OTTAWA - Statistics Canada's online servers and call centres were swamped with far more users than they could handle during the 2006 census, say internal reports. "Bell Canada reported that there was more traffic on the network on Census Day than on Mother's Day, which is traditionally their busiest day," says one agency review.
On census day itself, Tuesday, May 16, more than half the people dialling StatsCan's toll-free line could not get through, or about 60,000 frustrated callers.
Over the crucial five-day census week, call volumes were double the level of the 2001 census, overwhelming the operators. Altogether, there were almost half a million more census help-line calls than expected.
Similarly on the Internet, which the agency promoted as an efficient way for Canadians to provide census information.
StatsCan web servers were designed to accommodate 15,000 users at the same time, but in the end could handle only 6,000 simultaneously on May 16.
"The actual impact is unknown but it was estimated that about 115,000 respondents were deferred on census day," says one analysis.
A series of draft reviews on how well the 2006 census was administered was obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act.
More than 18 per cent of Canadian households filed census information through the web, slightly more than expected. The level was much higher than in Australia (nine per cent) or New Zealand (six per cent), countries that also provided an Internet option for their 2006 census.
"We're kind of pioneers in this whole thing," Anil Arora, director general of census management, said in an interview. "We had no precedents."
An internal report indicates that a large volume of help-line telephone calls were questions about how to use the Internet option.
The analysis also suggests Canadians were misinformed by some news outlets that census information had to be provided on May 16 itself.
"A strong message was reported in the media on census day, saying if you don't complete your questionnaire today, you will be fined or go to jail," says the report.
"In response, a larger than anticipated portion of the population called the CHL (census help line)."
The problems of 2006 could be magnified in the next census in 2011 as Statistics Canada sets itself the ambitious goal of doubling the web response rate to between 35 per cent and 40 per cent.
But agency planners are hoping to mitigate future spikes in telephone calls and web use by encouraging Canadians to provide responses over a longer time frame, rather than on census day itself.
"Last time, there was a tremendous amount of focus on census day as a one-day event," said Arora.
"What would the implications be if we were to say this is census week? ... We'll see if we can spread some of the workload out."
Census day, May 10, 2011, would remain a reference point, the day for which all information a household provides must be valid. An infant born on May 11, 2011 would not be counted, for example, even if the census form were to be filled out that day.
There are also tentative plans to mail letters before census day reminding Canadians they call fill in their questionnaires throughout census week. "This is to spread the Internet system load over a longer period of time," says one planning document.
Arora cautions that no final decisions have been made, and proposed changes will be tested in pilot projects and surveys. "We're not quite there yet," he said.
Statistics Canada budgeted $567 million for the 2006 census. The last release of census data is expected in May this year.
