The 1921 Census was taken on June 1st, which means that it will be in the custody of Library and Archives Canada on June 1, 2013.
That's not very far off! The problem is that there has been little promotion of this exciting and important set of records. There has been no hooplah that I've seen! In fact Library and Archives blog has written very little about what is going to happen (will it be indexed, and if so by what organization and when might we researchers expect to have an index).
On the LAC blog, the most recent post about the 1921 census says little other than "Our intention is to make it available to researchers online, in the same format as previous censuses, as soon as possible after that date."
Comments and questions posted to the LAC blog post have resulted in nothing more than parroting of the same sentence - they are excited and will make the census available as soon as possible. Direct questions as to why Canadian genealogical societies are not being consulted are not answered.
Suggestions that FamlySearch or Ancestry.com or Automated Genealogy or volunteer indexers be involved are also being answered with this standard line - LAC is excited and will bring the records online ASAP.
And so once more we Canadians (and all of you who have ancestors in that Canadian census) are in the dark. Our government agencies work in mysterious ways, shrouded in secrecy, and we citizens are not privy to their ideas, nor are we consulted on important undertakings.
Why not join in the voices asking questions and offering suggestions on the LAC blog? Of course it's important to be polite, and make constructive suggestions or ask appropriate questions. So please don't go there to flame them. Go to offer good ideas and ask good questions.
Update: Fellow Blogger Kathryn Lake Hogan has also posted about the 1921 Census release and gives a call for bloggers and genealogists to GET INVOLVED! Help raise LAC's awareness of our questions and concerns.
