Friday August 25, 2023 | VICTORIA, BC
by Mary P Brooke, B.Sc. | Island Social Trends
Usually when a survey timeline is extended it’s a reflection of poor participation.
However, the nearly 10% response to the BC Demographic Survey since its launch on June 14 has prompted another round of marketing within a deadline extension date to October 15, 2023 (11:59 pm).
The survey invitation was mailed to 900,000 households across BC earlier this summer, and about 86,000 responses (or 9.5%) have been completed online.
Now another 250,000 will be mailed out. Today at a media announcement at the Bayanihan Community Centre in downtown Victoria, Minister of Citizens’ Services Lisa Beare said the expectations of the extended survey period will be boosted by further social media marketing and ‘creative’ motivation by organizations, groups and community leaders.
Beare implied afterward to Island Social Trends that people across BC may have become quite understandably distracted by events across the province this summer, as well as being on summer vacation. As fall approaches, more attention from citizens may be available for survey participation.
Encouraging more participation:
Beare gave an example of ‘creative’ motivation as having the survey ready on a tablet for people to fill out when attending events at local events or community centres.
Joining Minister Beare at the podium today for the BC Demographic Survey extension announcement were Ravi Parmar, MLA (Langford-Juan de Fuca) who gave the opening remarks, and Parliamentary Secretary for Anti-Racisim Initiatives of BC, Mable Elmore who spoke at length about the provincial work being done to try to rebalance BC society toward greater racially-defined inclusion.
There are many other ways that people experience unfair treatment or exclusion — including by gender, social class and income level — but BC is focusing on what it can visibly see. Elmore summarized that range as “Indigenous, racialized and black”, subsuming that everyone who looks ‘white’ is automatically at greater advantage.
Anti-Racism Data Act (2022):
The BC Demographic Survey is part of the Province’s cross-government work to collaborate with Indigenous Peoples and racialized communities to dismantle systemic racism and build a better, more inclusive province.
The Anti-Racism Data Act allows government to safely collect race-based data through the BC Demographic Survey. This data will be used to help identify where people are not getting equitable access to government services so that the Province can make those services more accessible and inclusive.
“It is important for everyone in B.C. to participate in this survey,” said Pulcherie Mboussi, executive director, African Art and Cultural Community Contributor CCC Inc. “It is crucial for us to fight against racism through a deliberate and collective action. This is a step to win against racism.”
Guests at the podium gave some examples of how they have experienced new-immigrant arrival in Canada as well as how people’s lives have been impacted along the way as they settled into the Canadian culture.
Funding:
Government has awarded nearly $100,000 to 39 additional organizations to raise awareness and encourage more people to take the BC Demographic Survey.
This brings the total amount awarded to more than $183,000 distributed to 74 community and Indigenous groups throughout BC.
“The BC Demographic Survey is a key step in our effort of addressing and eliminating systemic racism,” said Lisa Beare, Minister of Citizens’ Services.
“These grants will help community organizations connect with community members to achieve our goal of identifying, and then eliminating, systemic racism in government services,” said Beare.
Doing the online survey:
The letters sent to households across BC are addressed to each household by the name ‘Occupant’ and but to specific addresses including postal code. The front of the envelope says “BC Demographic Survey: Access code enclosed. Available until September 29, 2023.
The enclosed letter offers a Household Code.
To take the survey, participants can use a QR code or visit bcstats.apps.gov.bc.ca and enter the code there.
The enclosed letter says that households are randomly selected; anyone age 13 years or older may participate.
“The survey includes questions related to ethnicity, gender, income and other areas of identity,” it is stated in the letter, saying “we can only fix what we can see”.
The survey apparently takes about 15 minutes to complete. It is available in 15 languages.
People needing assistance to fill out the survey can call toll-free at 1 833 376-2452, Monday to Friday, from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. (Pacific time) and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. (Pacific time). Telephone assistance is not available on Sundays or statutory holidays.
Survey anonymity:
Some questions in the survey appear to negate anonymity, but today Hayden Lansdell, Assistant Deputy Minister, Digital Platforms and Data Division, told Island Social Trends that the responses to early questions in the survey are desegregated from responses given later on. That degree of data handling may not be evident to all users. Lansdell says they’re working on communicating better about the survey.
