Ottawa, January 24, 2003 – Census returns are among the most valuable historical records created and preserved by the Government of Canada. They are an essential means of creating a personal sense of identity and a ‘connectedness' to country and community.

The microfilmed records of the "Census of Population and Agriculture of the Northwest Provinces – Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta – 1906" can now be consulted without restriction at the National Archives of Canada. This follows today's announcement by the Minister of Industry and Minister responsible for Statistics Canada, the Honourable Allan Rock, and the Minister of Canadian Heritage, the Honourable Sheila Copps.

As well as being accessible in Ottawa at 395 Wellington Street and online at www.collectionscanada.ca, the records can be obtained through inter-library loan or purchased. They will soon be available on microfilm in the provincial archives of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta and in certain public libraries across the country.

The 1906 Census is a "portrait" of a region that, at the time, was rapidly changing as hundreds of thousands of people from around the globe and other parts of Canada were choosing to settle in the Prairies. The provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta had just been established one year before the census was taken.

The census records from 1825 to 1901 are also held at the National Archives of Canada and are available to the public. Those of 1901 were digitized in 2002, and can be viewed online at:www.collectionscanada.ca