as it is familiarly known, or the Canadian Firearms Information System is an official government record that cannot arbitrarily be destroyed.  Below I provide references to Acts, Regulations, Directives and Policies that support that perspective.  However, at the bottom you will find reference to proposed Bill C-19, and you will discover that this Bill aims to override all of these.  Is it constitutional for a government to create an Act to go against its own Acts, Regulations and policies?

Normally, Library and Archives Canada (LAC) has the final say on whether or not a database or record can be destroyed (see slide #3) as LAC is:

accountable for the final decisions about what gets kept and what gets deleted

And that statement is legally grounded in the  Library and Archives Act:

Destruction and disposal

12. (1) No government or ministerial record, whether or not it is surplus property of a government institution, shall be disposed of, including by being destroyed, without the written consent of the Librarian and Archivist or of a person to whom the Librarian and Archivist has, in writing, delegated the power to give such consents.

To implement the law and follow the regulations the Multi-Institutional Disposition Authorities (MIDA), were created to direct when and how records are destroyed, and it is not arbitrary:

Under the Library and Archives of Canada Act (2004), Library and Archives Canada (LAC) Canada is charged with various responsibilities regarding the disposal of this information, including the authorization of records destruction by government institutions (Section 12) and the preservation of records for their archival or historical importance (Section 13).

…

The Multi-Institutional Disposition Authorities (MIDA) in this collection are issued by the Librarian and Archivist to provide direction to government institutions subject to the Library and Archives of Canada Act regarding the disposal of records managed by all or a multiple number of government institutions. They are designed to eliminate the need for government institutions individually to prepare submissions for and negotiate agreements with the Librarian and Archivist for records which have similar administrative or operational status.

The Canadian Firearms Registry, which includes the Canadian Firearms Information System, is part of Canadian Firearms Program of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) which is a Schedule I government organization according to the Access Information Act which means it would fall under Disposition rules and LAC ACT which states that:

The disposal of records managed by government institutions occurs under the Library and Archives of Canada Act. A government institution is subject to the Library and Archives of Canada Act if it is listed in Schedule I of the Access to Information Act or in the Schedule to the Privacy Act. (see MIDA)

The Treasury Board Policy on Information Management states, keeping in mind this is a policy not a directive, a regulation nor an act, but does say some nice things, not necessarily accompanied with budgets on the management of records:

3.1 Information is an essential component of effective management across departments. The availability of high-quality, authoritative information to decision makers supports the delivery of programs and services, thus enabling departments to be more responsive and accountable to Canadians.

Managing information and records using a whole-of-government approach where legislation permits, supports managers’ ability to transform organizations, programs and services in response to the evolving needs of Canadians. While information management encompasses records, as well as documents, data, library services, information architecture, etc., records and their management are mentioned at key points in the policy for the purpose of emphasis. Integrating information management considerations into all aspects of government business enables information to be used and recognized as a valuable asset. All these activities are indicative of a culture that values information.

The Treasury Board Directive on Information Management Roles and Responsibilities. refers back to the LAC Act regarding disposition:

9.2.5 issues records disposition authorities, pursuant to section 12 of the Library and Archives of Canada Act, to enable departments to carry out their records retention and disposition plans;

It would seem that there are Acts, Regulation, Policies and Directives that lean toward not being able to destroy the Gun Registry.

There are however some items in the current  Firearms Act that allow for the registrars to destroy some data in the registry under some prescribed conditions:

84. The Registrar may destroy records kept in the Canadian Firearms Registry at such times and in such circumstances as may be prescribed.

Not to be a stickler, but it does not say all of the records.   And under Other Records of the Registrar the Firearms Act states under 85. that:

Destruction of records

(3) The Registrar may destroy any record referred to in subsection (1) at such times and in such circumstances as may be prescribed.

In addition, Chief Firearms Officers 87. (1) A chief firearms officer shall keep a record of

(a) every licence and authorization that is issued or revoked by the chief firearms officer;

(b) every application for a licence or authorization that is refused by the chief firearms officer;

(c) every prohibition order of which the chief firearms officer is informed under section 89; and

(d) such other matters as may be prescribed.

Destruction of records

(2) A chief firearms officer may destroy any record referred to in subsection (1) at such times and in such circumstances as may be prescribed.

However, According to the Firearms Records Regulations, there are some pretty explicit instructions as to when a record can be destroyed:

4. (1) Subject to subsection (2), for the purpose of section 84 of the Act, a record kept in the Canadian Firearms Registry shall not be destroyed until after the expiration of 10 years after the date of the last administrative action taken regarding the information in the record.

(2) A record, kept in the Canadian Firearms Registry under paragraph 83(1)(a) of the Act, of a registration certificate that is issued or revoked shall not be destroyed.

5. For the purpose of subsection 87(2) of the Act, a record kept by a chief firearms officer shall not be destroyed until after the expiration of 10 years after the date of the last administrative action taken regarding the information in the record.

6. (1) Despite section 5, the following records shall not be destroyed until after the death of the individual in respect of whom they are kept:

(a) the record attesting to the fact that the individual has met the requirements of section 7 of the Act, including the date and place of any course or test; and

(b) records of every certification issued under paragraph 7(4)(a) of the Act.

(2) Despite sections 4 and 5, records of prohibition orders kept under paragraph 87(1)(c) of the Act and records of information concerning prohibition orders made under section 147.1 of the National Defence Act shall not be destroyed until after the death of the individual in respect of whom the record is kept unless the individual meets the requirements of subsection 7(3) of the Act.

To summarize, the Firearms Act permits the destruction of some records in the Canadian Firearms Information System under certain circumstances and these are stipulated in the act.  Data can be destroyed but not arbitrarily, not the entire database,  and it should be deposited at Library and Archives Canada.

Bill C-19 An Act to amend the Criminal Code and the Firearms Act is however proposing to override all those good laws, regulations, directives, and policies with the following:

29. (1) The Commissioner of Firearms shall ensure the destruction as soon as feasible of all records in the Canadian Firearms Registry related to the registration of firearms that are neither prohibited firearms nor restricted firearms and all copies of those records under the Commissioner’s control.

(2) Each chief firearms officer shall ensure the destruction as soon as feasible of all records under their control related to the registration of firearms that are neither prohibited firearms nor restricted firearms and all copies of those records under their control.

(3) Sections 12 and 13 of the Library and Archives of Canada Act and subsections 6(1) and (3) of the Privacy Act do not apply with respect to the destruction of the records and copies referred to in subsections (1) and (2).

It is in this fine print that we need to be watchful of this Government, as it is making rules to abolish a program and destroy records and it is trying to do so legally or at least using legal means to do so.  DATA seems to really be a FOUR LETTER word for this Government, they do not like the census, they do not use data to support their policies such as building jails, and they do not really like accountability, since in the end data help citizens assess and evaluate how their governments are doing.

No record, no way of evaluating!

Thanks to those who pointed to resources from CARTA, CivicAccess list, Twitter and CAPDU List.

The University of Toronto Map and Data Librarians put together a really fun panel for Open Access Week with the City of Toronto Open Data team and Jury Konga on the topic of Open Data. As promised here are my slides. There were some great questions from the audience and it was a very well attended session.

There is also an honourable mention to the Toronto Wellbeing initiative.

This year I thought I would honour Wendy Watkins a founder with Ernie Boyko of the Data Liberation Initiative (DLI) in Canada on for Ada Lovelace Day.

Wendy Watkins

In Canada our census data is sold back to us under a cost recovery program initiated by the Brian Mulroney Conservative Government in the early 1980s.  In fact, the Conservatives of that day also tried to Cancel the census but alas the constitution prevented them for doing so and instead they cut Statistics Canada’s budget severely which instituted a very regressive cost recovery practice.  The prices were so high that not only could citizens not afford to use their own data, universities encouraged students to use free US census data since they did not have the resources to pay for Canadian census data.  During those years, Canadians became experts on the US and not on Canada.

It is through the hard work of Wendy Watkins, her collaborators, data & map & research librarians that Canadian universities now have Census data for faculty and students along with associated census geographic files.  I had the good fortune as a student to benefit from the DLI.  Here is an excerpt from one of Wendy’s papers about the history of the DLI:

In April 1993, after receipt of the “Liberation Paper,” the Social Science Federation of Canada (SSFC) hosted a meeting with representatives from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC), the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL), the Canadian Association of Public Data Users (CAPDU) and other interested parties to devise a strategy to make Canadian data more readily available to the education and research communities. The meeting resulted in the striking of a smaller working group, under the aegis of the SSFC, to devise a plan that would be acceptable to all parties. Statistics Canada and the DSP [Depository Service Program] played advisory roles in this process. While the initiative has involved government in an advisory role, it is unique in that it was conceived and developed by members of the Canadian research community.

The working group, consisting of researchers, representatives from CARL and CAPDU, as well as members of the SSFC, held a series of meetings over the next months. Advice from both Statistics Canada and the Depository Services Program was invited and found to be invaluable. When the group had formulated a working document to which both Statistics Canada and the DSP agreed, meetings were arranged with senior management in several government departments. The SSFC also met with Ministers and their executive assistants in order to move the proposal forward. Finally, in December 1995, the DLI had received a strong enough informal blessing that the project was deemed to be a go. Letters of agreement were distributed and data began to be released.

More officially, the DLI received approval by the Treasury Board Ministers in a February 1996 decision. It was subsequently included as part of the federal government’s Science and Technology Strategy in March. Most recently, in October 1996, it was officially announced by Dr. John Gerard, Minister of State for Science and Technology at a press conference held in conjunction with National Science and Technology Week and the 30th anniversary of Carleton University’s Data Centre. ( Data Liberation and Academic Freedom, 1996).

The DLI not only fueled Canadian research, it promoted academic freedom, advanced data driven informed decision-making and created a new class of librarian called data librarians and also data centres in libraries.  Data also became artifacts to be collected in libraries, which added a new practice of adding digital material in a catalog along with hard copy books on shelves, the DLI spurred the early adoption of the Internet with the use of basic FTP protocols to transfer data from Statistics Canada and university libraries, and it was the forerunner in the acquisition of digital materials.  The DLI also promoted collaboration between universities and government via a consortium agreement that has been embraced by other organizations such as the Community Social Data Strategy.  Finally, the DLI also accelerated a new type of expertise in data metadata, data catalogs, data citation and data preservation (b).

Today there is a very vibrant DLI community of practice that shares knowledge on a yearly basis at DLI Bootcamps, maintains a repository of training materials, an active blog Data Interests Group for Reference Services and actively exchanges expertise on a DLILIST listserv.

The DLI also politicized access to data very early on and in a sense they began the discourse on data access in Canada.  The cancellation of the 2011 Census being one of the big issues DLI supporters took on.  Further Wendy Watkins and her colleagues participate in key roundtable discussions on access to research data, the preservation of data and develop important infrastructures that disseminate Canadian Data.

Data users and Canadians can thank Wendy for being on the vanguard of open data, open government and data liberation in Canada and for building an incredible cadre of data literate librarians, faculty and students.  Open Data initiatives in Canada can benefit from her work and should recognize Wendy as one of their data access pioneers.  Now we just need to have a census and for those data to be cost free to the public.

Some Watkins’ Papers:

• Will we respect you in the morning: the politicization of Statistics Canada and the Long Form Census?, IASSIST Vancouver, 2011
  
• The Long Form Census, Disaster Planning and Other Uses You Didn’t Know You’d Be Missing, 2010
  
• Introducing Data into Canadian Academic Institutions: The straw that didn’t break the Camels back, 2006
  
• Data Liberation and Academic Freedom, 1996
• The Data Liberation Initiative: A New Cooperative Model, Government Information in Canada, 1, No. 2.5, 1994.
• Liberating the Data: A Proposal for a Joint Venture between Statistics Canada and Canadian Universities, January 1992.
• DLI Training Material, 1996-Present

Take Away: Understanding of the history of the Canadian census. The use of census data through Canadian history and the effects of changing census data collection methods.
Objective: Understanding the following: what a national census is; the history of the Canadian national census; effects of changes to the 2010 long form; survey versus census; where we are and what do we have in May 2011. Methods: lecture and presentation Results: increase awareness of what comprises census data and how it is used by Canadians (individuals, researchers, business, governments, libraries who serve these users) Conclusions: If the Census 2011 is vastly different from previous national census’, what alternative resources are available for libraries and their users?
Description: The long form census was changed in the summer of 2010 to a long form survey. What are the long term effects of this change for Canadians (individuals, researchers, business, governments, libraries) who use census data.