Christine Watts was shocked in June when a truck pulled into her yard and threatened to disconnect her hydro. The 51-year-old Cobourg-area woman had no idea she owed $1,100 from an equal-billing underpayment for the past year.

And as a survivor of childhood sexual abuse who lives on provincial disability support and a part-time job at her local library, she had no way to pay.

Community agencies and family helped Watts cover all but $240 of the outstanding bill. But she was still s...

Nonprofits Need the Mandatory Long-Form Census by Jane Hilderman

Many of the most immediate and vocal opposition to the recent decision made by the federal government to eliminate the mandatory long-form questionnaire in the Canadian census has come from the business community, which uses this data to forecast labour and marketing trends, for example.

However, the loss of the reliable and in-depth data that the long-form (in its mandatory form) provides will also significantly hurt the ...