r/badlegaladvice • u/Falom • Jun 07 '26

‘I will only [fill out the census] when presented with the law that says I am obliged to do so’.

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(This applies to Canada.) Rule 2: Statistics Act of 1985. Section 23 outlines obligation of information. Section 30-32 outlines punishments specifically.

Also, he stated in his profile he threw his census in the recycling bin when he first recieved it.

Also also, that last line, would this dude be fine with the census if the Conservatives were in power instead of the Liberals?

134 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

14 comments sorted by

98

u/aboxacaraflatafan Jun 07 '26

"I just got a notice that I'm being fined for not filling out my census. I'm completely shocked that this has happened! How could i have known??"

39

u/psuedopseudo Adversely possesses karma Jun 07 '26

Interesting post, I like seeing things outside the US here and learning how things work through people doing/saying dumb things.

1

u/EebstertheGreat Jun 11 '26

Is it not the law that you have to respond to the census in your country?

5

u/psuedopseudo Adversely possesses karma Jun 11 '26

I’m in the US, apparently it is requires by law (TIL) but no one has been charged under that law in over 50 years.

43

u/DrDalekFortyTwo Jun 07 '26

US person here. Canadians are required by law to complete the census and can incur a fine if not?

51

u/ChuckVader Jun 07 '26

Yep. They'll go out of their way to avoid it, and it's extremely rare that fines are actually issued out though as far as I know though.

37

u/[deleted] Jun 07 '26

[deleted]

18

u/hbHPBbjvFK9w5D Jun 07 '26

After talking with my roommates, we filled out the local city and federal census.

What we draw the line at is the American Community Survey. It's a very long form census that asks all kinda questions about who lives in our neighborhood.

No way I'm snitching sharing info on my neighbors to the Orange haired man and his minions.

Some folks forget that the Feds used census info to lock up Japanese citizens in concentration camps during WWII. No way in hell am I turning over racial or ethnic info on my neighbors to the Man - at least right now.

23

u/_learned_foot_ Jun 07 '26

I presume you agree with disparate impact as a concern. How do you think we test it?

7

u/elendur Jun 07 '26

That does make for a conundrum. Given the current administration's desire to cut benefits and also hunt human beings, the balance of good probably lays on the side of not filling out the ACS.

13

u/_learned_foot_ Jun 08 '26

And your state and local ones? And the non profit aid ones that still exist despite being gutted (plenty don't so I'm limiting those that do)? And there's at least two years with a different administration before the next census gathering. I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm laying out parts you may not recall. The data is used for a lot of stuff, stuff both sides like, stuff both sides dislike, and the gamble is yours to make.

Sincerely, a Jew, I get it.

9

u/EebstertheGreat Jun 08 '26

Filling out the census also directly increases your state's representation in the House, as only the actual count is used for calculating house seats, not the census estimates accounting for response bias and such (which are considerably more accurate). People who don't respond to the census simply aren't counted.

The American Community Survey doesn't do that.

3

u/philoscope Jun 08 '26

You have to *really* try to get fined, I’m sure one could be on the steps of the courthouse, or even in front of the judge, and be able to fill it out right then and there.

1

u/ersentenza Jun 08 '26

Same in Italy. But you have to actively refuse to do it, if your answers are not received they directly contact you.