Statistics Canada has set up an encampment of trailers on the Swift Current, Saskatchewan fairgrounds, determined to get detailed health information from selected residents in exchange for cash..StatsCan has its mobile examination centre at Kinetic Exhibition Park to conduct its Canadian Health Measures Survey (CHMS). Citizens share information about their “nutrition, smoking habits, alcohol use, medical history, current health status, sexual behaviour, lifestyle and physical activity, the environment and housing characteristics, as well as demographic and socioeconomic variables,” according to the CHMS website..“All of this valuable information will create national baseline data on…obesity, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, exposure to infectious diseases, and exposure to environmental contaminants.”.Amy Giesbrecht was chosen to participate and agreed to do so in exchange for money from StatsCan..“I got a letter in the mail…And then they showed up at my door. I’m not really thrilled about it, but the $150 bucks — I’m tempted by the money,” Giesbrecht said..“They asked some really weird questions in front of my kid. I didn't really like that. He's five, but he also got picked. I asked him if he wanted to [take the survey], and he said yes, as long as he gets 150 dollars, too.”.During an interview that lasted more than an hour, Giesbrecht answered questions about her own health as well as her parents and her son. .“There's some sexual questions which I preferred not to answer in front of him, but I wish she [the interviewer] would have just let me answer it on the computer…But there was nothing I could do about it, I guess.”.The CMHS website says it measures “blood pressure, height, weight and physical fitness.” Giesbrecht confirmed she and her son will have to get a COVID-19 test, have blood taken, and wear an “activity monitor.” Later, authorities will sample her tap water. .Blood, urine and saliva samples will be stored at the Statistics Canada biobank for future health research projects and “to test for chronic and infectious diseases, nutrition and environment markers,” according to the CHMS website..Some people complained that StatsCan seemed all too determined to take their time, privacy, and bodily fluids and details on their private lives and habits. Jennifer Brown was one of many residents paid a visit. .“Well, they have come here and have been pretty aggressive, leaving me pamphlets and booklets,” Brown told the Western Standard..“I am now getting mail insisting I come in and they will pay me 175 [dollars]. But it’s not ‘cause I’m not vaccinated.”.A Tiktok post by “Tajana” on her “introverts0008” discussed the survey and invited people from Swift Current to share what was happening. In one of 3,300 replies, Brytni Jade said,.“This happened to me! He just came right in my house and started asking 1,000 questions. About what kind of toothpaste I use. Our vitamins that we take,” she explained..“They booked an appointment for my daughter to get a full work up done- bloodwork, doctor checkup etc. and offered the $ for us to do this.".“We said no and they were upset that we declined and tried to be pushy to get us to reconsider.”.Surveyers also went to the nearby towns of Herbert and Gull Lake. In response to this author’s query on Facebook, one Herbert man commented, “Didn’t do the survey. But they came back prob 7 times, and kept leaving notices. So I decided to just leave it on my door, and finally they stopped.”.A separate Facebook thread started by a Swift Current resident elicited stories of more aggressive efforts. One man, who declined an interview with the Western Standard, reported the following..“We were ‘randomly’ selected. The guy was relentless. Came to our house five times to talk to us and kept trying to invite himself in the house and did not want to take no for an answer. Other times when we would get home he would have his card and paperwork stuck to our front door. Then he started calling me at work to convince me to say yes and I kept saying no, then he would ask what about [my wife] and I would say no, he would then question me about it,” the man wrote..“It was absolute harassment for about 10 days. I finally had enough and may have used some unChristian words and in no uncertain terms told him don’t contact us or come on our property again.”.A married mother of three infant children complained to StatsCan they would not do the survey and that her household was recovering from RSV. .“We were chosen too. 4 or 5 different letters and notices on the door in total, a couple even after he harassed me,” wrote the mother of children aged 3 years, 2 years, and 6 months..“I answered the door one day….He was very persistent and rude about how I should do [the survey]… He then talked about how my husband could take time off work to do it and I got MAD…. he was still very pushy and relentless. I definitely felt like I was being preyed on, he knew what he was doing. I closed the door on him mid sentence and locked the door. I was so upset….“No reason for not wanting to participate was acceptable for him. He kept saying HOW IMPORTANT it was for us to participate. Can't you get a babysitter? Don't you have family to help, he'd ask? No boundaries, no reading the room, no taking no for an answer. In his mind I was obligated to do it and that I should be thankful for this opportunity and that there was compensation.”.The CHMS web page suggests statistical rigour, not bad luck, was responsible for who was chosen for the persistent solicitation..“For the full sample, at the first stage, a sample of 16 collection sites was required. The sites are allocated by region: Atlantic (2), Quebec (4), Ontario (6), Prairies (2) and British Columbia (2),” the site explains..“Calibration…is applied to ensure that the sum of the final weights corresponds to the estimates of populations defined at the scale of the five Canadian geographic regions, for each of the…age groups 1 to 2, 3 to 5, 6 to 11, 12 to 19, 20 to 39, 40 to 59 and 60 to 79 for each sex.”.Residents of the territories, indigenous reserves, and aboriginal communities are not subject to the survey, which includes both a household and a clinic questionnaire..A Swift Current resident with a hidden camera entered the survey’s clinic trailer to ask questions and shared the video with Western Standard. An official who hails from Montreal explained that a visual examination would be made of subjects’ teeth, creating a helpful body of data to inform the federal rollout of universal dental care..Another test made “a full body scan of organs like the bone marrow density, the muscle mass, the fat mass,” the man explained..“They can do anything with this kind of stuff….We collect some blood too for future health studies, so if someone wants to use the blood sample to conduct whatever, whatever they want.”.Past years included “physical tests to see cardio pulmonary functions” as well as tests of lung capacity. He said the travelling health survey will head to Halifax next, followed by Prince George, Toronto, and Edmonton until a representative sample of 6,000 people has been reached..The first CHMS was conducted in 2007 and runs every two years. This, the seventh cycle, began in November of 2022 and will wrap up in September of 2024.
