OTTAWA, Aug. 12 (UPI) -- Two questions about language will be moved to the short-form census form as the mandatory long-form census is dropped, the Canadian government says.
The change was announced Wednesday following a court ruling that abandoning the long form violates the Official Languages Act and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Postmedia News reported. A group of French speakers challenged the government's census plans, saying the language questions are required so the government will know where francophone communities are.
The short form will now include questions on whether the person filling out the form speaks French or English well enough to carry on a conversation, what language is spoken in the home and whether other languages are used there. Industry Minister Tony Clement said the government wanted to be sure it was obeying the Official Languages Act.
Clement also said Conservative leaders will ask Parliament to remove the threat of imprisonment for failing to fill out census and other government questionnaires. Violators would still be subject to fines.
